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timely contribution Although, since 1984, the author has lived most of his life outside the country, the book shows that he has not lost touch with Sri Lanka and has been a keen observer of its developments. Through his association with the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSARD) in Vancouver, Canada, the author has been able to pursue a serious academic study of South Asian affairs. Thought
provoking The author's experience as a politician in Sri Lanka prior to 1983, and as an engineer, academic, public servant, writer, dramatist, and speaker in several African and Western countries has provided him with a broad vision to consider Sri Lanka's ethnic problem in a new perspective. His criticism of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike for promoting Sinhala Buddhist nationalism may be too strong, for it was not only Bandaranaike but also the leaders of the UNP who played the Sinhala nationalist card to their advantage. In that context, we need to understand that in post-colonial Sri Lanka, while leaders of almost all Sinhalese political parties promoted Sinhalese nationalism, the leaders of Tamil political parties in response espoused Tamil nationalism. In other words, leaders of both Sinhalese and Tamil communities are responsible for not promoting or supporting a true sense of ‘Sri Lankan’ identity. Another debatable point is the political activism of the Sangha. According to him, the Sangha's entry into politics, which was encouraged by Bandaranaike, has complicated issues and has made it difficult for any government to seek rationalistic solutions to the country's problems. While recognizing the immensely valuable role played by the Sangha in preserving Buddhism and Sinhala culture during the colonial times, he argues that in multi-ethnic and multi-cultural post-colonial Sri Lanka, it was not proper for the Sangha to directly involve themselves in politics, because it exacerbates the already existing tensions between Buddhists and non-Buddhists, and thereby directly contributes to the already existing divisions. The question that can be raised here is whether the Sangha should completely keep away from politics or should confine themselves to a role of advising the rulers. Realistically speaking, in the present day highly politicized culture of Sri Lanka, we have to expect the Sangha to play some role in politics but it may be desirable for them to restrict their participation to an advisory role as practised in some Buddhist countries such as Thailand. True
democracy In order to rectify this situation, the author recommends encouraging direct participation of people in democratic governance at different levels, which is an excellent proposal. However, the question is whether the Sri Lankan political leadership would be willing to overhaul the present political system and replace it with a truly democratic one. The irony of the situation is that without such a transformation in the South, we cannot expect the LTTE to do the same in the North. It is indeed a challenge to all Sri Lankan political leaders. The second part of the book is devoted to a discussion of a federal structure for Sri Lanka in order to solve the ethnic crisis. The author's brief examination of the federal systems in the United States, Canada, India, and Switzerland is quite useful to understand how federal structures function in other countries which have diverse ethnic and cultural populations. Because of Sri Lanka's multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character, he recommends a similar structure, which he believes, can be established at either provincial or district level. His idea is to give those entities the power to decide their own affairs except in matters of national interest such as defence, foreign affairs, imports and exports, and currency, which would remain under control of the central government. The author recognizes the need to adapt the federal structure that he proposes to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka. One interesting point the author raises in this book is the importance of recognizing the rights of the Veddahs, who wish to retain their own identity. As far as I am aware, none of the political parties in Sri Lanka have recognized them as a separate group of people who deserve respect as descendants of the first inhabitants of the island. They should be entitled to equal rights under a truly democratic system. Another matter that the author brings to our attention is the urgent need to solve the citizenship issue of the remaining Indian Tamils who opted to go to India but could not do so due to various reasons. It is heartening to note that the present government has already taken steps to solve this human problem since the publication of this book. A suggestion In any event, it goes without saying that the government of Sri Lanka, in finding a final solution to the ethnic crisis, should make every effort to ensure that Sri Lankans of any ethnicity be allowed to move freely and settle down anywhere they like within Sri Lanka. This is a book that all Sri Lankans who are concerned about the destiny of their country should read. The author should be commended for bringing out this volume at this crucial point in our history. It is a timely contribution to finding a lasting solution to the most devastating problem that Sri Lanka has faced since independence. It is hoped that the author would successfully bring out the Sinhala and Tamil versions of his book, as he plans, in the near future. A
fragrant collection W.T.A. Leslie Fernando's ‘Fragrance of Springtime Blossoms’ comprises six short stories. ‘A Heart That Bleeds’ is woven round an encounter between a young Sinhalese man Tilak and an old Tamil man, travelling by train from Colombo to Rambukkana. The author shows the plight of the indentured South Indian labour, then as now, with no place of their own, though they have sacrificed much for the economic growth of this country. In conversation, the old man says; "Sir, we are from Rambukkana. I went to Lunawa Kovil to invoke the blessings of Goddess Kali for the welfare of these two boys (his grandchildren). When their father was living, they were well off. He was running a business at Panadura. During the 1958 communal riots, hooligans attacked the shop, killed their father and looted the shop. Now I sell gram and their mother is tapping rubber to maintain the family. With great difficulty we bring up these two children. My days are numbered and I am really worried about the future of these two boys". The story portrays man's inhumanity to man. In ‘The Benevolent Thug’, the writer traces the metamorphosis of a Shelton Almeida of Negombo, who after seven years of rigorous imprisonment for culpable homicide returns to society, becoming the henchman of a revolutionary Marxist politician. The concluding paragraph of this story, is an indictment of present day politicians. The author says, “Was it politics that changed this once convicted criminal? Kithsiri cannot understand how politics which make good people bad could make Shelton Almeida an honourable person devoted to a cause. But one thing is clear. When compared with those selfish gentry in the higher strata of society who are supposed to be respectable and honourable who change their policies and cut the throat of others to attain their ends - Shelton Almeida who had undergone a sentence of imprisonment was a better person to be admired.” I shall not comment on all the stories in the book, but conclude with an extract from the foreword by literary critic Stanley E. Abeynayake, "His (W.T.A. Leslie Fernando) creative works reveal a strong originality, triumphing over traditional habits. They are concerned with directly personal embarrassments and delusions of unsophisticated personalities... They are in fact fictitious prose narratives, portraying characters and actions creditably representative of real life in contentious plots or romantic stories.... We live in an age of stress and strain, inflation, oil crisis, nuclear pollution and what not. Here is a sincere attempt to help us in our times of crisis - a book worth reading over and over again to help us to live a life of poise and equanimity." Word by
word the book was made From aardvark to zoo, from apple to zymurgy, the Oxford English Dictionary has been helping to define and describe the world since 1928, when it was first published in 10 volumes as A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Now, writer
and historian Simon Winchester has taken the dictionary itself as
his subject in The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford
English Dictionary. The idea for the definitive dictionary of English language was hatched in1857, when the Dean of Westminster, Richard Trench, delivered an inspiring speech to the Philological Society at London Library, calling for the creation of a reference book in which every known English word would be recorded, along with a detailed account of its origins, meanings, pronunciation and spelling down through the ages. Trench was fed up with existing dictionaries he found lacking at best, and inaccurate at worst. Even Dr. Samuel Johnson's well-regarded dictionary was then more than 100 years old and documented just 40,000 words. Trench proposed a different project that would be the work, not just of one dedicated author and editor, but of hundreds of volunteers whose mission it would be to compile words, their definitions, and examples of their usage. The goal, says Winchester, was to record "every word, every nuance, every shading of meaning and spelling and pronunciation, every twist of etymology, every possible illustrative citation from every English author". Indeed, the ‘Big Dic’, as it was sometimes known, would be a ‘biography’ of every English word. Within a few years, six million slips had arrived from contributors and Herbert Coleridge had been appointed the dictionary's first editor. Sadly, Coleridge had been at his post only two years and was halfway through quotations containing words beginning with "a" when he caught a cold and died, aged 31. Frederick Furnivall, a scholarly and energetic member of the Philological Society's Unrecorded Words Committee, succeeded Coleridge. Furnivall was easily distracted by other literary activities - including the establishment of the Early English Text Society - and his passion for rowing with the Hammersmith Ladies' Club. With the project falling behind schedule, the Philological Society realized its ambition for the dictionary outstripped its resources and approached Oxford University Press for help. The publishers and the Society eventually made a deal and in 1879, James Murray became the editor of what they envisaged would be a four-volume, 6,400-page work that would take ten years to complete. The son of a Scottish tailor, Murray was largely self-educated and had worked as a bank clerk and a schoolmaster before being charged with the task of rescuing the dictionary from its verbal tomb. He proved to be the man for the job. First, Murray built what he called a Scriptorium, or Scrippy, in the grounds of Mill Hill School where he taught. Little more than a corrugated iron shed, the Scrippy housed two tons of quotations the Society had collected. When he was not working his way through these, Murray had to locate the alphabet slips that had gone missing. After much searching, he found the slips for ‘H’ in the Tuscan hills of Italy, where one volunteer had left them after his eyesight failed. As for the slips for ‘Pa’, they were tracked down to a stable in County Cavan where they had been used as spills for lighting fires! Progress was slow. By 1884, five years into the project, Murray had been able to publish only one fascicle or instalment (A to Ant). The publishers pressured him to work faster and to take a less rigorous approach, but Murray insisted that contributors be allowed to work at their own pace. At one point he came close to resigning; at another, the publishers almost pulled the plug; but somehow the dictionary kept stuttering on. By then the editor had given up teaching and moved his Scriptorium to his garden in Oxford where he pored over papers sent by such unusual contributors as William Chester Minor, a convicted murderer incarcerated at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. An American doctor who had served as a surgeon during his country's Civil War, Minor travelled to London in 1872, perhaps trying to escape the delusions that, according to Simon Winchester, convinced him the Irish were trying to kill him. In February that year, Minor shot and killed a stranger. Hungry for ‘intellectual stimulus’ Minor answered Murray's request for contributors and soon became his most productive volunteer. He often sent hundreds of words a week to Murray. But 13 years of wordplay could not save Minor from himself. He eventually became so depressed and disturbed that he cut off his own penis. Other contributors included historian Edith Thompson, the former director of the Bank of England, Henry Hucks Gibbs and Dr. Fitzedward Hall, a professor of Sanskrit, who wrote to Oxford everyday for 22 years. JRR Tolkien, best known as the author of The Hobbit, was also a contributor. Sadly, James
Murray never witnessed the completion of his cherished dictionary.
He died in 1915, shortly before the fascicle for the letter ‘T’
was published. Murray's successors were equal in their devotion,
and in April, 1928, the last volume was published. Instead of 6,400
pages in four volumes, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles
contained more than 400,000 words and phrases in ten volumes. evertheless, editors William Craigie and Charles Onions began updating the entries, producing a concise edition and supplementary volumes to the original. While James Murray and his band of faithful if eccentric contributors wrestled with words like ‘walrus’, ‘of’, ‘odd’ and ‘paddock’, the latest supplements to the OED include words and phrases such as ‘chat room’, ‘chick flick’, and ‘munchies’. After all, English is a living language, constantly changing and adapting to the needs and experiences of its users. As Simon Winchester
aptly demonstrates in his informative and entertaining book, the
Oxford English Dictionary really does contain thrills and spills,
drama and intrigue.
Down memory
lane with bat and ball How many of us knew about Fred Perera who scored 352 not out for the Port Commission against the Excise Department in 1957? Neil quotes the London publication 'A-Z of Cricket Records' which refers to "F Perera's 352 not out" as "the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan". Neil met him and discussed his early days. As a 15-year-old, Fred had played for St. Joseph's College, primarily as a bowler. In the match in which he created the record, the game started at 1.30 in the afternoon. When the day ended, Port Commission had scored 449 runs for seven wickets with Perera scoring 283 in 193 minutes. He went on to score 352 not out in a mammoth score of 526. Neil recollects the first century scored by a Sri Lankan batsman against the West Indies. The honour goes to Mahes Rodrigo, a popular figure both in cricket and rugger. In the first ever 'unofficial Test' against the West Indies, opener Rodrigo scored 14 in the first innings. In the second innings he carried his bat through to score 135 not out while all the other ten got out! In the 1950s, Government Services and Mercantile cricket tournaments were very popular. Neil refers to an interesting match played in November 1959. It was a one-day game between Cargills and Car Mart. Batting first, Cargills were all out for 7 runs and Car Mart won by scoring 8 runs without losing a wicket. The match was over in 45 minutes. He also records a rare happening when a two-day first class game ended with a day and 40 minutes to spare. It was a Sara Trophy match played between Colombo University and SSC. Colombo University were all out for 34 in the first innings due to some hostile bowling by Lalith Ramanayake and T. M.S. Saldin. SSC openers Mitra Wettimuny (62) and Mohan de Silva (51) put on 108 for the first wicket. SSC declared at 132 for four wickets. It was 3.20 in the afternoon. Playing for nearly two hours, Colombo University managed to score only 40 runs in the second innings. Ranil Abeynayake (3 wickets), Mitra Wettimuny (4) and Sriyantha Rajapakse (1) were the successful bowlers. Neil also picks up a number of interesting incidents in his book including when Sir Don Bradman's team played a game at the Colombo Oval (P Sara Stadium). Wicket keeper Dr. H.I.K. Fernando whom most cricket writers referred to as 'the best in Asia' was in the Sri Lanka team that won an unofficial test for the first time against India. H.I.K., as he was known, played in the same team with Sir Garfield Sobers, Wesley Hall and Rohan Kanhai in 1961. 'Deveni Inima' profiles many other players of yesteryear. Neil takes the reader on many journeys including a trip to the legendary M.J. Gopalan's residence in Chennai, to Eden Gardens to meet the gutty spectator who held the placard 'We are sorry, congratulations Sri Lanka' during the 1996 World Cup semi-final game against India, and to Karachi to have a chat with Anjelo Rayer, a cricket administrator whose name was synonymous with school cricket in Sri Lanka. Neil reminds us of how former Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala acted as 'match referee' accompanying the two captains of the Indo-Ceylon filmstar charity cricket match played at the Oval in January 1954 - both teams being led by the most popular duo at the time Raj Kapoor and Nargis - to toss. He also talks about how another former PM - Wijayananda Dahanayake who, as President of the Galle District Cricket Association, was watching Bill Athey of the England 'A' team piling up a near double century at the Galle Esplanade and sent him a note saying 'Bill athey...athey' (enough of it). The Godage
publication is easy reading providing cricket fans refreshing memories
of how the game grew to become the most talked-about sport in Sri
Lanka. I wish Neil had included some photographs too. |
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