There’s a beguiling magic in having an excerpt from your
current favorite novel read out to you by its equally beguiling author.
Especially when that author is Romesh Gunasekera. His voice, the perfect read-aloud
one—soothingly gentle and just the right intonations— belies the dramatic,
intense persona he assumes on stage. People, winds, oceans, all come to life as
the author strides theatrically on stage in a dramatic rendering of his own
words. You realise there’s a lot more to this man than what meets the eye.
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| Alice In Wonderland |
At the Jaipur Literature Festival this past week, I caught
up with the Sri Lankan author--whose book Reef
has been on the booker shortlist and who's been a judge for several literary prizes--for a heart to heart talk on writing, languages,
his book Noon Tide Toll and all things Sri Lankan. His session, like all others
that day, had been reduced to half on account of the mayhem created by rain.
“But we can rebel!” Gunasekera had suggested, giving you a glimpse of the man
behind that placid exterior.
As the two of us sit atop the terrace at the Diggi Palace,
he answers all questions patiently and smilingly. Yet, you can’t shake the
nagging feeling that even as he spoke, there were thoughts beyond your reach ‘neath
that silvery mop of hair:
Me- Let’s talk about
your book, Noon Tide Toll. The myriad
stories you created in there—all of Sri Lanka from North to South— were they
real life stories? What kind of research/journey did you have to undertake to
write them?
Romesh - Well, it isn’t a
reportage book so it’s not that I went on any journey to write that book. Whatever
I write is out of my imagination. They are fictional journeys. And they are all
about the reality that I live in. If I want to write a story set in Jaipur, I
could write a story set in Jaipur. I can stay in my room and write about Moscow
if I want. But they do have a basis in
something that’s true. The fort in Jaffna is
destroyed; the library was burnt down
in1981 and renovated later. I have been to all the places that I wrote about.
Me-What about the
story ‘Scrap’ where you show us big ‘dumpyards’ of confiscated vehicles from
the LTTE… that you compared to ‘frozen pandemonium’? What impression did that
create on you?
Romesh- Well, yes, three years ago, you would have found big
dumping yards of trucks and bicycles…
the thoughts that came to my mind were the ones that you could hear from
Vasantha (the van driver in his book). I have been to other places where they
had wars… you look at these places, the relics of the past… you look at the
ruined tombs in Delhi and you understand they aren’t naturally this
way…something happened here. You go to London and see the places bombed in the
second world war. They all create an indelible impression on the mind. I had
never been to Northen Sri Lanka before so it was quite a shock to see the scale
of the war.
Me- The stories in
Noon Tide Toll all have a dark subtext but the way you go about writing them
isn’t dark. It’s hopeful, happy even. Is that a deliberately created contrast?
Romesh-Yes, I think it is a deliberate mixture of both things
because it’s not a book looking at the immediate results of a war. It’s more of
posing a question… all the characters in this book are trying to understand how
to carry on with their lives, given what has happened in the past, given what
might happen in the future. If it was going to be entirely dark then, you know,
everyone would have to commit suicide!
Me- Is there a
predominant message that you wish to convey through your writing?
Romesh- I don’t think
fiction can convey messages really. All fiction can do is present you with
something for you to understand. To some extent you could say that a novel like
this is presenting a set of mirrors. If you look at it you will see yourself
and your own reactions. If you’re a Sri Lankan Reading it you will have certain
sorts of reactions, if you’re not a Sri Lankan you will have different
reactions, expectations. The only message in my books would be that reading
fiction is something worth doing.
Me- Though you are a
Sri Lankan, you don’t live in Sri Lanka (He lives in the UK at present). What
is the image of the country that you carry with you?
Romesh- The image I carry is the one I do convey in the books a
lot. It’s all probably not very different from the image of someone living
there. You’re not from Jaipur. But you have an image of Jaipur, and its valid
and true to what you know of it. It probably shares something with what people
who actually live here also have of it. There will be differences and there
will be some similarity.
Me- There’s been a lot
of Sri Lankan literature coming through in the past one year. Is there a
particular reason for Sri Lankan writing coming more into focus now?
Romesh- It’s a growing phenomenon. Sri Lankan writing isn’t new,
it has the same vintage as in India – writing in different languages as well as
writing in English. Sri Lankan writing in English goes back to the early 1800s—same
as in India. In fact a lot of editors from India have been editors in Sri lanka,
a lot of Sri Lankan editors have been editors in India of major newspapers. So
the history is not that different. Writing Fiction in English also has quite a
long tradition. The earliest novels in English would have been written around
the1930s but what the difference has been in the later period of the20thcent— the 60s 70s and even 80s—
there was more writing in English in India generally, though still a very small
proportion. In the80s you wouldn’t be able to do this (gestures around him
indicating the thronging crowds at the fest). It’s the same process in Sri Lanka.
But because of the war there hasn’t been a lot of writing in Sri Lanka—writing
has been curtailed and publishing isn’t as big, but now maybe in the last 5-6
years there’s been a lot more international writing. There’s a very big Sri
Lankan diaspora around the world that’s also writing, so I would expect to see
a lot more.
Me- You’ve talked
about your upbringing being chiefly English-language-centred in a country that
was increasingly shunning that language. Language is, I believe, a sore issue
in Sri Lanka. So how would you view the role of language in the politics and
integration of a nation?
Romesh-It has a big role to play and one of the big divisions in
Sri Lanka has been because of the language policy— fundamentally, I believe a
mistaken language policy. But it’s an understandable mistake. They wanted to reverse
the neglect of particularly Sinhala during the colonial period and that led to,
understandably again, in the 50s lots of talk of nationalism—and therefore a
boost given to Sinhala, but at the expense of the other languages. It’s true that your identity’s link to your
language is very, very strong but the mistake was to keep it in compartments .
What they should have done, and which I think in India they did do, to some
extent, is to dwell much more on bilingualism or trilingualism. To make sure that
children in school didn’t just study one language, they studied two or three.
Unfortunately that didn’t happen there. For several generations, you were
schooled in the language of your community. And that just reinforced the
separation. The justification given was that we can’t teach everybody in English
because that’s a foreign language. But that was because people only thought in terms
of one language. Had they looked around the world they could have seen that it
was entirely possible to have an educational system that encouraged two or
three languages. And they’re beginning to understand that now, all over the
world.
Me-So multilingualism
could, possibly, be a good way to integrate a country’s citizens better…
Romesh-Yes, it’s very simple… you know if we didn’t have English
you and I couldn’t even speak right now… we’d have to have a translator and we
wouldn’t know what they were interpreting! English shouldn’t be problematic! India
managed quite well… though people get quite worked up still. I had a big
argument the other day when someone was complaining about the English language
a great deal… and he was actually a teacher of English language in India! So
it’s a bit ironic. I could say that my first language is English…and the
language I’m comfortable with is English. The thing is, I don’t think it ought
to be a national issue. You know, just because I use Microsoft Windows doesn’t
mean I have to fall in love with Bill Gates!
Q-Writing tends to
become more and more political in places that face these problems. Would you
call yourself a political writer?
Romesh- I don’t see myself as a political writer. But I do not
exclude politics. I do think it’s important. My books are appreciated by people
who may not have any interest in the political dimension. A novel has to work
beyond politics, but I don’t think it can ever exclude politics. It’s very much
a part of all our lives.
Me-What are the books
that you like to read?
Romesh- There’s quite a wide range. I was involved in picking out
the best of British novelists two years ago. That’s a very famous list now, of
young British novelists. There’re 20
people we’ve picked and they’re all very different. Some of them are quite
surrealistic, some are experimental writers, some write very traditional novels
and some are very political. For me to like a novel, I have to feel that the
writer is interested in using language to its full potential.
Me-And what would be
your favorite kind of reader?
Romesh-There’s two ways of answering that. Obviously my
favourite readers are the ones that like my books! But then, the ideal reader
for me is somebody who has an open mind, a sense of humour and a little bit of
imagination.
Me-I think that
description would apply to a good writer too!
Romesh-Yes, any good writer should have a sense of humour. I mean
there are some who are very… serious. I admire them, but they’re not my favourite
kind of writers! But when I say humour, then for instance Dostoyevsky had a
fantastic sense of humour, but you think of him as a very serious writer!
Q-Writing is a
journey of discovery. What has been your greatest discovery so far?
A-My greatest discovery was the fact that I was able to
write a book to begin with! I didn’t think I could. But beyond that, the
greatest discovery is probably that there are readers! It is very heartening to
know that there are people interested in reading in the world as it is now. Readers
are a very special group of people. I know when you are in Jaipur and you say
there are 300,000 people here… even among those not all are readers. And the
people who like reading fiction are actually a very small group in the world.
So the greatest discovery is that there are people who like to read. And
eventually a good book gains those readers. Not immediately, but eventually it
will.
Me-Would you say that
literature serves to set the agenda for discourse?
Romesh-It does . It allows space and scope for discussion to take
place. And discussion on literature is a very good area where issues come up
but that’s a different thing from saying when you’re writing a book should you
be setting the agenda for whatever… that’s not the way it works. It would be
nice that my book had some effect on how people were thinking in the
presidential election— I doubt it very much— but it might have had one or two
people think something new is possible. What literature does do is to give a
sense of what’s happening globally. All these writers who have come here to India
will go back with a different view of the world, and particularly the
realization that reading and literature seems to be very important in India. I
am sure a lot of writers who have come here don’t realise that. You have crowds
of people coming here like this…you don’t get that in most parts of the world.
(This last
line caught me by surprise. Didn't it surprise you, too?)
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