Wadiya writers’ posthumous tribute to Sri Lankan novelist

Ranjan Amarasinghe

LITERATURE: The Wadiya group, a writers circle organised a literary evening, as a tribute to novelist Nihal de Silva at the British Council recently.

The programme which deserves our whole hearted appreciation, for writers writing in English in our tear-drop country, still do not yield much influential power in the body-politic, due to their inaptitude in captivating hearts and souls of the general public.

Notwithstanding the rightful position given to English as a powerful medium of communication in our country, the application of English language for literary purposes is ironically confined to a minuscule of our populace, mostly belonging to middle or upper class strata of our society.

In this context the relevancy of this great writer’s novels, very specially “The Road From Elephant Pass” which itself can be regarded as a trail-blazer, is worthy of our careful attention. It is a bold attempt, as the writer tries to inculcate us with qualities such as refinement, decency and humanity, defeating evil forces, propagating separate tendencies or baser instincts as an antidote to our ethnic strife.

Its importance cannot be under estimated, very specially in the present juncture, for this remarkable novel, is capable of evoking our finer sentiments to much elevated plane in its bid to unite us as the citizens of a one nation, thus enticing us to envelop in harmonious bonds of all encompassing love and much under-valued tenets of tolerance.

Observer

The programme I watched as an observer, seated along, in a backseat of the British Council Hall, not because I expected a quick exit in case of an emergency, such as another bomb blast, but because I wanted desperately to cocoon myself in the comfort of aloofness, to facilitate my mental faculties to function in “Top Gear” so that I can be sufficiently objective, without bowing down to intuitive prejudices or to heart-wrenching emotions.

Neutrality

The task of upholding total neutrality in any given situation, remains an ideal, but in-reality very difficult to exercise, and ironically I was hopelessly swept away by the floodgates of emotions, so much so that the tributes rendered honouring this noble writer, paraded in my mind in quick succession allowing me only a little time to encapsulate their substance, though the three members of the Wadiya group namely, Sandra Fernando, Nafisa Thaghirally and Faith Rathnayake, rose superbly to the occasion, displaying their enviable maturity and the nectar of sincerity in executing their entrusted task.

Next item presented was the dramatic readings from selected extracts chosen from three of his novels namely, “The Road from Elephant Pass” “The Far Spent Day” and “Ginirella Conspiracy” all of which went a long way in enhancing his reputation as an accomplished writer.

The animated reading, which got a quick response from the rarefied audience gave them and inkling about his creativity and inborn talent. At the same time it was a kind of celebration of his colourful life, honouring him for his contribution to the corpus of English literature written by Sri Lankan writers of our country.

Next item to be followed was the presentation Shimali Senanayake, a journalist by profession, who was privileged to know the author closely from her childhood. She eloquently and movingly described to the pin-dropped audience, pinpointing some of these writers’ inborn character traits such as humility, witticism, compassionate attitude towards others etc., which made him a much sought after personality who was capable of attracting many friends with a magnetic effect to his fold who were fortunate enough to come to know him during his life span.

Then there was the dramatization of a story from “Padma meets the sunbird” which was launched quite recently which he wrote specially catering to the taste-buds of the young children. It was indeed a spell, epitomizing the author’s positive outlook in which the mischievous child in him, like an imp going on an excursion causing bouts of uncontrollable hilarity, dramatization of which received a thunderous ovation.

Next another presentation followed made by Kamini de Soysa on behalf of the Gratiaen trust, who took this opportunity to praise his meticulous zest, shown in ample measure in culling relevant information from various sources, which in turn gave his novels authenticity and credibility.

She reiterated the importance of “having the passion” which will enable the numerous writers who gathered there in large numbers to achieve the winning streak of acme of success.

Then there was again showering of more tributes which were made by two members of the Wadiya group, as Fahima Sahabdeen and Lasantha Rodrigo who took their turn in the podium, once again charging the atmosphere with power-packed high-voltage emotions.

The proceeding was culminated after the closing words were made by Mohan Wijesekera who aptly requested the audience to observe two minutes silence as a mark of respect to this remarkable writer.

To sum up, it was a rare opportunity to a large numbers of writers who turned up with a kind of religious zeal to honour this man of substance whose life was snatched away by the cruel or barbaric, trigger-trotting demagogues.

However it was also a celebration, muted to suite the solumn occasion for this great writer has lived a wonderful life, responding zealously to the pulsating rhythm of life, but also he has left us a valuable gift in the form of his literary creations, in which he has won his final battle against piercing chill of mortality by imprinting his foot steps indelibly, guiding other aspiring writers to carry on in the cobbled high-way to their final destination of literary stardom.

Browsing through his books, let us hope fervently that the future generation of creative writers would go on a mandatory pilgrimage searching for clues in his work in their eternal quest of finding decent, humane and redeeming qualities of human bondage. Through this fruitful exercise, they will also be able to breathe in the fresh air, the wafting fragrance of his soul.

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