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Gleaning
Sinhala short stories in Thamil
While Lankan Thamil-speaking people carry on translating contemporary
Sinhala literature into Thamil language and publish them in newspapers,
journals and books, not many among the Lankans are consciously and
practically interested in contemporary Lankan Thamil Literature into
Sinhala. This is sad if we are really Lankans. Of course a few short
stories and a handful of short fiction had been translated into Sinhala.
But that is far and far between. In this background I came across a book
in Thamil containing translated Sinhala short stories. This 248 page
book is titled Sinhala Chirukathaith
Thohuppu 2 (Anthology of Sinhala Short Stories 2. It has an
additional title "Raajinee Vanthu Sentraal" (Raajini Came and Went).
This book is published under the series "Ayalavar Ilakkiyam" (Neighbours
Literature). This is a Thothenna Publications of Uswewa Road,
Aananmaduwa.
The publisher Sydney Marcus Dias in his note says that there should
be understanding among communities among other things.
Three Islamic writers had undertaken the task of translating the 20
stories included. A good percentage of Lankan Muslims and a considerable
number of Lankan Plantation Thamilians have reasonably mastered the
Sinhala and Thamil languages. Most of the Muslims of Lanka are bilingual
(Sinhala-Thamil).
Therefore they stand to gain. The translators of this collection are:
Dikwelle Kamal (an educationist and prominent short story and critic in
Thamil), M. H. M. Yakooth (an educationist and translator) and S.A.C.M
Karamath.
The under-mentioned writers in Sinhala have now known among readers
in Thamil. But how many of our readers in English (or for that matter
even in Sinhala) have known these writers in Sinhala and had read them?
These are the lucky writers in Sinhala introduced to readers in Thamil:
Keerthi Walisarage, Kamal Perera, Nissanga Wijemaana, Aanamaduwae
Wijesinha, Anula Wierathna Menkae, Sydney Marcus Dias, Eric Iliaiappa
Aarachi, Jayathilaka Kammalaweera, Liyanagae Amarakirthi, and Sarath
Wijesuriya. I am so glad that Thoathenna publishers have already brought
16 titles in Thamil.
Without any fanfare or publicity, they have quietly bought out some
books written by Lankan Muslims in Deep South.
Out of the 20 short stories there is only one long story running to
26 pages that has a character that is Thamil speaking. For this I must
congratulate writer Kamal Perera and the translator Dickwelle Kamal.
We learn that the writer Kamal Perera had worked as a Banker and now
retired. He is presently a freelance writer. Some of is works in Sinhala
are Thirukoanaya, Kandu Yaya Nisalai, Raine Pahan Novi, and Nikmayama.
He had also won the Sahthya Award for his short fiction.
Here is a sample of how this story begins in summary form.
The narrator in the story has two children - the youngest is a girl.
She answers a phone call and hands the receiver over to her father Wije
who as reading a book. The call is from Rajini who had returned to Lanka
after 10 years. She spoke in fluent English. But she is conversant in
Sinhala as well. She and he had worked together for the political party
earlier. The narrator was bewitched by the beauty and smile of the
woman. He and she went down to Galle Road and got into a trishaw. They
were to travel to Maradana to meet Rajah who had had a garage earlier.
He now has a rent-a-car service.
I suggest that the Thamil speaking Lankans read this and other
stories to study how and what the writers of short stories in Sinhala do
their way Learning Thamil: a dilemma
Here is my request to the powers that be:
One way of bridging the distance among the communities is to
communicate with each other in all three languages. If English is a
barrier for most of our people to communicate, then let us speak to
others in both Sinhala and Thamil. Spoken language is better than
studying the grammar etcetera for the adults. Children in schools can
learn both Sinhala and Thamil in the approved manner. But the adults
need help.
There seems to be a difficulty for the Sinhalas to pick up the right
spoken Thamil. This is because there are different kinds of Thamil
spoken in the country.
I shall explain; there is Thamil spoken in the north which has
several dialects peculiar to each village or group of villages; then in
the north western region a slightly different spoken Thamil that has a
tinge of some patterns of speech akin to Thamilnadu accents; then in the
central hills the spoken Thamil is closer to Thamilnadu speech patterns;
and in the east the spoken Thamil is different although there is not
much difference in the spoken Thamil among the Muslims and Thamilians;
the Muslims in the south and south west they have their own way of
speaking Thamil; people in Colombo and suburbs speak an amalgam of
different accents in Thamil. Naturally a Sinhala Lankan or a Burgher
Lankan or a Malay Lankan does not know in what Thamil he should speak to
a Lankan Thamil. Since the majority of Lankan Sinhalas and Burghers live
in the southern half of Lanka they have heard the kind of speech
patterns spoken in the plantation area and in Thamil films and try to
imitate that style of speech. So what is the solution?
The teacher should explain the nuances and try to teach them not
bookish Thamil but reasonably accepted standard spoken Thamil. But this
is difficult. What the tutor does is to teach Thamil according to the
Thamil grammar. And this is boring to students. So give up studying
Thamil and drop out.
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