Fearless exposure of evils in our society

Search for Justice

Author Ajit Perera

Stamford Lake Publication, Pannipitiya

104 pp

Price Rs. 250

Review: Brother Baptist Croos F.S.C.

FICTION: Ajit Perera has been described as, "A very committed teacher; a devout and thoughtful Catholic," by Kalakeerthi Professor Ashley Halpe.

Kala Suri-Punyakantie Wijenaike sees Ajit Perera as, "A victim of injustice when his efforts to uplift his students were mistaken for ambition." Brother Alexander F.S.C. a former Provincial of the De La Salle Brothers, fittingly describes him as, "A rising star in the literary firmament."

Further he says, "His style is elegant and he touches the human imagination profoundly." Hana Ibrahim, Associate Editor for the Sunday Observer to which Ajit Perera is a regular contributor says, "His tales reflect the triumph of good over evil, repentance of past sins and the all too familiar human need for forgiveness." The illustrations in the Search for Justice by Jagath Punchihewa of the Sunday Observer are exquisitely original.

Search for Justice originating from such a brilliant thinker and versatile personality must be worth adding to your literary collection. Incidentally Ajit Perera has received the National Youth Award for one of his stories and another award at the All-Island Literary Competition conducted by the National Catholic Writers Association.

An article of Ajit Perera appeared in 'Navasilu' a journal of the English Association of Sri Lanka in 2004. 'Search for Justice' is a compilation of short stories written by Ajit Perera. Using 'the correct word in the right place' Ajit Perera has made this book a 'must' for all teachers, seminarians, lawyers, doctors, aspiring-journalists and parents.

Fertile imagination

"A man without imagination is like a bird without wings," goes an oft-repeated saying. Ajit Perera is endowed with a fertile imagination and sheer originality, (the two qualities needed to become an excellent writer) that are glaringly evident in all his exciting and heart-breaking stories.

Ajit takes the reader to the crucial point in a story and leaves him there, expecting him to come to a logical conclusion, urging the reader to make full use of his imagination and critical thinking. By doing so, he expects the reader to be intelligent and quick-witted.

Ajit Perera leads the reader through a number of pivotal issues confronting the present day Sri Lankan society. First of all he weaves remarkable plots about love, marriage and sex. That should be the correct order to make life meaningful and positive. The moment the order is reversed or changed, then all the ugliness and malaise in society boil over, making people miserable, angry and jittery.

Love, marriage, sex seems to be the natural order, in harmony with the universe, which makes life beautiful and worth living. Ajit Perera exposes women of loose morals, who demean themselves for the sake of a few rupees and the unscrupulous men who lustily exploit such characterless women bringing down curses and unhappiness on themselves and their own families. Why and how does a society allow such an immoral behaviour? Ajit Perera wants the reader to answer them.

Ajit Perera handles the delicate ethnic issue like a professional. The love-hate relationship is brought out exceptionally well. There seems to be no love lost between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. Racism, is very much alive in both parties. Mutual mistrust seems to be the root cause for such hatred and bitterness.

In spite of all our religious teaching, preaching and upbringing for centuries, as far as ethnicity is concerned, we are floored! As for peace, unity and harmony, we are back to square one! Jealousy, hatred and bitter-feelings have become part and parcel of our lives. It needs a lot of wisdom, sincerity and courage to understand each other and strive towards peace, progress and prosperity.

Noble profession

Teachers are special people as they are involved in the noble profession of training and forming students, the future of our society. Therefore a teacher's behaviour should be exemplary and above board.

There should be no room for professional jealousy. But when teachers indulge in activities that are not suitable to their profession, then they have to be taken to task. Ajit Perera does that extremely well. Teachers who resort to back-biting, supplanting the successful ones; who are so slovenly in their duties; when they become irresponsible and untrustworthy, then the authorities concerned should look seriously into the matter and redress any grievances they may have and make them realize the gravity of their faults and failures.

Can the blind lead the blind? The teachers have to be trustworthy and responsible; make every effort to get themselves qualified and trained in various disciplines. Then they are a boon to society. The virtue of justice must be uppermost in their minds. As Prophet Daniel had said centuries ago, "They that instruct the little ones unto justice, shall shine like stars for all eternity." (Daniel 12:3)

Ajit Perera castigates the errant and recalcitrant doctors who are not worthy of their name. Since they are handsomely paid by the Government in its hospitals, there is no need for them to do side business or work in a private hospital during their official working hours, causing excruciating pain and unhappiness to thousands of patients.

Ajit Perera recounts the unfortunate death of a child due to the gross negligence of a doctor who ultimately gets murdered by the father of the child, as he was driven to despair. Doctors, like teachers, are special people who are looked up to by society. Hence their behaviour should be impeccable and decent.

The political leaders too are taken to task as they do not deliver the goods. Promises made at the election campaigns remain unfulfilled. Good leaders assure a good society. Remember, "Only quality people can produce quality goods." In the same vein, only quality leaders can produce a quality society.

Example is better than precept! If the leaders are not up to the mark, what can one expect from society ? Bribery, corruption and graft thrive uncontrolled. The underworld gangs prosper and society is in the throes and stranglehold of such miscreants and hooligans.

Sri Lanka needs brave and bold writers like Ajit Perera who will not mince their words, who will be fearless in exposing the evils of our society so that we can learn from our blunders and transform these stumbling blocks into stepping stones towards freedom and prosperity.

Aesthetic experience in Oga Tharanaya

Review: Dr. Senarath Tennakoon

POETRY: The Greek word that means any kind of sensory experience is aesthetics. It is one of the two components of the theory of knowledge or gnoseology.

The other component is logic which investigates intellectual knowledge. But aesthetic investigates sensory knowledge. Aesthetic experience produces felt meaning or understanding that is not medicated by inductive or deductive reason, but rather is characterised by abductive reasoning.

'Empeirikos' is the Greek word for experience. Knowledge based on experience is often understood in terms of Empiricism. Empirical knowledge is made use of in philosophy as well as in literature. Introspection

Aesthetic experience is essentially human in nature. The human being has to pay attention to and sustain interaction with human as well as worldly phenomena.

Sunanda Mahendra's new book of poetry, Oga Tharanaya (Crossing the Stream) has to be read and re-read with a sense of introspection to grasp and appreciate the emotive and psychologically felt meanings of its contents. The delightful arrangement of simple linguistic elements to generate insightful symbolic semantic splendour is an inbuilt distinguishing feature in this anthology. Take for instance the verse entitled "Ninnada":

"Age hada mata ase niraturu

giman nivana welawe.

Age miminum ase niraturu

bhavana gatha welawe.

Daas bamavaa ma desa balanaa

balme natha kisi nurawak.

Eheth ma sitha salitha karavaa

bavun maga ma paludu karawai

pedin peda rasa hav mavalana

Bhava geeyaki age iriyaw

Eiyin mukulitha mage pana nala

mohthakin maa avadi karawai."

The theme here is woven around emotional and psychological responsive resonance of a sensitive mind to a valued behaviour pattern of (perhaps) a pretty beloved one.

Resonance

Sunanda uses very simple language devoid of stark decorative expressions commonly seen in local poetry, quite selective, specific and sensitive for evoking a felt meaning in the reader's conceptual world. The verse stimulates the faculty of intuitive grasping through abductive reasoning out the meaning.

The poet's aesthetic experience though individualistic does not remain in a state of glorified isolation. His experience merges with that of the audience or the readership. That means it resonates with our own experience. So the feature of connectedness is another ingredient in this verse.

Taking the contents, the format and the framework and the whole text as a whole Ninnada can be enjoyed for its own sake itself.

When the reader reads and re-reads it several times the reader gets involved in the poet's aesthetic experience.

Relevance

In the begining you might question of its relevance, specificity, validity and sensitivity. Later you would be dominated by its relevance. But when the reader's critical functions are dominated by the aesthetic experience, the filters become less active and the poet's aesthetic experience becomes acceptable and highly appreciative without any question.

Oga Tharanaya contains several compositions which reverberate with strong aesthetic experiences. In "Asaruva" (The Horseman) the few lines highlight human conflicts, culturally different practices and empathy.

Oga Tharanaya is a landmark in Sinhala poetic tradition for its philosophic approach, vision and the strength of aesthetic experience.

Advocating an aesthetic perspective on appreciating poetry contributes to better understanding of poetry.

Rome's imperial possession

Carl Muller

HISTORY: In 55BC, the Romans, under Julius Caesar, first invaded Britain. Author David Mattingly has given us a bold new book, An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire (Allen Lane, UK) that depicts what life for the Romans must have been like on the wild outer-fringes of their empire.

Scattered fragments

The book is an admirably interesting read, for the author sifts through many scattered fragments of detail to give us the bigger story-making of it a magnificent work of resurrectionism.

As Mattingley notes, on that first invasion, Britain was distinctly unpromising to the Romans. The island was remote and its inhabitants near-barbaric. There was little the Romans could take except slaves, and Caesar called off the whole project.

A century later - in 48AD, the Roman emperor Claudius brought 'Pax Romana' to the Britons, but in spite of all good intentions, the Romans found the people rebellious and the land expensive to administer. Even the cost of garrisoning the island saw a demand for heavy imposition of taxes and they had to squeeze the British harder than they would have done in many other 'provinces'.

Roman military rule

For most of the people living under Roman military rule, life was tough - extremely tough - and the peasants of the North lived a very bleak existence in a permanently militarised zone.

But Mattingly also tells us of the aristocrats in Sussex who somehow benefited from it all. He says: "These people even commissioned swanky Roman mosaics and developed a taste for olive oil." Although the Romans left in 409 AD after centuries of occupation, they could not muster the sort of Romanised elite they had produced in their other frontier provinces.

Departure

On their departure, their culture also disappeared, and all that they left behind were records of early battles and revolts. This is why, Mattingly says, historians have to rely on archaeological evidence, and that rarely makes good narrative history.

The author's evidence is thin, but it can disturb; for he also tells of many tombstone inscriptions that reveal how many British women were made to work as brothel slaves. His book is a fine piece of work, especially for those who like history with a human face.