A book for Ena
View(s):The Moonmalle Inheritance by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha – a book for veteran design legend Ena de Silva’s 90th birthday was launched at the Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo 7 on April 23.
Author Yasmine Gooneratne, whose book ‘Relative Merits’ provided inspiration for the idea of presenting social change through the history of a family was the chief guest at the ceremony to launch ‘The Moonmalle Inheritance’ by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha. A speech by Channa Daswatte, of Geoffrey Bawa Associates on Ena de Silva’s seminal contribution to Sri Lankan design was also read out. Ena’s latest mural, an imaginative excursus on the Taj Mahal and its never completed black twin, adorns the entrance of the Indian Cultural Centre.
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha speaking at the launch. Pic by Susantha Liyanawatte
The book launch also saw an exhibition of photographs representing the writer’s personal odyssey over the past few years. The first section of the book describes the progeny of John Marcellus Lewis Moonmalle, great grandfather of Ena de Silva, and great-great-grandfather of the writer focusing on those who grew up in ‘The Old Place’ – the house in Kurunegala of John Marcellus’ daughter Ada and her husband Edward Goonewardene. Their granddaughter Lakshmi lived on alone in the house for nearly two decades before the place was finally sold.
The second section describes ‘Travels with Ena’, explorations of different parts of Sri Lanka, with forays too in India and China. The fictional last section includes chapters from ‘Servants’, which won the Gratiaen Award for 1995, and from ‘Acts of Faith’ and ‘Days of Despair’, which deal with the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka in the eighties.
Proceeds from the sale of photographs will go to the Vocational Training Centres run by Aide et Action in the Mullaitivu District and planned in Kilinochchi.
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