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Book Review:
Splendid portrayal of Sri Lankan life
Title: Heart Charka
Authors: Pramod Kandanarachchi and Sam Dissanayake
Page count: Paperback 430 pages
Published: June 2010
Price: $22.99
ISBN 978-0-557-36095-6
www.lulu.com.
The freedom of fiction writers is legendary. Whether the threat and
the storylines are real or perceived, whether the events and situations
are real or perceived, there simply is no need to dig deep.
 In fact, fortunate for the fiction writer creating a story about
“fictional” characters from current and/or immediate past Sri Lankan
life, anything is possible and the limit lies strictly within the
confines of the creators’ mind. However, unfortunate for the same “real”
people encountering these situations, it seems that many fiction writers
lack the imagination and bravery to venture into these countless stories
and create the necessary awareness among the public to facilitate
corrective action.
While the freedom to write, think and express ideas that are relevant
and “real” for the populace are being limited everywhere, it is quite
impossible to impose those limits, again real or perceived, on what is
experienced by and happening around the “fictional” characters, for
example to Rohan Warnapura, our main character in the book Heart Chakra
by Pramod Kandanarachchi. Heart Chakra is a novel by Pramod
Kandanarachchi with storyline collaboration by Sam Dissanayake published
in English.
They are the most recent addition to the long line of people of Sri
Lankan origin writing fiction in English. Many successful writers have
emerged from this block as it should simply due to the fact that a rich
ocean of stories is there for the taking.
At various points of Sri Lankan history writers have emerged and
ventured into do the needful. Whether the medium of writing is in
Sinhala or Tamil, the language of the masses, or in English, the
language of the privileged, this task has to be done and so it will be.
Heart Chakra is marketed as a love story spanning the recent
turbulent past of Sri Lanka experienced through the eyes of Rohan the
main character in association with his relatives, friends and
acquaintances.
My reading of the book is essentially focused on understanding the
human suffering and the inherent ability of people to survive situations
that calls for digging deep into one’s soul. The book is good reading
for anyone interested in such issues. It will soon be available in Sri
Lanka as a Godage publication.
- Vicumpriya Perera :- vicumpriya-perera@yahoo,com
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