Book Reviews:
An exemplary children's literary work
Title: Sundara
Author: R. R. Samarakoon
Publishers: Dayawansa Jayakody and Co.
Price : Rs. 150 pp 96
R. R. Samarakoon the well-known dramatist and award winning novelist
ventures into children's literature with his maiden work Sundara. Unlike
those writers who evolve characters around children with talents,
physical flexibility and exuberance, RR crowns a disabled child as his
principal character with ability to achieve great feats in his fast
flowing narrative rhythm. In a way it is unique in Sri Lankan children's
literature as it steps into an area which had hitherto being ignored.
The sympathy it evokes with its progressive development of the
character of Sundara is exemplary to children and encouraging to the
adults for them to associate themselves with its inner content that
feeds the innocent mental make-up of children and the widening knowledge
of the adults.
Today at a time the disabled children being loved, nursed and
attended upon by the adults at home and in welfare organisations.
Sundara will certainly find itself a place in the mind of both the
adults and children whose joint effort is to bring happiness to the
world of children.
Sundara not only touches on fellow-children, but also on the animals
which are the most lovable and amenable living assets of any child.
Children whether abled or disabled are closer to animals than humans, at
least in collective companionship because they are obedient, innocent
and flexible to the whims and fancies of children.
Inspired by a true character which RR had known and experienced in
his youth is the source from which eventful and wonderful child
character Sundara who is able to perform acts which astonish even others
who are physically more able than this physically disabled child,
emerged.
Sundara is full of compassion to all. In his teens he was never
apathetic to society in which he was considered disabled, but proved to
be more able than the abled themselves.
His father is the last person to realise his son's moral and
spiritual power because a parent's inner consciousness pricks a pang of
pain for being the father of the disabled child as he considers him a
liability and a digression. But, Sundara proved otherwise, and turned
out to be the opposite of what his father thought and brought pride and
credit to him and the society.
Sundara promotes some valuable moral qualities which enrich the
children, specially in their teens, such as patience, devotion, animal
love, perseverance, obedience etc. These are qualities which every child
should learn and cultivate. RR's book is a door for them to enter into a
rich source of discipline.
It is highly readable and is written in familiar colloquial language
which easily drives smoothly hard into the eager reader's, both child
and adult, mind. RR's approach to a child's mind in his very first
attempt, is plausible and encouraging.
It makes the children part of the environment which will enable them
to study it and learn to live in it that enlivens their life and moulds
their character.
E. M. G. Edirisinghe
Rhythm of Cascades- A photographic window of selected waterfalls in
Sri Lanka
Author: M.S.N.L. de Costa
A Review from a Geological Viewpoint
By Prof. Kapila Dahanayake, Senior Professor of Geology, University of
Peradeniya
The writer Sunil de Costa had been enamored by the beauty and the
variety of waterfalls in Sri Lanka while he climbed hill slopes as part
of his professional exercise of duties as a magistrate. No doubt his
adroit handling of the camera had resulted in more than 100 eye catching
as well as informative photographs of a spectacular geological
phenomenon that is waterfalls.
For a geologist, photographs are of course no replacement for a field
visit to such sites. But, I have been able to observe many a geological
feature in this book thanks to the clarity of the photographs, their
accurate descriptions and above all, the adroit handling of the camera
by the author.
Waterfall is a geological formation resulting from water often in the
form of a stream flowing over an erosion resistant rock that develops a
sudden break in elevation. Where a bed of strong rock more resistant to
natural processes of weathering and erosion horizontal or gently
inclined upstream- is underlain downstream by a weaker rock formation,
the initial stages of waterfall development commences.
A rock formation is considered as weak due to its particular
composition and/ or structures (fractures/faults). In the wide spectrum
of waterfalls, three types could be recognised: rapids, cascades and
waterfalls based on the (a) steepness of the gradient (b) continuity or
discontinuity of the gradient.
A part of a stream where the current is moving with a greater
swiftness with the water surface being broken by obstructions but
without sufficient break in slope to form a waterfall refers to rapids.
When the vertical descent of a waterfall is interrupted by a series of
benches (like on a stairway) several relatively small waterfalls will
develop.
These are the cascades sensu stricto. A stream flowing on strong rock
formations underlain by weaker rocks will initially form rapids that
will gradually erode the stream bed to give rise to a steep gradient
along a fracture/fault plane.
The water flowing along such a river when it encounters a steep slope
plunges at high speed foaming and in the process developing a
spectacular sight of a column of turbulent flow which is a waterfall
sensu stricto.
Fig. - Waterfall - A perpendicular or steep descent of water of a
stream where it overflows a fracture plane of a resistant rock formation
(charnockite ?) overlying a weaker rock formation (gneiss ?) at the
plunge pool visible at its foot. "Drilling tools" -boulders and pebbles-
are visible by the side of the pool.
At the foot of the waterfall, beneath the falling column of turbulent
water is a plunge pool where very large pot holes cut into the rock.
These vertical holes are developed as water plunges down with force
through turbulent flow accompanied by its 'drilling' tools- boulders,
pebbles, sand and silt.
Waterfalls occur in abundance in the hilly terrains of Sri Lanka
underlain mostly by metamorphic rocks such as charnockites, gneisses,
quartzite and marble. Charnockites are massive rock formations resistant
to weathering and erosion processes.
They can form steep and deep vertical slopes and when a stream
plunges over their crests a waterfall will form. Less resistant gneiss
formations can be of different compositions and structures and as such
they may give rise to a series of nearly horizontal benches/tables.
In other parts of the world, waterfalls are found in igneous and
sedimentary rock terrains as well. In the Niagara Falls of North
America, the resistant rock formation is dolomitic limestone whereas the
less resistant one is shale.
The author starts his expose by describing Ranmudu Falls in Colombo
district which flow as three small waterfalls. In his discourse on
Rhythm of Cascades the author aptly introduces the readers to cascades
using correct geological parlance as a stepped series of closely spaced
small waterfalls descending over the crests of steeply slanting
resistant rocks.
The local names of at least some waterfalls describe these facts.
Hath Mala Ella 'Seven Storey Falls' is a case in point and evidence for
indigenous knowledge about waterfalls. Such small waterfalls are the
'cascades' sensu stricto. In the waterfall formation, there are three
stages which, however, may not necessarily appear as a sequential
development of events- smallest being rapids, then cascades and finally
the bigger ones - waterfalls.
In this hierarchy - the shallow angle of the face of resistant rock
becomes gradually increased from near horizontal until it appears as a
very steep or vertical precipice over the crest of which a waterfall
sensu stricto descends in its majestic beauty.
In his treatise the writer has taken one and all on a sightseeing
mission by his beautiful photographs of Sri Lankan waterfalls and their
captivating captions. A large number of these waterfalls in Sri Lanka
can be categorised as cascades.
As such, the author has done justice to his work by aptly describing
the publication as 'Rhythms of Cascades'. It is indeed a landmark
contribution which opens a window for those who would appreciate the
beauty of waterfalls.. Congratulations to author Sunil de Costa for a
very entertaining and valuable academic exercise! |