Book review:

Patriotic endeavour

Sarkuwa
Author: Gunasekera Gunasoma

It is not very long since the flames of war that enveloped the country have died down. The horrible realities of war are now being revealed in the lands of post war writers. Their efforts at placing before the readers the various facets of experiences in the lives of the people are praiseworthy. World literature has been enriched by work dealing with the theme of war.

Sarakkuwa by outstanding writer Gunasekera Gunasoma is a very readable novel on the theme of war of this country. I am of the view that the patriotic endeavour in bringing out a work of this nature will be very relevant and estimable if it was made available in English and Tamil versions. This work is a must for anyone who takes an interest in the destiny of this country.

The writer is a son of the soil of Panama Pattuwa in the Eastern Province. This was an area enveloped by the flames of war right from the beginning to the very end. He spent the grater part of his life amids the flames of war in the East, which enabled him to see and experience at first hand the naked facets of separatism and so-called war. The writer found himself in such a million that he felt the very heart beat of that section of the people oppressed due to Tamil separatism. This war made possible by the close company he kept with Tamil friends and neighbors. The lives led b y the friendly people in the villages and hamlets and those of his friends formed part and parcel of his won experience, or he witnessed at first hand how they became victims of the war. “Sarakkuwa” is a word meaning obstruction and it signifies separatism.

It is commonly recognized that the roots of the crisis in the North lay in the psyche of separatism. The youth who were systematically indoctrinated and induced towards winning an Eelam state were driven to a guerrilla war by power hungry elements. The Report of the LLRC delves in to the source of the conflict, and its findings are not challenged.

A considerable section of the youth who found themselves at sea being oppressed by the terrorism in the South and the war in the North. It is common knowledge that they fled the native country and some were lost int eh wilderness of existence. The numbers that lost their lives, the disabled and the displaced in consequence of the conflict were very high.

In the face of the war-tactics of the terrorists, the authorities favoured resolving the conflict by dialogue. However it could be seen that the militants were not disposed to agree to a peaceful solution. That is how things led to see an end to the war by resorting to arms.

The East is a country with a particular culture of its own. It was rendered immune to the influence of the outer world by agencies of nature in the form of thick forest cover, the lagoon and the sea. The people's livelihood here were agriculture endemic to the region, fishing, animal husbandry and trade. The villagers aspirations were, therefore limited. “Sarakkuwa” is a novel portraying a vivid cross section of the tire of the people of the Province strong family bonds, religious beliefs, food habits customs and ways of life welded the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in to a well-knit entity. It the midst of a singular co-existence where there was harmonious sharing of good and bad times, there were no distinctions of the high and the law.

The unrighteous agents of separatism invaded this country which then had such a background, carrying with them the seeds of division. Some activists arrived from outside areas. Government security personnel viewed the villagers as members of the LTTE or their spies.

Caught between two armed groups the villagers were helpless. The author described with restraint how the youth misled by the Eelam dream took to arms descended upon the villages, oppressed the people imposing taxes, how they made spies of the villagers in tackling in security forces, how not only their free movement but even listening to the government news over the radio was prevented, how they were manhandled inhumanly irrespective of age, how they were forced into slavery by way of numerous punishments and how very often the peoples had to pay with their lives.

The most contemptible aspect of their atrocities was the enacting away of children and training them as child soldiers, parents and elders who know only too well the ate that await them children in the battlefield which is certain death, go down on their knees and bog of the armed youth to spare their very young loved ones.

“Sarakkuwa” is absorbing reading its cluracters are full of life and breathing. A host of war experiences are built up around a few characters, who are all humble villagers close to the readers heart, reaching the depths of which they shock the reader.

Maryuran and Kamalani couple reaching middle age are struggling against great odds to open up a fair opportunity in life for their only child, a eleven year old daughter Sinduja as far as his meagre income from odd jobs and the sale of vegetables at the fair would permit them. Sinduja was the gift they received from god as a result of their Prayers made at munours kovils.

Sonthil and Rajini are a young couple whose son is Kabilan. He is a few years older than Sinduja. Senthils father Kanagasabei is a retired hospital watcher. He is the factor making the two families get closer as well as their wise old admonisher. The one who sows the seeds of separatism in the villages is Balaclundran. His brother and the two daughters who joined the Tiger Army die in the war front. Son is a black Tiger. Now the bereft family has been elevated to “Mahavira” Status.

Mayuran and Senthil not contributing to the liberation efforts by not enlisting children to Tiger Cadres incure Balachandra's displeasure. The two families fearing that their son and daughter can at any movement be snatched away by roaming Tigers decide to get the young boy and girl to enter in to a hurried marriage, which is fully supported by Kanakasabei, Nevertheless, Kabilan is drafted in to the Tiger Army as child soldier. Sindjua is now pregnant Mayuran her father who goes to the city fair to sell vegetables becomes a casualty of the war. Kablian on the pretext of taking his wife to the hospital together with Kamalani and Kanagasabei plans thereby to flee the Tiger controlled area of his native village.

The hospital being in the they city in the Government controlled area across the lagoon and they avoid the check point and get in to the lagoon. Kablian kicks his gun off to the waters of the lagoon, but soon coming to realize that the Tiger carders are closely following them to catch for desertion. They manage to wade for some time, and get on to a rock in the middle of the lagoon, but the mother becomes the target of the Tiger fire and drawns in the water which Sindjua is not aware

Sindjua develops labour pains and delivers her baby a boy. Kanagasabei has no alternative other than doing his best as mid-wife to Sinduja. Kabilan gripping the baby to the breast survives to freedom from Tiger – controlled area in early hours of the dawn. Sinduja bleeding heavily from the child birth is rendered motionless. Kamalasabei who carries Sinduja on his back places her lifeless body on the bank and weeps uncontrollably.

The language employed by the author for his story is simple but effective. His style approaches that of Martin Wickramasinghe's in “Gamperaliya” a work of a few decades vintage. Gunasekera takes care not to let his characters stray into sentimentality and melodgam. He maintains a fine balance between mind and heart and there by gains the interest and admiration of the reader.

- Dr Nimal Samarasundera