A halo for Sekara
Thirty-six years ago on January 14, one of the greatest 'artists' in
our country passed away. I use the term artist not because he was just a
painter, but because he created music by his paintings, paintings by his
poems and lyrics, symphonies by his novels, short stories, children's
books and translations.
'A Halo for Mahagama Sekera' was held at the Mahagama Sekera
Vidyalaya, opposite the Thun man handiya in Radawana. It was organized
by the students following the Media and Mass Communication course at the
Sri Lanka Press Council.
One memorable speech was made by W A D Gunadasa, who recalled how the
memorial for Mahagama Sekera built at the Radawana junction had been
later demolished to establish a volleyball court. Gunadasa, the retired
railway employee, who had met Sekera every morning on their way to
office, lamented this vandalism. Every morning, when they met, Sekera
would tell him about his latest literary efforts, and complain that he
was unable to have them published.
And Gunadasa would encourage him, that someday his efforts would bear
fruit. Little would Gunadasa himself realize then, how prophetic his
words were.
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Dr Praneeth
Abhayasundara
Picture by Lalith C Gamage |
The destruction or distortion of the name of such a great person is
far worse than destroying a memorial. This was "achieved" by the Postal
authorities, who released a stamp in commemoration of Mahagama Sekera,
but baptizing him as "Shantha Kumara" Mahagama Sekera. Later the stamp
was released by blacking out the words 'Shantha Kumara". This stamp must
be a bonanza for stamp collectors! But even such humiliations would not
touch a great man in any way, because great men are far above such
trifles.
Gunadasa need not grieve about the destruction of the memorial.
Mahagama Sekera would never need any additional monuments in his memory,
because his creative works themselves stand as the greatest monuments
for generations to come.
The halo created on January 14, at the Mahagama Sekera Vidyalaya
consisted of several rings. One ring was lightened by Dr. Praneeth
Abhayasundara, who described the great works, 'Nomiyemi', 'Prabuddha',
'Sakvalihini', and how these works, introduced to him by his late
father, and later on by his teachers, had influenced his thinking and
his life. Mahagama Sekera had been a teacher only for a short period,
but he had moulded the lives of many Sri Lankans, all throughout his
life, and one of them illumined the second ring. It was Karundasa
Sooriarachchi, the Editor of Silumina, the reputed journalist, columnist
and novelist. He recalled how a lecture given by Mahagama Sekera, when
he was studying for his A-Levels in science subjects, had changed his
life. This was when he got a liking for poetry and literature, finally
paving the way for him to end up as the editor of a prestigious
newspaper. Then we should also be grateful to Sekera for this influence
on Sooriarachchi, because if not for his visit to their school that day,
our readers would have been deprived of novels like 'Ratu Idda' and
'Andakara Tharakava'.
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra, created the third halo, reminiscing about his
association with Sekera, at the SLBC, about his good fortune to have
been able to listen to Sekera reciting his 'Nomiyemi', 'Prabuddha' and
'Thunmanhandiya', and how Sekera designed a cover for one of his books,
with just a burnt match-stick.
Kumara Kaviraj from Kivulakele in Kottikachchi, launched his book 'A
letter to Sekara from his village', on this occasion, a letter written
today because Sekera is still with us.
Another silent admirer was K. G. Jinasena, who has collected many of
Sekera's early writings and publications about Sekera, of which he had
made several copies to be presented at the 'Ras Walalla'.
He has also published the only collection of short stories written by
Sekera, under the title 'Peethara Saha Thawat Ketikatha'.
It is never too late to introduce Mahagama Sekera to readers beyond
our shores. We could begin with translations into Tamil and English as
the first step. There are many young people in our country who are
fluent in Tamil and Sinhala, who could render good translations of
Sekera's writings, without distorting or harming the original thoughts
and rhythm. For this program one of the students, M. S. Suja M Muneer,
had translated a poem from Nomiemi into Tamil, and we should encourage
him to continue his efforts. By translating into Tamil, his books could
reach over 77 million tamil speaking readers around the world.
For a creative genius to make use of all his skills and creative
powers, the time, place and his surroundings too play a major role. Had
Sekera lived in the United States or England, he could probably have
outshone many of the writers held in very high esteem the world over.
Had he lived in Sweden or had his books been translated in Swedish, he
could have been nominated for the Nobel and won it too.
By translation into English, Sekera could reach over 500 million
readers, and also the children of the Sri Lankan diaspora, who are
unable to read Sinhala. By publishing his works in E-book format he
could be read by the young generations on their i-Pods, Kindles, Nooks
and even their android phones, not only in English, but in Sinhala too.
In between the speeches, the students from the Press Council,
entertained the audience with selected songs, written by Sekara. They
once again reminded us that Sekera, true to his words in 'Nomiyemi' is
not dead. He lives among us today, and will live among our children and
their children.
One more reason for continuing to publish and translate Mahagama
Sekera is because of his own vision, as written by him in his
introduction to Prabuddha -
"On a day in the future
When the world becomes a better place
I'm convinced
You will appreciate this more"
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