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Wednesday, 9 March 2011

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Remembering Dharmasiri Gamage through his works

I don’t remember how many years have gone by since the sad demise of our humble and talented friend Dharmasiri Gamage. I feel he is still alive with us engaged in his daily struggles in journalism, cinematography and rest of the communication areas he was actively committed to.

I have received three reprints of his much discussed books: collection of his lyrics (titled Hulang Kurullo), the serialized novel of Siripala Saha Ranmenika, which later became a film under his direction and script (This was a raging box office success in the local scene of the early seventies. As I remember Dharmasiri was an active investigative reporter whose function surpassed the mere barrier of probing into the police diaries and press cuttings.

Instead of paying more attention to mere readily available source material, Gamage had wandered around the country leaving no stone unturned to write a series of investigative articles related to the subject. This is where the good learning in investigative reporting cum creative feature writing rests), the second collection of his lyrics Kalak Avemen Perum Pura first appeared in 2010.

This compilation holds quite a number of his lyrics written to Sinhala film and teleplays. It had taken 21 long years for the compiler to put out his several collections of his lyrics.

Gamage had been a poet who loved nature and environment from his formative days as a Sinhala journalist. To his credit he had traveled in most parts of the world.

Two of his main contributions are Jatika Namal Uyana Dambadiva Charika Atpotha. His travel notes which had been a stock in trade in his profession had gone a long trip and had ended up as mini travel books written in Sinhala. They are used by those who seek employment in countries such as Italy and Cyprus.

As I remember him, he was one young prolific short story writer who had the knack for depicting the inner human impulses such as love, desire and anger. His short stories were popularly accepted.

Once when he was appointed as the Chief Editor of a Sinhala youth weekly titled Yovun Janatha (Lake House publication) he got a large number of youth literary enthusiasts to rally around the paper in good intention.

This paved the way for quite a number of communication workshops all around the country. The gathering of youth in all parts of the country was known by the term Ran Weta which literary means the ‘golden encirclement’, was meant to discuss issues relating to youth issues.

Dharamsiri had the chance of holding one large group gathering in Koggala, the birthplace of Martin Wickramasinghe. I was also invited by Gamage to address one session on creative writing trends at home and abroad.

In this manner the weekly newspaper Yovun Janatha looked more a literary weekly journal than a newspaper. But something drastic may have happened to its continuous flow, which was beyond one’s grasp. The weekly paper meant for youth had to be discontinued.

Some newspapers born out of good intentions don’t last long, said Gamage in a smiling mood. From being a short story writer he became a seasoned journalist who innovated certain new trends in the use of weekend supplements in Sunday Sinhala newspapers.

One such example is Rasaduna still issued with Silumina. He was the founder editor of Rasaduna, which included all recipes that go into the making of a weekend magazine type periodical. Some articles he wrote in Sinhala were translated into English.

Some often were translated by himself. From the field of journalism he switched his attention to teleplay writing, cine writing and direction. But his forte as I visualize is lyric writing. The well known song ammavarune sung by Nanda Malini is one remarkable example.

The lovers of music say that it is the best Sinhala song written in praise of motherhood. I too agree all in all Dharme, as we used to address him, remained as a humble great man of letters, unshaken either by party politics or by literary politics. He is remembered by all not only those who were close to him, but also by the common masses who knew the multi-faceted artistes in him.

I sincerely feel that Dharmasiri Gamage Foundation is continuing to make us know more about him.

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