Touching the touch-me-nots

Isuru Chamara Somaweera is a young writer who speaks openly about homosexuality and related social concerns through his literary work. Malak Katha Karai (A flower speaks), his debut short story collection,won the Godage National Literature Award for the Best Short Story collection this year.

Sri Lanka is not a society that is tolerant of homosexuality. Intolerance, however, cannot and will not eliminate people who are considered to have out-of-the-ordinary sexual orientations. Making things worse, taboos in the society rarely allow people to speak about the social, physical or mental issues homosexual community faces. Isuru Chamara Somaweera opined that the silence does more harm than the disapproval.

He said that a human being is also a sexual being just as much as he/she is a political being or a social being.  When the sexual aspect of life remains unspoken and unclear, a person will be more stressed, assuming something is wrong with him/her. As Somaweera explained, a proper social discussion on sexual matters would help everyone articulate questions, confusion and other issues and thereby help lighten such burdens. Somaweera, through his short stories, attempts to discuss a few of the mental as well as social issues that arise due to these matters remaining unspoken.  

Somaweera observed that Sri Lankan society has limited itself to speak on just a few selected topics with respect to sexuality. ‘However, because of some unspoken facts, people get entangled in their own lives and never gets a chance to get out of it,’ he said. He also said that he didn’t think it as a challenge to write openly about less spoken social issues. ‘I didn’t think about it that much. I used my freedom; I just wrote what came to my mind,’ he said.

 ‘I wrote some of these stories long ago. I didn’t plan to publish them. Even after I decided that I would do so, I had the manuscript with me for a long time without it being accepted by a publisher. Publishers didn’t show much interest about the book until one day Upul Shantha Sannasgala called me to say that it should be published,’ he spoke about how his debut short story collection got published. Malak Katha Karai was published by Sanghinda Printers and Publishers.

He also spoke about the comments and criticisms he received. ‘I got both good and bad responses,” he said. “Some in the field gave me positive comments about my writing while some spoke negatively about the topics discussed commenting that those are not in tune with our culture,’ Somaweera added.   Malak Katha Karai is Somaweera’s third book. His first two books were poetry collections; Thandawa (2011) and Suda (2005).   Other writing is also available on his blog www.kirikawadi.blogspot.com and www.boondi.lk. Suda won him the Best Young Literary Influence title in the Godage Literary Awards in 2005. Thandawa was also nominated for the final round of the Godage awards.  

Somaweera said that his writing is a product of his isolation as a kid. During his childhood he lived in Ambatale near the Kelani River. Isuru Chamara was the only child of the family.  The violence during the 88-89 was a very stressful period for him since his father got arrested for being a supporter of the JVP.

‘I was only about ten then.  My father went missing for a long time. That brought too much pressure for me,’ Somaweera said that he had to find a way to release this pressure.
‘I was lonely and there was no one that I could talk to. Therefore, I started to write everything down,’ he said. He had not shown any of his early writing to anyone: ‘I kept whatever I wrote with me and there were even times when I tore up the papers worrying that someone might read.’  As he grew older he submitted poems to newspapers.  Some of these were published.

 According to Somaweera, Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai (To loving Nimali); a short story in the collection is one of the stories that prompted a lot of responses.  Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai is a letter written by a man who had recently left his wife. Somaweera, through this letter, discusses an issue that might arise in the case of forced marriage. Since the narrator’s parents were ignorant about his sexual orientation, he had been forced into marriage. Finally when things went wrong, he left his wife and wrote her an explanatory letter.   The text speaks about the pressure a man faces when he cannot express himself as the person who is and not someone others believe him to be. The narrator of the story, Nuwan, simply agreed to marry Nimali to satisfy his parents, thereby repressing his true self.

,දීපිකා ඈත් වුණාට පස්සෙ මට තව කෙල්ලෙක් එක්ක යාළු වෙන්න වුවමනා වුණේ නැහැ මට  ඕනෙ වුනේ මම ම වෙන්න මං ඒ දවස් වල පත්තරවල ගැටළු තීර වලට බොරු නම් ගම් එක්ක මගෙ ගැටළුව ලියලා දානවා.  එක දොස්තර කෙනෙක් කියලා තිබුණෙ කළල අවධියෙ අම්මගෙ ගර්භාෂෙ ඇන්ඞ්රොජන් සාන්ද්‍රනය අඩු වුනාම උපදින ළමයි පස්සෙ කාලෙක තමන්ගෙම ලිංගෙ අයට ආකර්ෂණය වෙනවා කියලා තව කෙනෙක් මේක ජාන වලින් එන දෙයක් ය, තවත් දොස්තර කෙනෙක් මේක පෞරැුෂ වර්ධනයේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයක්ය වගේ උත්තර දීලා තිබුණා. හැබැයි මේ හැම කෙනාගෙම උත්තරය වුණේ මේක ලංකාවෙ සංස්කෘතියට ගැලපෙන්නෙ නෑය, එහෙම නැත්තං මේ ගතිය පස්සෙ ඇරේවිය අනවශ්‍ය දේවල් හිතන්නෙ නැතුව අධ්‍යාපනයට හිත යොදවන්නය, කසාදයක් බැන්දහම හරියා ය වගේ අදහසක්. දෙයියනේ තමන්ගෙ අවශ්‍යතාවය අනවශ්‍ය දෙයක් වෙන්නෙ කොහොමද?,

(I didn’t want to develop an affair with another girl after Deepika. I wanted to be me.  At the time I used to write my problem to newspapers under fake names.  One doctor said that a child would later get attracted to people of the same gender if the androgen level in the mother’s womb was low during the fetus development. One said this comes from genes and another said it’s a problem with personality development. Yet everyone concluded that this doesn’t go with our culture or else that this trait will change later; they advised me to concentrate on studies or assured me that it will go away once I marry and so on.  God, how could a person’s need be an unwanted thing?)

(Pg 86-87) 

Somaweera believes that he succeeded in conveying a message through the story. ‘I received anonymous responses, thanking me for telling people’s untold story on their behalf. In fact it was based on a true story.  The problem is not whether Nuwan’s situation is ok or not or whether it is culturally accepted or not. The problem is what both the individual and people around them have to go through and that is what should be addressed,’ he pointed out.
 Somaweera wrote Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai in 1999, while he was studying for his Advanced Level Examination. ‘Similar stories are still reported in newspapers and in some cases they have ended in suicides,’ he noted adding that a proper social discussion on the topic can make things more understandable to people.

Somaweera said that it is easier for him to write his stories in the first person and he believes that this could be his writing style. With his incredible ability to empathize, Somaweera writes his story in a manner that the reader will know what the narrator feels. ‘It’s easy to describe, when you write in the first person. It is not merely trying to walk in other people’s shoes. In some of the stories I have tried walking in my shoes too,’ Somaweera said.  ‘I believe that I was also present in the stories I wrote, only I was wearing shoes of other’s sizes,’ he laughed.

The language that he uses is simple and therefore reading is effortless. Similar to his poetry, he uses figurative speech. The comparisons he used are also simple yet fresh. ‘Rabber kallata adigruhitha naki dewathawiyak wage – as an old goddess who possesses the rubber land (Rubber) , Hina wenna kata ida madi – Mouth was not wide enough to smile (Pasak Weema), Papuwa Pirenna Adareyi – love (something) to the fullest capacity of the heart (Mage Maluwa), Wedi thiyana es- Shooting eyes (Kiranchi), Kanda dunnama natta wanagena passen ena balliyak wage – like a bitch who follows you wagging its tail after you’ve fed her(Rosa Pata) are just a few examples.

Rosa Pata (Pink), is a story narrated by a woman who works as a beautician. Somaweera has successfully described the feelings and behavior of a woman using the narrator’s present situation and flashbacks. Kalu Kumaraya is another story which exemplifies his ability to ampathize. He identifies the loneliness and isolation of an unmarried woman who is passing her marriageable age without a partner. He gives a fresh interpretation for the notion of the Kalu Kumaraya (Black Prince Demon). It is said that the spirit of Kalu Kumaraya follows young girls to entice them and then possesses them making them commit promiscuous acts. Through the lineup of the story Somaweera manages to give a logical interpretation explaining how the repressed sexual desires of an unmarried woman could make her psychologically disturbed.

Speaking further about the psychological explanations given throughout the book he pointed out that Prathibimba and Malak Katha Karai can also be identified as stories which speak of serious mental conditions. The child in Malak Katha Karayi suddenly gets the ability to speak to a rose in his garden. The writer explains how his schizophrenic behavior was triggered by the desperate situation between his mother and father. On the other hand, the narrator of Prathibimba describes the obsessive behavior of a young man who cannot stop checking his face in mirrors. The writer also speaks about how his stress is exacerbated and how he is reluctant to receive psychological help, scared of social stigma, even though he suspects that he does indeed has a mental health issue.
”දැන් වෙලාව කීයයි කියලද හිතන්නේ? දැන් පාන්දර තුනයි  විස්සයි. මම කන්නාඩියෙන් මුණ බලනවා. වෙලාවකට හිතෙනවා මට පිස්සුද කියලත්. පිස්සු නැත්තන් මේ වෙලාවේ කන්නාඩියෙන් මුණ බලයි ද? මානසික රෝග දොස්තර කෙනෙක් හම්බවෙන්න යන්නත් තියනවා. එත් දෙය්යනේ කොහොමද මම මේවා තව මිනිහෙක් ඉස්සරහ කට ඇරලා කියන්නේ? මේවා හිතනකොට මට වෙලාවකට ඇඩෙන්න එනවා. ඇස්  දෙක කොච්චර තද කරලා පියාගත්තත් දැන්   නින්ද යන්නේ නෑ. මාව කාන්දමකට වගේ ඇදෙන්නේ කන්නාඩිය ගාවටමයි. දෙයියනේ මේක මහා වදයක්.”
(pg 109)
(What time do you think it is? Its 3.20 in the morning. I’m looking at my face in the mirror. Sometimes I wonder if I am crazy. If not, why look at my face at this hour? I should go and see a psychiatrist. But, god, how can I tell these things to another man? I feel like crying when I think about this. I can’t sleep no matter how hard I try to close my eyes. Like to a magnet I am always attracted to the mirror. Oh god, this is such a nuisance!)

Although the writer speaks confidently about mental health issues, he said that he has not acquired any academic qualification on the subject. ‘I am an avid reader. I have not had any organized learning on either psychology or literature. Most of these things are what I learnt from reading,’ he said humbly. He currently works in the Malaria Prevention Program as an entomologist in the Health Ministry.

It makes one wonder if the stories in the collection Malak Katha Karai reflect the writer, himself. He said that such questions are typical when one writes something out of the ordinary. ‘If a talented person stops himself from expressing himself or herself through writing in fear of what society thinks about them that is a shame,’ he said. ‘There will be consequences. It is unavoidable. Also, the writer has to think about his security too. This can’t be completely ignored,’ he further said. 

To Somaweera, Short stories are secondary to poems. He said that he can express himself more easily through poetry.  As an amateur in the field he said that it is a challenge to find publishers for his poetry. ‘Publishers are reluctant to accept poetry collections. But I believe that they can sell them if they do it the correct way. People don’t reject good things,’ he stressed. ‘Some think that poetry is only limited to a specific group. It’s a myth. There is a considerable number of readers around the new poets who don’t have this attitude,’ he pointed out.

Although publishers reject poetry collections in fear of not being able to sell them, there is a good demand for poems over the internet. Blogs, online communities or discussions over social media indicate that still there is a group of people, even in the younger generations who are fond of poetry. Yet, this enthusiasm is not vividly shown in the market. Somaweera puts it down to publishers not having requisite skills. ‘They do not know how to market poetry collections. It could be the negative experiences they received in selling poetry earlier,’ he suspects. ‘All copies of Thandawa were sold within a year or so. If you go to a launching ceremony of a poetry collection you’ll witness a hall full of people. Would they come if they don’t admire poetry?’ he asked. ‘Maybe publishers are ignorant of this current enthusiasm for poetry,’ he said.  

Isuru Chamara Somaweera is a young writer who speaks openly about homosexuality and related social concerns through his literary work. Malak Katha Karai (A flower speaks), his debut short story collection,won the Godage National Literature Award for the Best Short Story collection last Wednesday (4).
Sri Lanka is not a society that is tolerant of homosexuality. Intolerance, however, cannot and will not eliminate people who are considered to have out-of-the-ordinary sexual orientations. Making things worse, taboos in the society rarely allow people to speak about the social, physical or mental issues homosexual community faces. Isuru Chamara Somaweera opined that the silence does more harm than the disapproval.
He said that a human being is also a sexual being just as much as he/she is a political being or a social being.  When the sexual aspect of life remains unspoken and unclear, a person will be more stressed, assuming something is wrong with him/her. As Somaweera explained, a proper social discussion on sexual matters would help everyone articulate questions, confusion and other issues and thereby help lighten such burdens. Somaweera, through his short stories, attempts to discuss a few of the mental as well as social issues that arise due to these matters remaining unspoken.  
Somaweera observed that Sri Lankan society has limited itself to speak on just a few selected topics with respect to sexuality. ‘However, because of some unspoken facts, people get entangled in their own lives and never gets a chance to get out of it,’ he said. He also said that he didn’t think it as a challenge to write openly about less spoken social issues. ‘I didn’t think about it that much. I used my freedom; I just wrote what came to my mind,’ he said.
‘I wrote some of these stories long ago. I didn’t plan to publish them. Even after I decided that I would do so, I had the manuscript with me for a long time without it being accepted by a publisher. Publishers didn’t show much interest about the book until one day Upul Shantha Sannasgala called me to say that it should be published,’ he spoke about how his debut short story collection got published. Malak Katha Karai was published by Sanghinda Printers and Publishers.
He also spoke about the comments and criticisms he received. ‘I got both good and bad responses,” he said. “Some in the field gave me positive comments about my writing while some spoke negatively about the topics discussed commenting that those are not in tune with our culture,’ Somaweera added.   Malak Katha Karai is Somaweera’s third book. His first two books were poetry collections; Thandawa (2011) and Suda (2005).   Other writing is also available on his blog www.kirikawadi.blogspot.com and www.boondi.lk. Suda won him the Best Young Literary Influence title in the Godage Literary Awards in 2005. Thandawa was also nominated for the final round of the Godage awards.  
Somaweera said that his writing is a product of his isolation as a kid. During his childhood he lived in Ambatale near the Kelani River. Isuru Chamara was the only child of the family.  The violence during the 88-89 was a very stressful period for him since his father got arrested for being a supporter of the JVP.
‘I was only about ten then.  My father went missing for a long time. That brought too much pressure for me,’ Somaweera said that he had to find a way to release this pressure.
‘I was lonely and there was no one that I could talk to. Therefore, I started to write everything down,’ he said. He had not shown any of his early writing to anyone: ‘I kept whatever I wrote with me and there were even times when I tore up the papers worrying that someone might read.’  As he grew older he submitted poems to newspapers.  Some of these were published.
 According to Somaweera, Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai (To loving Nimali); a short story in the collection is one of the stories that prompted a lot of responses.  Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai is a letter written by a man who had recently left his wife. Somaweera, through this letter, discusses an issue that might arise in the case of forced marriage. Since the narrator’s parents were ignorant about his sexual orientation, he had been forced into marriage. Finally when things went wrong, he left his wife and wrote her an explanatory letter.   The text speaks about the pressure a man faces when he cannot express himself as the person who is and not someone others believe him to be. The narrator of the story, Nuwan, simply agreed to marry Nimali to satisfy his parents, thereby repressing his true self.

,දීපිකා ඈත් වුණාට පස්සෙ මට තව කෙල්ලෙක් එක්ක යාළු වෙන්න වුවමනා වුණේ නැහැ මට  ඕනෙ වුනේ මම ම වෙන්න මං ඒ දවස් වල පත්තරවල ගැටළු තීර වලට බොරු නම් ගම් එක්ක මගෙ ගැටළුව ලියලා දානවා.  එක දොස්තර කෙනෙක් කියලා තිබුණෙ කළල අවධියෙ අම්මගෙ ගර්භාෂෙ ඇන්ඞ්රොජන් සාන්ද්‍රනය අඩු වුනාම උපදින ළමයි පස්සෙ කාලෙක තමන්ගෙම ලිංගෙ අයට ආකර්ෂණය වෙනවා කියලා තව කෙනෙක් මේක ජාන වලින් එන දෙයක් ය, තවත් දොස්තර කෙනෙක් මේක පෞරැුෂ වර්ධනයේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයක්ය වගේ උත්තර දීලා තිබුණා. හැබැයි මේ හැම කෙනාගෙම උත්තරය වුණේ මේක ලංකාවෙ සංස්කෘතියට ගැලපෙන්නෙ නෑය, එහෙම නැත්තං මේ ගතිය පස්සෙ ඇරේවිය අනවශ්‍ය දේවල් හිතන්නෙ නැතුව අධ්‍යාපනයට හිත යොදවන්නය, කසාදයක් බැන්දහම හරියා ය වගේ අදහසක්. දෙයියනේ තමන්ගෙ අවශ්‍යතාවය අනවශ්‍ය දෙයක් වෙන්නෙ කොහොමද?,

(I didn’t want to develop an affair with another girl after Deepika. I wanted to be me.  At the time I used to write my problem to newspapers under fake names.  One doctor said that a child would later get attracted to people of the same gender if the androgen level in the mother’s womb was low during the fetus development. One said this comes from genes and another said it’s a problem with personality development. Yet everyone concluded that this doesn’t go with our culture or else that this trait will change later; they advised me to concentrate on studies or assured me that it will go away once I marry and so on.  God, how could a person’s need be an unwanted thing?)
(Pg 86-87)
Somaweera believes that he succeeded in conveying a message through the story. ‘I received anonymous responses, thanking me for telling people’s untold story on their behalf. In fact it was based on a true story.  The problem is not whether Nuwan’s situation is ok or not or whether it is culturally accepted or not. The problem is what both the individual and people around them have to go through and that is what should be addressed,’ he pointed out.
 Somaweera wrote Adaraneeya Nimali Wethatai in 1999, while he was studying for his Advanced Level Examination. ‘Similar stories are still reported in newspapers and in some cases they have ended in suicides,’ he noted adding that a proper social discussion on the topic can make things more understandable to people.
Somaweera said that it is easier for him to write his stories in the first person and he believes that this could be his writing style. With his incredible ability to empathize, Somaweera writes his story in a manner that the reader will know what the narrator feels. ‘It’s easy to describe, when you write in the first person. It is not merely trying to walk in other people’s shoes. In some of the stories I have tried walking in my shoes too,’ Somaweera said.  ‘I believe that I was also present in the stories I wrote, only I was wearing shoes of other’s sizes,’ he laughed.
The language that he uses is simple and therefore reading is effortless. Similar to his poetry, he uses figurative speech. The comparisons he used are also simple yet fresh. ‘Rabber kallata adigruhitha naki dewathawiyak wage – as an old goddess who possesses the rubber land (Rubber) , Hina wenna kata ida madi – Mouth was not wide enough to smile (Pasak Weema), Papuwa Pirenna Adareyi – love (something) to the fullest capacity of the heart (Mage Maluwa), Wedi thiyana es- Shooting eyes (Kiranchi), Kanda dunnama natta wanagena passen ena balliyak wage – like a bitch who follows you wagging its tail after you’ve fed her(Rosa Pata) are just a few examples.
Rosa Pata (Pink), is a story narrated by a woman who works as a beautician. Somaweera has successfully described the feelings and behavior of a woman using the narrator’s present situation and flashbacks. Kalu Kumaraya is another story which exemplifies his ability to ampathize. He identifies the loneliness and isolation of an unmarried woman who is passing her marriageable age without a partner. He gives a fresh interpretation for the notion of the Kalu Kumaraya (Black Prince Demon). It is said that the spirit of Kalu Kumaraya follows young girls to entice them and then possesses them making them commit promiscuous acts. Through the lineup of the story Somaweera manages to give a logical interpretation explaining how the repressed sexual desires of an unmarried woman could make her psychologically disturbed.
Speaking further about the psychological explanations given throughout the book he pointed out that Prathibimba and Malak Katha Karai can also be identified as stories which speak of serious mental conditions. The child in Malak Katha Karayi suddenly gets the ability to speak to a rose in his garden. The writer explains how his schizophrenic behavior was triggered by the desperate situation between his mother and father. On the other hand, the narrator of Prathibimba describes the obsessive behavior of a young man who cannot stop checking his face in mirrors. The writer also speaks about how his stress is exacerbated and how he is reluctant to receive psychological help, scared of social stigma, even though he suspects that he does indeed has a mental health issue.

,දැන් වෙලාව කීයයි කියලද හිතන්නේ? දැන් පාන්දර තුනයි  විස්සයි. මම කන්නාඩියෙන් මුණ බලනවා. වෙලාවකට හිතෙනවා මට පිස්සුද කියලත්. පිස්සු නැත්තන් මේ වෙලාවේ කන්නාඩියෙන් මුණ බලයි ද? මානසික රෝග දොස්තර කෙනෙක් හම්බවෙන්න යන්නත් තියනවා. එත් දෙය්යනේ කොහොමද මම මේවා තව මිනිහෙක් ඉස්සරහ කට ඇරලා කියන්නේ? මේවා හිතනකොට මට වෙලාවකට ඇඩෙන්න එනවා. ඇස්  දෙක කොච්චර තද කරලා පියාගත්තත් දැන්   නින්ද යන්නේ නෑ. මාව කාන්දමකට වගේ ඇදෙන්නේ කන්නාඩිය ගාවටමයි. දෙයියනේ මේක මහා වදයක්.,

(pg 109)

(What time do you think it is? Its 3.20 in the morning. I’m looking at my face in the mirror. Sometimes I wonder if I am crazy. If not, why look at my face at this hour? I should go and see a psychiatrist. But, god, how can I tell these things to another man? I feel like crying when I think about this. I can’t sleep no matter how hard I try to close my eyes. Like to a magnet I am always attracted to the mirror. Oh god, this is such a nuisance!)
Although the writer speaks confidently about mental health issues, he said that he has not acquired any academic qualification on the subject. ‘I am an avid reader. I have not had any organized learning on either psychology or literature. Most of these things are what I learnt from reading,’ he said humbly. He currently works in the Malaria Prevention Program as an entomologist in the Health Ministry.
It makes one wonder if the stories in the collection Malak Katha Karai reflect the writer, himself. He said that such questions are typical when one writes something out of the ordinary. ‘If a talented person stops himself from expressing himself or herself through writing in fear of what society thinks about them that is a shame,’ he said. ‘There will be consequences. It is unavoidable. Also, the writer has to think about his security too. This can’t be completely ignored,’ he further said.
To Somaweera, Short stories are secondary to poems. He said that he can express himself more easily through poetry.  As an amateur in the field he said that it is a challenge to find publishers for his poetry. ‘Publishers are reluctant to accept poetry collections. But I believe that they can sell them if they do it the correct way. People don’t reject good things,’ he stressed. ‘Some think that poetry is only limited to a specific group. It’s a myth. There is a considerable number of readers around the new poets who don’t have this attitude,’ he pointed out.
Although publishers reject poetry collections in fear of not being able to sell them, there is a good demand for poems over the internet. Blogs, online communities or discussions over social media indicate that still there is a group of people, even in the younger generations who are fond of poetry. Yet, this enthusiasm is not vividly shown in the market. Somaweera puts it down to publishers not having requisite skills. ‘They do not know how to market poetry collections. It could be the negative experiences they received in selling poetry earlier,’ he suspects. ‘All copies of Thandawa were sold within a year or so. If you go to a launching ceremony of a poetry collection you’ll witness a hall full of people. Would they come if they don’t admire poetry?’ he asked. ‘Maybe publishers are ignorant of this current enthusiasm for poetry,’ he said.  
- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/32934-touching-the-touch-me-nots.html#sthash.jAl60jSq.dpuf