Review:

Treading across fascinating landscapes of humanity

“World I saw”, Reflections of a Lifetime of Travel by Rienzie Weeraratne

Though the author Rienzie Weeraratne emphatically states in the preface that “World I Saw” is not belonged to the genre of travelogue, an enthusiastic reader will soon discover it to be one of the most exhilaratingly engrossing accounts on life the time of travel by a person who had enjoyed every bit of his incursions into the landscape of humanity.

“World I Saw” is an extraordinary book on many accounts. For instance, the language and the metaphor that the author employ in the form of recollections is as lively as his numerous travels that took him to diverse parts of the globe and brought him in contact with varied cultures, vegetations and men and women.

Epitaph

With an evocative epitaph, the book is dedicated to the memory of the author’s wife Elaine who accompanied him on most of his explorations.

Being an avid reader and a man who had enjoyed fond memories of his childhood, Rienzie was greatly inspired by the book “Glimpse of the World” which has had a lasting impression on him and would have attributed to making him an explorer.

The 289 paged book is delicately divided into fourteen chapters putting his diverse travels into chronological order, commencing his little excursions in Sri Lanka. His change of career from Central Bank of Sri Lanka to consumer goods multinational Unilever, offered Rienzie the fortune of living in many countries and visit places of interest.

He worked as the Director of the subsidiaries of Unilever in Sri Lanka, Ghana, the Caribbean and Philippines prior to working at Unilever head office in London as Senior Consultant.

“My desire to travel had not been satisfied with travelling at home although I had made an early start. There was much more to see in Sri Lanka, something I could achieve without much difficulty as it was my homeland.

My mind was on more extensive travel abroad. At that point in time, however, it was only a dream but dreams can strangely come true as my brother’s dream showed!” says Rienzie in the conclusion of the first chapter.

As one meanders through the subsequent chapters, it is clear that dreams did, indeed, come true as in the case of Rienzie. Though extremely personal in nature, anecdotes and estrange turn of events add spice to the book which can be aptly termed out as hybrid of a travelogue and an excellent memoir.

The author has proved in no uncertain terms his mastery of not only the language but also the subtle manipulation of undertones and the zest which runs throughout the narrative as a golden thread that marked the border of an exquisitely crafted garment.

Memory

Another significant achievement on the part of the author is that he had recalled a rather long account of his travels with mainly the aid of his phenomenal memory. For instance, his description in the second chapter of his departure from Sri Lanka for UK on a streamer is amazingly detailed that one would wonder if he had undertaken the voyage recently though it had occurred in 1950.

Intricate details such as the food served on the Strathmore, the aroma of the luxurious atmosphere and the diverse ports she called and also historically significance associated with the ports.

For instance, Rienzie recalled his visit to the prison island of Chateau when the ship berthed at the famed port of Marseilles in France where Edmund Dantes was imprisoned. Here the author takes reader for a moment, to the intriguing world depicted in the Alexander Dumas’ “The Count of the Monte Christo” which Rienzie enjoyed as a boy.

Rienzie has also not forgotten to mention his brief encounter with night life in France when he visited a night club with a boat party and had a dance with an estranged French woman.

In the second chapter Rienzie not only described the places of interest he visited in the city of London such as two great cathedrals Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s cathedrals but also how he became a concert-goer attending some fine performances such as Yehudi Menuhin playing Beethoven’s and Tchaikovsky’s violin concertos and live performance of Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.

The rest of the chapters take the reader to diverse parts of the world when Rienzie was posted to different countries such as Ghana. It was his travels in Africa that he began to love wildlife. Rienzie had the fortune to visit almost all the major wildlife parks in Africa. As mentioned, he was destined to travel.

From his writing, it is also obvious that Rienzie is also destined to write the fascinating accounts of his travels even though consulting his memory.

Rienzie had not missed out on any important places in New York. The long list includes Empire State Building, World Trade Centre, Lincoln Centre, Metropolitan Opera House and United Nation Headquarters.

During his assignment in Colombia, the author had first hand experience of the country life in Colombia which is dominated by religion as described by Colombian Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Fascinating

“As described by Colombian Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with priests, churches, nuns and convents being central to the lives of the people. “, narrates Rienzie painting the fascinating country life in Colombia. One of the interesting experiences that the author had in Colombia was that he had to make his presentation twice as the audience could not understand it first.

After a resourceful travels which virtually covered the globe, Rienzie ends his fascinating account with a rather philosophical note: “Equally amazing is man’s creative and innovative genius. .. there are ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome and those of China and of the Indus Valley and there is Sri Lanka with tanks… Lamentably all the achievements of the mankind are of little consequences if human life is treated by the world and its leaders as of little value and expendable. “

All in all, the book offers a rich compendium of experiences of life in diverse parts of the globe and an insight into the fascinating cultural landscapes that the author was fortunate to have passed through on his numerous travels and sojourns in many lands.

Here Rienzie takes the reader into the old world dominated by streamers and high society life of the London as well as into the new world with planned cities like New York.

“The World I Saw” is a must read for all those who are interested in exploring the diversity of life and cultures on earth and to realise that all of us are members of humanity even if we differ in culture, nationality or colour of skin.

- Ranga Chandrarathne