{"id":111073,"date":"2013-10-22T00:13:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T18:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=111073"},"modified":"2013-10-27T15:58:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-27T10:28:44","slug":"mirrored-images-a-move-towards-unity-and-sanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mirrored-images-a-move-towards-unity-and-sanity\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMirrored Images\u201d \u2013 A Move Towards Unity (And Sanity)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span><\/strong>S. Pathmanathan<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>I had the good fortune to participate at the launch of Mirrored Images<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, an anthology of Sri Lankan Poetry edited by Rajiva Wijesinha<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 The book was published by the prestigious National Book Trust of India.<\/p>\n

Prof Rajiva Wijisinha had already collected An Anthology of Sri Lankan Short Stories for NBT, beside, of course, his modest collection of Modern Sri Lankan Poetry in<\/strong> English<\/strong>.\u00a0 But this is a more ambitious work which has drawn from Sinhala. Tamil and English representative works.\u00a0\u00a0 The volume which runs to 400 pages contains 138 poemswritten in Sinhala and Tamil translated into English and 72 poems originally written in English.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pathmanathan speaking at the launch in Jaffna<\/p><\/div>\n

These poems were written over the last five decades during which the island nation \u2013 after independence \u2013 went through radical political, Social and economic changes.\u00a0 It also witnessed the deterioration of the relationship between the Sinhalese and the Tamils which culminated in a bloody civil war.\u00a0 War means death, destruction and displacement. It also leaves, in its wake, thousands of widows and the disabled who become the responsibility of the country.\u00a0 That was \u2013 and is \u2013 the context in which these Sri Lankan poets worked.\u00a0 So, understandably, a substantial number of the poems in this collection are disturbing and sad.<\/p>\n

Appropriately, Hon.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Minister of National languages and Reconciliation graced the function.\u00a0 Present in the audience were senior writers, critics and media persons.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenuine poetry\u201d,\u00a0 \u00a0said T.S.Eliot \u201ccan communicate even before it is understood\u201d This was affirmed as I first read out the Tamil originals of my poems. At the launch. \u00a0The audience, mainly non \u2013 Tamil, sat in husband silence because, I believe, the reading was infused with so much passion.\u00a0 Their understanding was complete with the English version that followed.<\/p>\n

Anne Rasasinghe, the veteran, (she is 80!) had to be helped to her seat but her reading was clear and well \u2013 articulated.\u00a0 A.Santhan read his Bigger match <\/strong>with a brief introduction about a correspondence that occasioned the poem.<\/p>\n

Ariyawasa Ranaweera read his Sinhala poems with the English translations done by the late E.M.G.Edirisinghe. \u00a0I am familiar with the poems in his Echoing Ethos<\/strong> and had, in fact, translated some into Tamil.\u00a0 They appear in my Thennilankai Kavithai <\/strong>published in 2003.\u00a0 Ranaweera rises above petty prejudices that have plagued the thinking of our generation.\u00a0 A poem I wish to cite is \u201ctoday\u2019s Lion<\/strong>\u201d. It takes a fresh, realistic look at the loin that flutters in our national flag.\u00a0 The historical \/ mythical lion can spilt the elephant\u2019s forehead.\u00a0 It can harness waterways and build lakes!\u00a0 But according to daughter\u2019s Zoology book, the lion is a lazy sleepy animal that lives on preys fetched by the lioness! \u201cToday\u2019s Lion\u201d composed soon after 1983 is call for sanity in a land torn by tensions along the ethnic divide.\u00a0 Ranaweera also read his poem about India (ironically at the ICC).\u00a0 It is an appeal to India to respect the freedom and sovereignty of its small neighbor.<\/p>\n

The Jaffna launch was not just a replay of the Colombo function.\u00a0 The Vice \u2013 chancellor of the University of Jaffna was the Chief Guest.\u00a0 Prof K.Visakaruban, Head, Dept of Tamil was the Guest of Honour while Dr Gerard Robuchon, Director of Alliance Francaise de Jaffna was the Special Guest.\u00a0 Ariyawansa Ranaweera had come all the way from Colombo to present his poems.\u00a0 Striking a personal note, he recalled the days he worked in Anuradhapura making visits to Jaffna off and on. Obviously he seemed happy and relaxed after a typical Jaffna lunch.<\/p>\n

The young poet Akilan read a dirge for his village while Siththaanthan\u2019s poem focused on children who had lost their streets.\u00a0 Karunaharan\u2019s Trailing Shadows<\/strong> is borne out of the poet\u2019s own experience of leaving his hearth and home with the escalation of war.\u00a0 He is crossing the lagoon on a wind \u2013 tossed boat.\u00a0 The Kilali shore grows smaller. Heart heavy with anguish, he addresses the sea:-<\/p>\n

\u201cMy story like your fate breaks to pieces<\/p>\n

Like \u00a0your waves that lash \u00a0the shore<\/p>\n

So, whom should I address<\/p>\n

the blowing wind or the sea \u2013 birds that follow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Sopa\u2019 read his much \u2013 anthologized Release<\/strong> first in Tamil and then in English \u2013 his own translation.\u00a0 The poem is based on his own experience as a returnee (after a six \u2013 month exile).\u00a0 Luckily the house is intact \u2013 roof and all.\u00a0 Twice blessed: he had not stepped on a land mine! But, to his dismay, his pet \u2018Blackie\u2019 is not to be seen. Obviously, it had perished defending the house its master had abandoned.\u00a0 The poet is stricken with a sense of guilt.\u00a0 It was a powerfully moving poem.<\/p>\n

Rajiva wijesihna, the architect of Mirrored Images <\/strong>seemed more than satisfied. He obtained his Ph.D from Oxford and scholars of his calibre are very rare in deed.\u00a0 That he has taken upon himself the task of taking our creative writing to the western reader is itself laudable.\u00a0 But, what I consider more important is the objective of bridging the vast chasm that has divided the people who inhabit this beautiful island.<\/p>\n

Encouraged by the response to the launches, Rajiva, I understand, is planning to have to have a launch in Matara.\u00a0 Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the \u00a0nation.\u00a0 An acknowledged legislator (Rajiva Wijisinha M.P) has brought them together.\u00a0 It augurs well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":111076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cMirrored Images\u201d \u2013 A Move Towards Unity (And Sanity) - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mirrored-images-a-move-towards-unity-and-sanity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cMirrored Images\u201d \u2013 A Move Towards Unity (And Sanity) - 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