A page turner from a diplomat’s wife
View(s):When the traditionally-reared wife of a senior Sri Lankan career diplomat decides to write of her experiences in over a dozen countries, the result makes riveting reading The first hand knowledge of diplomats is rarely written down.
The rich and varied experiences of diplomatic wives often pass into their personal history and are never recorded. Fortunately for posterity, Sivanandini’s husband, Yogendra, told his reluctant and self-deprecating wife, “Write down your stories for me.” She did so and we have these enchanting chapters in this book of ‘Cultural Memoirs’.
Much of her writing comes through as being strongly autobiographical – even in the stories which presumably are fiction. For instance, the reader gets the impression of the strongly united marriage of the authoress in many of her tales.
| Book facts Cultural Moments by Sivanandini Duraiswamy. Reviewed by Goolbai Gunasekara |
Let’s take the pages on the Nallur festival and Temple. ..the “Spiritual Odyssey’ undertaken by Sivanandini and family. She explains some of the sculptures to her son. “The figure is calm blending art and piety, beauty and holiness in perfect harmony embodying Truth, Beauty and Grace.”
“Bravo” says her husband kissing her on the forehead.
The Nallur chapter is perhaps my favourite amongst these varied articles. It has great personal overtones for me who schooled in Jaffna at Hindu Ladies College and lived very close to the Nallur Temple.
This is the first time, however, that such an erudite account of legends and facts have been so perfectly and beautifully related.
The daily life of an upper class Jaffna family and the burgeoning independence of a wife from such a family is sensitively portrayed in ‘Kaveri’s Kitchen’.
It is the spirit of a new Jaffna wife who, with her husband’s active cooperation, uses her culinary genius to set up a catering business, serving home- cooked food to other family gatherings or festive occasions.
Woven into this tale is another fascinating side story of an astrologer and the family plans for marriage of a daughter.
The whole concept of Kaveri’s idea became a family effort and at last it was ready for the opening ceremony heralded by a clap of distant thunder just before the Chief Guest arrived and “Kaveri’s Kitchen” sprang to life.
I wish it were possible to comment on every story but as it is not a feasible idea, I shall mention just one more – “Listening to the Whispers of Nature” which is possibly one of the most educational descriptions of Chinese Art through the eyes of this intelligent woman, who has undertaken the herculaean task of actually studying it.
As the wife of a diplomat she would no doubt have had the opportunity to study under the best. She endeavours to explain the philosophy behind Chinese Art.
“The spirit of the original (painting) must be understood and brought out just as a violinist playing Beethoven brings out the spirit of the composition” she writes. Such understanding does not come easily as a foreigner studies the Han, T’ang and Sung periods of Art.
The author undertook the venture wholeheartedly and judging by one or two examples of her Art that I have been privileged to see, she learnt her lessons brilliantly.
In Chinese Art one studies not only to produce the finished work but also the student is trained how to prepare for her classes.
Ritualism is strong and each time Sivanandini prepared the ink for her drawings she felt she was stepping back into the era of the Chinese Masters.
She painted hundreds of ink circles before she was allowed to graduate to paintings of flowers or birds. Only when she was highly advanced were landscapes allowed! Mastery of the brush had to be perfected before anything else was begun.
This is a book all persons, especially all Sri Lankans should read. Written elegantly yet simply it lays before the reader an understanding of the essential Tamil woman.
In these days of ‘reconciliation’ after our civil war it would be an excellent idea to translate it into Sinhala.
How few of the Sinhala reading population have access to the ideas and in depth stories of the personal experiences of a diplomat’s wife and more importantly of a Tamil woman steeped in her own culture yet well able to represent Sri Lanka abroad.
My personal enjoyment of Sivanandini Duraiswamy’s book is unbounded and I congratulate her on the writing and publication of ‘Cultural Moments’. It is undoubtedly a ‘must read’ for all.