A poet in the making
Ruwini Jayawardana
VERSATILITY: Most young men of his age would settle to progress on
their chosen field but Tharindu Weerasinghe has other plans. The
23-year-old Engineering student from the Faculty of Engineering of the
University of Peradeniya has shown immense talent as a poet as well as a
compere. He had been a grade nine student at Maliyadeva College,
Kurunegala, when he had written his first poem.
“It was a Sinhala poem titled Sobhadahama. The main turning point of
my interest towards writing poetry in
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VERSATILE PERSONALITY:
Tharindu Weerasinghe
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English was a result of having
taken up English Literature as a subject for my O/Ls. I worked hard to
get a D and in the end I managed it. That was the stepping-stone to my
success in the field of poetry,” Tharindu explained.
A majority of Tharindu’s poems were composed during the period that
he was waiting his A/L results. He had contributed his poems to a number
of local English and Sinhala papers.
“I wrote mostly for my own self-satisfaction. It was something I
enjoyed doing. I wanted my readers to gain a certain knowledge about the
aspects of life too since most of my work was based on human nature,” he
expressed.
One of the main philosophies behind Tharindu’s poems is the idea of
serving one’s motherland to the best of one’s ability. All his ideas
derive from his own personal experiences.
One of his poems, titled “Sweetest love” was featured as the best
poem in the poetry website, www.poetic-works.com. Three of his poems
were also selected for the semi-finals in the International Poetry
competition organised by the International Library of poetry.
“I wrote a number of Sinhala articles about the radical side of
university life and some of the common social problems. I have taken
part in a number of dramas too while I was at university. Society
believes that academic studies such as Engineering and aesthetic studies
do not go together. But the students in the faculty of Engineering of
the University of Peradeniya have proven otherwise. There are a lot of
students in our faculty who are talented in the aesthetics. We hold
talent shows, aiming to improve these qualities of our students.”
Apart from writing poetry and acting in stage dramas, Tharindu is a
well-known compere in both English and Sinhala during his school days as
well as at the university. He had won the award for the best announcer
in Sinhala at the university last year and had won the award for the
best announcer in English at provincial level while he was at Maliyadeva
College. He was also the editor of the Art Circle at his university for
2005/2006.
Tharindu hopes to publish a collection of his poetry in a book titled
“Candlelight” at the end of this year. |
