Witty, illuminating and full of colour

A Family Memoir, Marjorie de Mel, Reviewed by Alfreda de Silva

This engaging book is about another season in time - a long ago and far away one; an exotic life-style, immense wealth, and a woman's inspired and courageous vision, which led her to carve out for herself a niche away from the traditional and the expected.

The result was fulfilment for herself, her family and for both urban and rural women for whom she along with a group of others with similar goals, opened doors.

Marjorie de Mel, the eldest daughter of Francis and Rita Perera Abeywardene was born on the 18th of September 1898 in her maternal grandmother's home in Colombo. This house was later named Alfred House to commemorate a royal visit, that of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria. He was lavishly entertained to dinner by Marjorie's grandfather.

She grew up in Galle, in the legendary mansion, Closenberg - still an imposing landmark there.

A Family Memoir was launched on September 18th this year to commemorate Marjorie de Mel's 100th birth Anniversary. The ceremony was also the occasion for celebrating the 75th birthday of her twin daughters Rohini and Seela.

Mrs. de Mel's life at Closenberg included her schooling at Southland, a leading girls' school in the Southern district.

It is very evident that she imbibed the spirit of service and self- discipline instilled by the diligent Principals of this institution.

She wanted to be a doctor at a time when professions for women were not the order of the day, especially for young women of her heritage and life-style.

Moreover, her father's death at the early age of thirty eight leaving her mother with eight children to care for, made it more expedient for her to think of a suitable marriage than to train for a career. The book gives us insights into the leisurely life of the wealthy who were also on the upper rungs of the social ladder.

"Therefore in her late teens Marjorie was given the opportunity to be seen at social events in Colombo, Nuwara Eliya and Galle, where race meets, balls, cricket matches and garden parties were the venues at which young men and women found their partners. Of course, carefully and discreetly arranged."

Benjamin de Mel, son of a wealthy land owner, Jacob de Mel, who spotted her at the Royal Thomian match and fell in love with her, married her after a year long courtship and brought her to live at the elegant Villa de Mel in Colombo's Cinnamon Gardens.

She lived there till she died at the age of seventy having established herself as a personality with rare qualities of leadership. Marjorie de Mel, as a young wife and mother, began to get involved in the Women's Social and Political Movement, with people like Cissy Cooray, Mrs. W.A. de Silva, Lady de Soysa, Dr. Mary Rutnam and Mrs. Adeline Molamure.

Working with dedication and no thought or need for financial remuneration, these women helped change the traditional sheltered role of the women of this country and gave them new goals and aspirations to better their lot.

Mrs. de Mel was a Founder Member and First Honorary Treasurer to the Central Board of the Rural Lanka Mahila Samiti and its President from 1953 to 1956. She was involved in its activities for many years after that.

She also worked tirelessly for the Young Women's Christian Association and was its first National President. Among the many prestigious positions she held were those of Vice President of the All-Ceylon Women's Conference and Vice President of the Associated Country Women of the World. She represented this country at international conferences and was known world-wide for her social consciousness and leadership qualities. Women from the YWCA and the Lanka Mahila Samiti were welcome in her home to discuss their programmes and problems.

A Family Memoir paints vivid word-pictures of people, customs, manners, clothes and celebrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when Portuguese, and British influences were still strong here.

"Rita was a beautiful bride. Her wedding dress had been ordered from Paris, through Cargills, a firm in Colombo. It was of white corded satin moulded to the figure, tight over the hips and very wide at the hem......... She had a long train suspended from her shoulders and her tulle veil was held in place by a diamond tiara." There are unusual sights like this recreated for us. "The home-coming was in Galle at Closenberg and to take all the guests from Colombo, Francis chartered a special train.

"They started from Colombo and on the way stopped at a few stations to pick up the guests...... The bride and bridegroom themselves got on board at Moratuwa............ Right along the route people had gathered to see the new bride from Colombo. They had built a 'thorana' and decorated it with their golden silver havadiyas..... about a thousand havadiyas catching the light of sun at high noon".

The book has graphic descriptions of places, and glimpses of the Dutch influence on Galle's houses, streets and occupations. Closenberg itself is full of history.

Galle's flourishing lace industry owes its revival to Marjorie de Mel's continued efforts. A Family Memoir ends with tributes to Marjorie de Mel from her daughters - Rohini and Seela, her son-in-law Ray Wijewardena her grand-daughter Anoma and many other close relatives and friends. Also from Nadine David, the grand-daughter of her friend and colleague, Dr. Mary Rutnam and a number of distinguished personalities from all over the world.

Giving life to a forgotten milieu

Greener Pastures: English translation of Madawala Ratnayake's Akkara Paha by Tilak Balasuriya. Published by the State Printing Corporation Rs. 140/-.Reviewed by Vijita Fernando

Akkara Paha, the award winning first novel of reputed writer S. Madawala Ratnayake has just been published in English, a tribute from his wife to the writer who passed away a few years ago.

Written in the late nineteen fifties, the novel captures vividly the new milieu of rural people in the new settlements into which they were relocated from their rural homes. A new lifestyle emerged, portrayed by young Sena with his roots firmly in his village, his future in a transformed society, his conscience battling with a new lifestyle in urban Kandy. Even his father, convention bound Banda, finds the good life in the settlement and accepts the transformation of social and cultural attitudes brought about in the new milieu.

But not Sena, the protagonist, sensitively portrayed by the author, whose life is bedevilled not only by the bleak future he faces, the breakdown of rural relationships but also by his inability to handle his emotional affairs.

The writer makes young Sena come to life vividly against the background of his despair at the loss of his village home, the persistent guilt in his mind that his family fortunes were lost because of him and his divided loyalties to Sanda and Theresa.

At the time Akkara Paha was written it was one of the first novels to portray village life, coming not long after the other masterpiece Gamperaliya by Martin Wickramasinghe and the collections of G.B. Senanayake's short stories Duppathun Nathi Lokaya in the mid- forties. In 1959 Akkara Paha won the Don Pedrick Award for that year's best work of fiction. It was also one of the earliest novels to be made into a film by the renowned Lester James Peiris. Tilak Balasuriya's translation brings to life for the English reader a cultural milieu that is almost forgotten today.

Balasuriya has done a competent job with the translation introducing his reader to a new world. It is not always easy to get the nuances of Sinhala writing in a foreign language especially when the original work is a so well handled.

However, translations of this nature are the best means of introducing the reader to the world of Sinhala creative writing as much as to allow a glimpse into a fast changing rural society.

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