Capturing the hearts of youth with reel

Veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake believes children are reluctant to listen to Dharma while being seated in one position for an hour, but they can be influenced to watch a teledrama on religion

Sansare Piyasatahan, popular Poya Day single episode Buddhist teledrama series directed by veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayaka celebrates 21 years

In an era where teledrama directors constantly get blamed for their commercialized tele-productions that do not fulfill the demands of the viewers and do not have expected aesthetic value and entertainment, only a few directors and producers get praised for their commitment in trying to maintain standards. They are the ones who try to protect the industry from downfall. One such personality is veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake who believes that true satisfaction of teledrama or film directing comes from seeing the production contribute to the betterment of society.

Ananda is an old boy of Ananda College, Colombo 10. He reminisced that his interests in arts and creative writing began during childhood, when he started compiling his own children’s magazine as a hobby. “The only person who read my magazine was my mother. I sold my only magazine copy to her for 50 cents,” he said adding how he used his mother’s sewing machine to bind the magazine when the number of pages increased. Still, she was the only buyer of his small magazine.

However, his mother identified that he was a talented child. He was also interested in arts. Although there were no artistes in his family, his mother took him to the temple close to his house where veteran artist Jayasiri Semage and Thalangama Jayasinghe conducted an art class. “That’s how the foundation was laid. And I built my career on this,” he reminisced.

Later he got the opportunity to work with veteran dramatist Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka on ‘Eka Adipathi’ drama team. The First film he joined was Pembara Madu directed by Sugathapala Senarath Yapa released in 1977. “Not many know this fact about me, but I joined this film as a fight choreographer. I stunt doubled for Tony Ranasinghe in the movie,” he recalled. “As a child, I was keen on learning martial arts although I’m all out of practice now,” the veteran teledrama director recollected his introduction to the cinema. Abeynayake had been a talented martial artist who represented the first ever World Open Karate Tournament in Japan in 1975.

Abeynayake’s debut film production was Sagarayak Meda. Released in 1981, the film was directed by late Gamini Fonseka. Gamini also played the main role in the movie. “Experiences I gained working with Gamini was immense. I believe these experiences guided me to become the person I am today,” he said. Sagarayak Meda was the fourth Sinhala color film. “I was just 27 years old and I had to face many hurdles. But this also encouraged me to direct films,” he said explaining how he became a film director and then a tele drama director. His teledramas won many awards at prestigious awards ceremonies including State Drama Festival, Sumathi Tele Awards and Raigam Tele Awards.

In 1999 his Poya tele-drama; Kohomba Yakku won the Jury’s special award at the Japan Prize International Contest for Educational Media in Tokyo. The ceremony was organized by NHK. In 2008, his tele-drama There is a way won the best tele-drama award at the same ceremony. His most popular tele drama series Sansarae Piyasatahan has won over 20 national and international awards during the past two decades.

He spoke about Sansarae Piyasatahan, the pioneering Poya day single episode TV series in Sri Lanka which celebrates its 21^st anniversary this year. “I was interested in teledramas since my school days. The influence of the Buddhism, books I read as well as the Buddhist environment of my school, Ananda College nurtured a yearning to start a Buddhist teledrama series,” he said. “Meeting Somaweera Senanayaka and Raja Abeynayaka was another reason to initiate such a series. Senanayaka’s proficiency in language and religion made the single episode tele drama series a success,” he iterated. The first drama of Sansarae Piyasatahan series was telecast on a full moon Poya day in 1993. The debut drama was scripted by Somaweera Senanayaka and Jayalath Manoratne and Chandani Senveritane played the main roles. Since then, a new episode of Sansarae Piyasatahan is telecast on each Poya night at 7.30 pm.

Commenting on single episode dramas Abeynayake said that it is a fascinating thing to know the beginning and the end of a story within a day. “I knew that a single episode drama is capable of making a huge difference. I was inspired to do this because of fulfilling memories I had of reading Siththara strip cartoon newspaper and I used to enjoy Anura Shrinath’s single episode cartoon strip published in it,” he said.  

He also said that it was a challenge to continue the drama series since he was eager on maintaining the quality, creativity as well as the power of the message conveyed. “End result is always satisfying. I always receive positive feedback once an episode is telecasted,” he reiterated. He mentioned few incidents where people personally contacted him to reserve DVD copies to show their employee, friends or students who missed watching it. “I remember a depot manager called me once to get a copy of a drama episode which spoke about a child who lost his father due to a road accident by a drunken diver. The depot manager wanted to show in the bus drivers’ workshop, that he believed they would never drink and drive if they saw the episode,” he recalled.

He also mentioned about the scripts he chooses for the drama series. “We have never created a drama out of a Jathaka Story although it’s all Buddhist themes. Main criteria of choosing a script is that it include a striking moral message,” he explained. “Many veteran script writers as well as amateurs provide stories. In fact anyone can send a script or a story to me.  I’ll be more than happy to receive a fine script,” he added.

Abeynayake noted that his main goal of this tele series is to attract the young audience to watch the drama. “They are quite reluctant to listen to Dharma seated in one position for an hour. But it is easier for them to watch a teledrama,” he opined. “Young generation is quite distracted from the television today. But, I know, when they see a good production they stick with it,” he said.

Using three decades of experience in the field he said that he too had noticed the decline in the teledrama field over the years. “Many try to cater to the commercialized demands, but not to the nourishment of the human mind. However, it is the responsibility of any film or teledrama producer to help the society understand what is right and wrong while providing entertainment,” he emphasized. He identified limited budgets, lack of fine actors and actresses as well as lack of commitment to produce fine dramas as the main reasons for the fall of the teledrama industry. He also mentioned that he is thankful to Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation for allowing the Poya Night 7.30 time belt maintaining the standards.

 
Abeynayaka has introduced lot of new faces to the audience through his teledramas. He said that he always tries to select the best person for a teledrama character since he believes that not using the most suitable person would lessen the aesthetic quality of the drama. He further explained that today selecting fine actors for teledramas has also become a challenge. “Earlier the actors and actresses entered the teledrama field with academic experiences and a plenty of experiences on the stage. It was easy to work with them. Today, such people are rare and it is not helping the industry,” he expressed his grief. “However, we do not have any recognized education institution to study about teledrama deeply. Few places including state universities have a few short courses and on and off subjects. But they don’t seem to help much,” he pointed out.

Abeynayake reiterated that low quality teledramas distract the audience from the television. “There is an increase in the crowds who come to see films and stage plays. A reason behind this could be the frustration the audience has towards the teledramas,” he stressed. He also said that it is not impossible to restore the reputation of the Sinhala teledramas. “There was a time when the stage plays also fell from its grace. They identified the mistakes and they are in the process of regaining their power. Teledrama too can do this,” he further said. 

 

Pic by Ravindra Dharmathilake

Constructing beauty with language

Literary giant and award winning author Dr. Liyanage Amarakeerthi warns that it is not technology which has changed media; it is the grip of capitalism

Swarna Pusthaka Award Winner of 2014, Dr. Liyanage Amarakeerthi suggests that the Book Publisher’s Association should focus on Short Stories and poetry in a similar manner to show they appreciate the Sinhala novel, so it would facilitate the development of Sinhala literature.

 

Wasantha Liyanage Amarakeerthi best known as Dr. Liyanage Amarakeerthi, won the Swarna Pusthaka Award 2014 for his second novel ‘Kurulu Hadavatha’ (A bird’s heart) last week. He also won the Vidyodaya Literary Award for the Best Novel early this month for the same book. Kurulu Hadawatha is Amarakeerthi’s 16th book and his first novel Atawaka Puththu won the State Literary Award for the Best Novel in 2007.

 

Childhood

 Amarakeerthi was born and raised in Kurunegala district and he received his school education from three different schools including Wallawa Central College and Dematagolla Central College. Speaking to The Nation Dr. Amarakeerthi said that he has been enthusiastic about creative writing since his school days. “I started writing various things when I was about 15 years old. I enjoyed constructing beauty with language. It didn’t matter whether it was poetry, short stories or anything else,” Amarakeerthi recalled. “I liked to tell stories too. All this wordplay brought me joy,” he added.

He said that he had plenty of free time to read and write during his childhood and it was one of the main reasons why he became interested in literature. “Tuition was not very popular during this era. We enjoyed school days. Also, we had time to hangout with friends and try new things,” he recalled adding that looking back he can identify how important this time of leisure was for him to become what he is today.

He said that this relaxed and laidback school atmosphere played a major role in honing his creative skills. “I’m not sure whether this atmosphere would be helpful to everyone. However, it worked for me,” he said.

In retrospect, he mentioned three special teachers who inspired him to develop his creative writing skills. “I met a bunch of extraordinary teachers during my school time. They were trying to generate some sort of creativity in us rather than just prepare us for exams,” he said. “Wawe Gedara Madam - Primary School Principal of Deegalla Rewatha Central College, Kuliyapitiya, Wimal A Senevirathana – Sinhala Master of Rajaye Kanitu Viduhala (State Junior School) and S Dodamgollegama - Advance Level Sinhala teacher of Dematagolla Central College had special influence on my work among other teachers.” He said that meeting these teachers was accidental which later proved to be a blessing to him.

He also spoke about his achievements during school time. By the time he was in his Advanced Level class, the national newspapers had already published his short stories. He won first place at several short story competitions organized in school, district, provincial as well as national levels. “I don’t know how I did all these by myself in such a short period of time. Sometimes I was surprised at myself,” he reminisced.

Amarakeerthi received admission to the Law Faculty of Colombo University after passing his Advanced Level examination in 1987. He was a student of law only for three months as he wanted to switch the faculty to study literature. After graduating, he joined the university as an assistant lecturer. Then he received a scholarship to the US and was able to complete both Master’s and doctoral degrees there. He received his PhD from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

He said that he faced a difficult period between his Advanced Level exams to university entrance. “Universities were closed for three years due to youth uprisings. It was a period of violence and we lost many friends and relatives. This experience was very reflective for me,” he said.

Speaking about his latest award winning novel Kurulu Hadawatha, Amarakeerthi said that the book was also a product of these reflective experiences in 88-89 insurgency period. According to him, the two leading characters in the book both Dinasiri and Sarath are characters from this era. “Dinasiri wanted to keep himself away from this uprising, but later felt guilty about not getting involved. On the other hand, Sarath who came back from prison had a wide knowledge about political ideologies. In fact, Dinasiri was alarmed by what Sarath had to say when he returned,” he said.

Kurulu Hadawatha

Amarakeerthi’s Kurulu Hadawatha is woven around a traditional village called Walangangoda where people’s livelihood revolves around pottery. Low caste potters are oppressed by high caste villagers. Dinasiri – the lead character of the story is a regular listener of radio. A postcard he sent to the broadcasting corporation leads to his name becoming popular among listeners. In it he puts his village name as Kurulugangoda instead of Walangangoda. He used this popularity, acquired through accident, to establish the name Kurulugangoda, to relieve the pressure of being low caste. The recognition he received later brought him to a different privatized radio channel. There Dinasiri became a victim of the commercialized radio media. Hence, Dinasiri Kurulugangoda became Kurulu, a modernized radio program producer who valued different things. It was too late when he realized that he was a victim of commercialization.

In addition, Amarakeerthi shows how the quality of Radio media declined with commercialization. Kurulu Hadawada shows the distinctions between the radio before and after commercialization in the field. Amarakeerthi said that he was able to observe the changes in the radio as he too listened closely to radio channels from his childhood. “I was really close to the radio during 1980s and I remember we were very enthusiastic about the radio dramas like Muwanpelassa, Monarathenna, Es Deka and Handiye Gedara,” he said. “The radio was a box of magic. It is still my number one electronic media,” he added.

He said that the radio has an incredible ability to make people imaginative. “We could imagine the rural village in Muwanpelassa based on the sounds and the words used. Although I haven’t seen it, I know Muwanpelassa is an area near a dense rain forest,” he explained. He further said that radio also played a major role in seeding creativity in his mind.

Radio

Amarakeerthi believes that the Neoliberal Capitalist mindset is responsible of commercialization of the radio and he said that it destroyed the advanced qualities and potentials that the radio had. “Changes took place after Sri Lanka’s shift from closed economy to open economy; welcoming modern capitalism is clearly visible if one looks into the Sri Lankan radio history. This is what I tried to show through the book as well,” he iterated. The first half of the novel shows how Dinasiri was able to engage in radio’s potential to change the society, by writing thousands of postcards. He became a hero. Yet, when he joined the commercial radio channel he had to betray the revolution he once won for himself.

He said that he is deeply skeptical about Sri Lankan media going back to its glory days. “If you can find something equivalent to the National Public Radio (NPR) in the USA, we might be able to maintain quality,” he noted. NPR is funded by the public; the tax payers and they do not have advertisements to find profit. Amarakeerthi said that similarly if this is initiated it would provide a platform to have discussions about society, language, literature, environment or any subject without external influences. “It is not the technology which changed media; it is the grip of capitalism. If we can liberate the radio from the grip of money making and make it non profit, we might still be able to do it,” he opined. He also said that we will not see fine quality in radio media until the society gets rid of the mindset that radio is an easy industry to make money and stop making their own culture into a commodity.

When Dinasiri joined the commercial radio channel and became Kurulu he became a ‘cultural hero’ for the youth in the society. Amarakeerthi stressed that it is a sad thing that contemporary Sri Lankan youth don’t have any ideal cultural heroes whom they can look up to. “We do have a few important people here and there in the country. But I’m not sure whether they can be identified as role models,” he said. “Money making culture doesn’t allow any of these people to hold on to a single cultural or political ideology. In fact, destruction of any form of hero is the agenda of capitalists’ system or any system of power,” he said.

He said that he also thought that it would be more suitable if we could see for a collective form of emancipation rather than follow just one hero or role model. “This is another theme I wanted to highlight through Kurulu Hadawatha,” he reiterated.  However, according to him, in a political domain following a single role model can be dangerous because the power this model receives will make him or her authoritarian and oppressive in many ways. “That is why it is important that all of us participate in running a decent democratic society rather than expect a single person to do everything,” he further said.

Critics

Commenting on contemporary Sinhala literary critics, Amarakeerthi said that the state of literary criticisms is highly unsatisfactory. “It is not satisfactory at all. We don’t have any professional literary critics in the country or paid reviewers in both Sinhala and English newspapers. No one writes criticism or reviews for newspapers in a regular manner. Creative writers have to review each others work.” he noted. “Critics here are more focused on pressing personal grudges and biases on people. That is a shame,” he lamented.

He also pointed out that lack of literary magazines and journals is also a drawback in literary development. “Journal culture is not popular in Sri Lankan university context. Even the few journals we have are not widely circulated,” he said. He also said that a sustained literary journal or a magazine and weekly analytical literature programs would help to develop a better discussion in the society. “It is better if this comes from the public or a private organization rather than a state organization,” he said adding monthly book discussions and forums in places like Public Libraries would also help.

Awards

He also spoke about the literary festivals and award ceremonies. “I respect all the literary festivals. Vidyodaya Literary Award doesn’t offer any price money and they are independent on their views and judgments. Godage is a single publisher spending his own money to promote literature. Swarna Pusthaka and International Book fair organized by Book Publishers’ Association create enthusiasm among readers across the country,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter who wins. It creates a dialogue on literature in the society,” he said.

He spoke further about the Swarna Pusthaka Award Ceremony. He said “Swarna Pusthaka was able to promote the Sinhala novel. Ten years ago, selling 10,000 copies of a new book was something which was unheard of. I am aware of some prominent authors who are now able to go for a tenth edition of a novel. This is a good thing,” he said with hope. He said that if Swarna Pusthaka focuses on poetry and short stories too, it would help Sinhala literature to further develop. “There are really good young short story writers and poets. Book Publishers should not overlook short story and poetry. If Swarna Pusthka can give them an extra bit of help, like they uplift the novel, it would be really appreciable,” Amarakeerthi stressed.   

Books by Dr. Amarakeerthi 

Fiction

Manawa Bhakthiya ha Siththara

Rala

Nandana Uyana

Mama Dan Nidami

Wila Saha Mala

Maha Kanda Pamula

Wiriyawanthayo

Atawaka Puththu

Kurulu Hadawatha

Translations

Maha Purushayekuta Birindawa

Tharuna Nawakathakaruweku Wetha

Mal Bara Samaya

Gatuma, Sanskruthiya, Wenasa

Poetry

Ekamath Eka Pitarataka

Classical

Amuthu Kathawa

Sahurthda Sakshiya

Pics by Chandana Wijesinghe

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

Finding the story behind the story

 Interview with the author of ‘A known story’ Lakshaman Piyasena

Sri Lanka was in the wrong track long before the Portuguese invasion and India’s impact on the country was present since the Maha Parinirvana of Buddha, says the latest book written by veteran journalist Lakshman Piyasena. The author launching his book, Danna Kathawak (A Known Story) attempts to discuss the ways in which the country can work to re-establish the joy of mind and reconciliation that has been lost. Piyasena said that he named his book ‘A Known Story’ because it explains the situation of the country which is illusive to the citizen. “It’s the present situation of the country and my experiences gathered from newspaper journalism. Although it’s a known-unknown story to everyone else,” Piyasena laughed.

Piyasena worked as a journalist for Divaina newspaper for almost three decades. He said that becoming a writer or a journalist was not something he planned to become when he was a child. It was mid 1980s. As a young schoolboy Lakshman loved music. He had a habit of listening to songs. When he was in grade nine, a year before he sat for his Ordinary Level Examinations he experienced a dramatic incident which inspired him to write. “We didn’t have television or mobile phones during this era. Our main source of entertainment was the radio and the comic newspapers. Also we used go watch films. Therefore I developed a taste for songs; both Sinhala and Hindi,” he said. “I was interested in information on the singers and started to collect small books with song collections. We used to exchange books. But it was against school regulations,” he recalled.

He sneaked a collection of songs by Priya Sooriyasena into school. His book Danna Kathawak explains the incident in detail. “Each song in my song book was written about the sweetness of love…All these lyrics were of Premakeerthi. Although I get to know about Premakeerthi who penned about ‘love’ in such an amazing way much later, I was a huge fan of Priya Sooriyasena. I remember how I used to enjoy humming the songs in this song book as if it happened yesterday. Unforgettable sequence of events commenced with the disappearance of this song book. My song book disappeared on this day.” (Pg 18)

Since it was against the school regulations, Lakshman couldn’t make a complaint and he had to remain silent about the lost book. Miraculously, the song book reappeared in his school bag a week after its disappearance. He was happy to get his book back, but what he saw inside the book was even more fascinating. “There were startling changes made in the book. A line or two from each song were highlighted… When you read it in the underlined sequence it gave out a particular message. When I read it I felt like I had the most amazing write-up in my hands. Sweetness of love was overflowing in the lines that were underlined, which formed something similar to a love letter.” (Pg 21)

He believed it was usually girls who underlined songs like this. Yet he said that he never found out who underlined the songs in his book. “This incident made me realize how remarkable it would be to write. I was changed and a new world was opened in front of my eyes,” he said adding that this inspired him to write poems and essays to newspapers continuously.

Piyasena is from Bombuwala, Kalutara and studied at Mathugama CWW Kannangara Central College. His journey began when he moved to Colombo from his village searching for a job. It was the 87-89 insurgency. “I didn’t have plans to join a newspaper. But with the recognition of writing to newspaper and the connections I had built by then, I was recruited as a trainee journaist at Upali newspapers,” he recollected. From this day onwards he was a fulltime journalist at Divaina until he left his job there in 2007. Apart from his excellence in newspaper journalism he was also recognized as a critic. He authored several books including Wawe Banda Hotalaya (Critisism), Wasunu Mangpeth (Political), Wishmitha Vishwaya Madin, Sahalluwe Genawa (Poetry), Niwena Mihira (Poetry) and We Diya Borawa (Novel). He is also a celebrated poet and a lyricist. His latest book Danna Kathawak describes his experiences as a media man, observations and opinions on sociopolitical issues in the country.

Piyasena stressed that he left the job at Divaina because he didn’t feel that he can perform as a true journalist in the contemporary media field. “The satisfaction of being a journalist was gone,” he said. He said that he didn’t see a point of hanging onto an unmoving field and therefore he walked out. He opined that the fall of electronic and print media in Sri Lanka started when the authorities started giving priority to commercial amusement instead of the joy of mind.

“Amusement given by a person who dances after studying dancing is different from the amusement given by a child who is made to dance on television. Singing with an understanding about music and knowing the limitations and a singing of an amateur on electronic media who is said to be better than the veteran do not provide the same entertainment. It’s clearly two different forms of amusement. Singing and dancing with an understanding of literature enhance the joy of mind. Singing and dancing made to be performed by the media encourages the commercial amusement in the audience. Electronic media which saw light after 1994 clearly draws a fine line between commercial amusement and the joy of mind.” (Pg 219-220)

He further explains his opinion on the topic joy of mind in fourth chapter of Danna Kathawak.

A main topic in Danna Kathawak is the historical signal which he refers to as Ithihasa Sangchawa and he explained that it is not wise to depend only on popular written historical sources to get the correct historical signal. He also pointed out that there are two types of written history. “One is the written history the other one was made to be written. Mahavamsa was made to be written, not everything included in it is reliable. It could have been influenced by the rulers of the era in which it was written,” he explained. He said that he believes that a person should be following folklore if he or she wants to find out the real situation during a particular period. “Folklore was not forced to be written or remembered. Therefore we could assume that there is no exaggeration in those stories,” he opined.

Another debatable chapter of the book is Siripade Samanola Kanda Pene. Piyasena explained the content included in the subtopic Athuru Mithuru Dambadiva Thuru. “There was a Pali mission in Sri Lanka in fifth centaury. Historical sources in favor of the country were mostly preserved by the folklore and folk rhymes (Kata mathura) if looked into the depths even the political conspiracies can be identified,” he iterated. He mentioned two folk rhymes which have hidden meaning. “Kotte kalale kisille – datha mada ganna raale and the famous athuru mithuru dambadiwa thuru are such folk rhymes,” he said. ‘Kotte kalale kisille…’ warned about a possible threat to the Tooth relic by the Portuguese.

“‘Athuru Mithuru…’ speaks about a political influence which Sri Lanka should be alert about at all times,” he further said. According to him when this riddle is simplified it says, ‘Hathuru- Mithuru Dambadiwa Nirathuru’ (Always Enemies- Friends India). (Pg 306). “India started envying us from the day Buddha said that Buddhism will be protected long-lastingly in Sri Lanka. Since then they try to get Sri Lanka to abide by them,” he said. “They also tried to get this done when Sri Lanka was given freedom in 1948. Fortunately their efforts were in vain,” he added.

He reiterated that contemporary political ideologies were prevailing in the country in empowering the weaknesses of its population. “This started back in 1956. Changes occurred in with the 1956 political revolution planted the seed of hypocrisy in the society,” he expressed his view adding that this led to the 21^st century’s feudalistic   backward ruling.  “Today this is further empowered by the leftists and Bikkhu politics,” Piyasena added.

“Political revolution in 1956 Panchamaha Balawegaya is a turning point in Bikkhu politics. This political revolution politicized Buddhism to an extent that the Buddhist temple became a party office. After 50 years the next step of this was seen that the bikkhus contested for parliament demanding a Darma Rajya.

It won’t be a mistake to compare with the events started in 1971 JVP terror politics and its advanced terrors after 17 years from its initiation.” (Pg 103)

Yet Piyasena noted that the country can have a positive attitude towards its future since the new generation is open to new information. “I believe that generation of the 21 centaury is the best generation. They are open to new information. They have the power to break this hypocrisy and move towards,” he said hopefully.