Friday Diary:

Panorama of sketches on old glories

Padma Edirisinghe

What is so intriguing about Walauwas? Even the word Walaw is intriguing. It is said to own South Indian origins. But it came stay in our island embellished with several indigenous features. Though the edifice and the word are intriguing the fate of most of these Walauwas today can be described as pathetic. Especially those

built within the much named city of Senakadagala or Mahanuwara or Kandy or Kande. They have almost gone into hiding, perhaps never to return as our buried cities, despite periodical attempts to resurrect them.

The latest volunteer in this field is Vasantha Perera, a seasoned artist cum photo journalist. His biggest find is Girihagama Walauwa. It lies in the proximity of Dalada Maligawa immersed in a labyrinth of old and new building. Sad to say, it has today become the hub of commercial activities, ignoring that all important board that announces that it is a Preserve of the Archaeological Department. Who cares?

This is Mod Sri Lanka. But one is overcome with a rush of pity for the original architect of it who bestowed such care on turning out a typical Olde mansion replete with indigenous features as the Meda Midula and the cute little balconies up on the Sandalu Thala (balcony) exhibiting intricate carvings and exquisite colour combinations.

Just a “Hoo” away lies the Olde Empire Hotel that hides within it a part of Ratawatte walauwa and Vasantha, the patriot he is, his heart turns heavy, he says whenever he sees Queen’s Hotel for eclipsed for good within it is Dullewa Siya Pattuwa Walauwa now corresponding to the main dining Hall of the Hotel.

Quite a few other Abodes of this nature have in similar fashion got transformed into State bodies like municipality centres and main post offices and remand homes ignoring the fame of those who owned them. Just to quote one name, that of Ehelapola Maha Adikaram. The Colonial administrators themselves had no heart during the cruel transformation while our local people, our own, cruelly went one better in denigrating them as today done to Girihagama Walauwa.

Vasantha, though today he has taken to wander along back alleys and remote jungle paths of Lanka is no land lubber and has travelled widely in Europe and countries like Japan which he says follow a noble practice of preserving abodes of this nature as national monuments that draw dollars from tourists too. Today playing Topsy Turvy Bogus Walauwas are created to showcase components of lost and defaced ones.

The ruins of these along with many other relics of the past and impressions of the present will grace Vasantha’s Sketch Book on Kandy that would be launched on November 5 at a grand event at Lionel Wendt. Vasantha is no novice to the “Sketching area.” He has already put out his Sketch Book on Jaffna, that includes his drawings of important places in that citadel and surprisingly done during the height of war. He had only one adventure, a detention for one single night in the enemy camp who let him go after going through his sketches done as an admiration of the beautiful.

Thank the gods for one priceless life saved. Perhaps to compensate for the artist’s boldness and adventurous spirit all copies of “Jaffna” have been sold out. Success of that venture led him to his second Sketch Book ie.

That on Kandy. It is a fascinating accumulation not only of past abodes but of the Ambalamas, our wayside rests and Tam Pita Viharas, those cute little temples built on columns and belonging to the Kandyan period. And he had not forgotten the bridges of old dotting the terrain here and there in curious fashion. Nor the myriad artefacts of the period including priceless swords and daggers and ingenious household items that articulate to the world the brilliance of the Kandyan craftsman.

Vasantha has gone on to add a new dimension to his second Sketch book.

He may cry over the vanished glory but he is mindful of the moods of the average man and woman who wanders in and around Kandy. The older the better.

Why do you concentrate so much on the old and the wrinkled, I ask.

The wrinkles, they bespeak such a wealth of experience, is the answer. So the aged cook in Degaldoruwa temple, the Marassana Kiriamma who opts for a second photo replete with the Gedi male, the Moor trader who in contrast to the eternal grumbler feels that the world around is just glorious (he and his ilk have been haunting the interior for centuries)- these figures have captivated the artist’s mind and exercised his unusual talents at sketching.

Strange places he has entered with his equipment on his solo journeys. It is not only the much publicized sites as the Kiri Muhuda (Milky Sea) that he focuses on.

He enters queer places as the Minee Maru Temple, where a murder has taken place just before the Buddha statue. Nobody patronizes it now for fear of ghosts but its architectural vintage attracted the artist.

All his Sketches that have gone into his book imbued with an inexplicable sense of sanctity, you can witness in enlarged form at the forthcoming exhibition.

Good luck to the young artist not only in love with the world but respectful of it, with the memory of a mother now no more who taught him to admire the good and the beautiful propelling him to new heights and galvanizing his energy from wherever she is.