Transcending boundaries

Chamari Senanayake, a muti-faceted personality shares her experience across fields, continents:

Ruwini Jayawardana

At first take, Chamari Senanayake, was like any other Sri Lankan who had studied abroad. She goes for her lessons, hangs out with friends and spends occasional hours on outdoor activities. But that’s where the similarities end. Chamari is not an average university student, she was the first Sri Lankan student who was elected by her peers as the vice-president of a leading university which also covers six universities in the Victorian Province, Australia.

She was also the first Sri Lankan student editor in an Australian university for all its publications. In addition, she was the first co-editor of a Victorian wide student publication affiliated with the Australian Government. She had done her Masters in English at the Melbourne University and the Deakin University during her-10 -year stretch.

Starting point

“I started off as a freelance journalist, contributing articles for some of the leading newspapers in the island from the age of 16. I wrote in both Sinhala and English and I was mostly involved in sports and travel writing,” said the multi-faceted young woman who had climbed a long way up the academic ladder to carve her mark in Down Under.

Hailing from Pannipitiya Senanayake is a product of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo. She had been an active student and involved in a range of extra curricular activities at school. As the president of the school Art Circle, vice-president of the Drama Society, Treasurer of the Young Writers’ Association and a school prefect, her life had been full of activity. She was also a Cadet Sergeant Major and a member of the basketball and hockey team. Her father was Abayasiri Senanayake, an English lecturer at the Education Department, a teacher and author while her mother, Chandraseeli Elvitigala, was a teacher.

She says it is her father who was the driving force behind her passion for writing. “I used to send some of my writing to some of the local newspapers. All of them were published.

As I was involved in a lot of sports activities at school, an editor of a teenage magazine requested me to write a series of articles about the Sri Lankan Cricket Team. It was very difficult to approach them then as they were practising hard for the 1996 World Cup. He advised me to interview as many people as I could.

The next thing he knew, I would hand over him the write-ups after interviewing all the members of the team including the extras. He was overwhelmed and the magazine carried each of the interviews every week,” Chamari recalled on how she ventured into the field of sports journalism.

Interest in sports

“I was one of the very first ace writers of Sri Lanka. I also wrote on sports such as cricket and motor racing. While I was studying in Australia I developed a passion for horse racing.

I began to go to watch races often and took pictures. I met some of the famous trainers in the field and these encounters helped me to brush up my knowledge on the subject. They are billionaires and millionaires. They are among the audience in all the major races which are graced by prestigious people like the Queen,” she observerd, explaining how she gleaned knowledgeable on the subject.

She adds that there were many female sports journalists and photographers in Australia though they were a very few in Sri Lanka.The explanation probably amounts to the fact that it was mostly men who take an interest in sports while women are not keen to broach the area. Travelling had been one of her interests from her early days. She had composed a number of articles for a men’s weekly under the title of Charika Sahatahan.

Adventurous

“I grabbed my camera and set off on one of my adventures. One of my articles on the Melbourne Ghost tour was published in one of the Sunday newspapers. The organizers of the tour read the article and were very impressed by that. They obtained copyrights and added it to their web,” she said.

Speaking on her experience as a travel writer, Chamari noted that she had travelled to foreign pastures like Singapore and Australia. She has striking recollections of her journey to Tasmania. She said, “It is an Australian island. We visited the place on board a huge vessel. We were allowed to take our vehicles on the ship and once it reached the shore I was able to bring my car onto the land. It took me two days to drive around the island. It was fun,” she added with a enthusiasm.

She had also been involved in the electronic media as a translator and dubbing artist. She had translated and dubbed for the series of Hans Christian Anderson cartoons which were telecast on Rupavahini in afternoons under the guidance of award winning director Titus Thotawatta. Back after completing her studies, she once again translated a few documentaries for Rupavahini channel.

Her stint in Australia had cast a shadow over her lively lifestyle at the beginning. Loneliness had engulfed her but being an outgoing and active youth, she decided to become involved with some of the projects in the university. She started off as a student volunteer and soon clinched the position of peer support student and eventually got to the post of the leader of the peer support student.

On the ramp

She had modeled for famous brands like Armani and a European hair care product called Schwarkpaos. She had even appeared in an Australian teledrama named ‘Kick’ which was aired on the SBS Channel and had been featured on the fashion page of the national newspaper of Australia, the Sunday Herald Sun. However she stresses that modeling is something which she considers as a hobby.

She aims to follow her parents’ footsteps and excel academically. Her goal is to take a post at a university as a lecturer.

“I consider myself as a very different woman. I do not follow the same typical boundaries that other women follow but I do follow certain Sri Lankan traditions. I believe our country encompasses a male dominant society but for me it has not been a barrier as me father raised me to be a different daughter, more like a son. That moulded my personality and no one else would be able to change that. I am pleased of my achievements and that I was able to set a positive image of Sri Lanka in another country. It is like a legacy that I have left behind for even today, the people know my name,” she smiled.