![]() 23rd January 2000 |
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She shares her flairBy Roshan PeirisBorn in Sri Lanka and now living in Canada, Sherie de Mel (nee Cader) began experimenting with flower arrangements as a hobby. "Today my hobby is a thriving career which I am proud of," she says. Sherie has her own TV show in Canada, on how to arrange flowers. "My mother and grandmother both loved growing flowers. So even as a child I used my pocket money to buy flowers such as roses, while my friends bought sweets," she recalls. Sherie studied flower arrangements at the Inchbold School of Design, London. She is now writing a book for both beginners as well as experienced designers. "Learn to create arrangements symmetrically, so that the arrangement stands out, and does not give the appearance of being chaotic and confused," advises Sherie. In Singapore too, she had a flower shop, when her husband lectured there at the university. She has also done demonstrations at the Ottawa Garden Club. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Sherie said, "I now teach both young and old to arrange flowers. Flower arrangements have aesthetic value and so I think one must share one's knowledge and flair with others." She does arrangements for hotels, conferences, weddings and banquets. Sherie will hold an exhibition of her work using local flowers such as Araliya and Pol Mal as well as dried materials such as ekel and mats which she has cut up to help prop her arrangements, at the Liberty Ballroom of the Holiday Inn, on January 25. The exhibition will be held in two sessions, the first from 3 p.m.ending at 5 p.m. and the other from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. Tickets are available at the venue.
Book reviewThat old familiar feelingIt's the kind of book that creates a certain nostalgia in those of us whose memories go far back, for the 'good old days' of D.S. and Sir John and Sir Oliver and others of that ilk and that time. "Lanka's Yesteryears - Facts and Fiction' by Alfred Gogerly Moragoda (available at Vijitha Yapa, Bookland and Sarasaviya - Rs. 400/-) is a collection lovingly put together by his elder daughter, Amithi Moragoda Alles with the help of her sister, Nirmali Wickremesinghe, after she came across "two cartons filled with newspaper cuttings of short stories and articles written by him" in days gone by. Reading through the first section of the book (it's divided into 4 parts) headed "Arsenic and Old Wine", recreated for me a time in our history that had almost passed into the limbo of forgotten things. It is meet and right that our memories should be jogged by a writer who played an active role as a civil servant for 35 years and who knew at first hand the people and events his pen portrayed. Alfie used the pseudonym "Ganymede" for his regular articles in the then Ceylon Daily News. The younger generation's knowledge and understanding of the two decades that preceded 1956 would be increased by a reading of these articles. Some of them, however like that on the 1965 General Election, a reflection induced by the Olympic Games held in Los Angeles and the account of the MP who went public wearing only a span cloth to register his protest about a prevailing textile shortage in the country - recall post-1956 events. Words like 'State Council' and 'hartal' may be unknown in the vocabulary of today's young people when even the terms Government Agent and Village Headman have become obsolete. They will find much that is both informative and interesting in accounts such as "When Civil Servants Were Magistrates", "The Exercise of Power", "A 1936 State Council Election", "The Bachelor's Maid", "Participatory Management" and so on. A piece on "The Orient Club", - although written with a light touch - is revealing of the central part it played in the lives of men who mattered in olden time. So much so that no less a person than the illustrious "O.E.G." (although his name is not divulged in the article), is quoted as having said that he joined the Orient Club "mainly to find a place in the Ceylon sun for myself," the son of a former postmaster_ "The elite of Ceylonese manhood - at that time class distinctions were taken for granted - formed the membership of the Orient Club, and I was there, working my way upwards." My favourite piece, however, does not concern any political or official personage, but gives a delightful pen-portrait of one of Ceylon's outstanding cricketers of all time - M. Sathasivam who was a personal friend and cricket idol of Alfie's and whom the latter visited in the remand jail when this gentleman was on trial for the alleged murder of his wife. We women came out badly in this episode, for, as Alfie points out, almost without exception the female of the species judged and condemned Mr. Sathasivam before the case was heard. Sadly, not even his acquittal changed their minds. Alfie describes a hilarious incident of an earlier time in which "Satha" figured in an encounter with the Principal of Alfie's wife's old school (and mine), which is thinly veiled as "Maiden's College" and where the Principal's composure and good humour took the wind out of Satha's and his companions' sails! If Alfie's concluding statement is true - that "the female of the species turned out in deadly strength at the next parliamentary elections to ensure the defeat of the brilliant lawyer-politician who had defended him", it doesn't speak well for our sex and our sense of fairplay. Part 2 contains short stories, some of them amusing, some full of gore. "The Lord of Nanneri", based on fact, is the one I like best and concerns an impressive personality by the name of Lamasuriya, derived from the more ancient Westernised origin of "Le Mesurier". There is even a quite plausibly written detective story featuring an ace police sleuth by the name of Jim Bandara. In Part 3, Alfie's classical education comes to the fore (he obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Western Classics from the University of London). It is in serious vein and features three lengthy and imaginary conversations between the writer and Aspasia (the highly-cultured Athenian lady who was wife to Pericles, the renowned statesman who guided the destiny of ancient Athens in its Golden Age), and Socrates. The interview with Aspasia deals with lessons that post-independence Modern Ceylon might learn from the code of civilised behaviour that prevailed in Ancient Athens; the first of the two dialogues with Socrates dwells on the failure of humankind in general to apply the truths revealed in their many great religions to their daily lives; and the second is all about what it really means to love your neighbour as yourself. The fourth and final section is entitled "A Little Bit of Verse and A Little Bit of Prose" and includes the Minneriya Serenade written when he fell in love with the lovely lady with whom Alfie had a lifelong romance, Ariadne Wickremesinghe, his wife for 52 blessed years. An article relating how D.S. Senanayake restored the Minneriya tank ends with a second lyric which, the reader is informed, was sung as the 'Mahaweli Symphony' by the late Lylie Godridge in connection with the Mahaweli Project. We are also given the inside story of how Sir Oliver Goonetilleke after the acceptance (with some reservations) by the State Council of the Soulbury Constitution in November, 1945, was sent to London to meet the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Creech Jones, to ask for full national independence. Sir Oliver came back with nothing less. The book ends on an intriguing personal note - a poem entitled "To Marcia The Flirt", written by the author when he was in his teens and, doubtless, experienced calf love! The collection is well produced and is singularly free of misprints. The cover picture and the illustrations within, by Vajira Jayasinghe, enhance the script. There is a Foreword by another eminent civil servant, Victor Wirasinha, who preceded Alfie at his old school, Richmond College, Galle, and whom Alfie regarded as a role model. Mr. Wirasinha too was a first-rate Classics scholar who adorned the old Civil Service. He was seated by Alfie at the well attended launch of "Lanka's Yesteryears" at the Bishop's College Auditorium on January 5, 2000 - a happy occasion that was compered by Alfie's niece, Nirmali Hettiarachchi, and at which excerpts from the book were read by Amithi and Nirmali and others. Amithi is to be congratulated on a labour of love well executed and for giving us a volume that should certainly find a treasured place on our bookshelves.
D.I.N. by Amirun Boange nee Abdul Cader - Reviewed by Siromi FernandoA winning D.I.N."D.I.N." is a small booklet of poems by Amirum Boange (nee Abdul Cader). Half of the profits of this book are to be donated towards the building fund of the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped. Amirum Boange herself is a disabled person. She was stricken with polio at the age of eleven months and was disabled neck downwards. Despite her disability, her writings have won her international acclaim. In 1995, her poem "D.I.N. (Disabled-In-Need)" won the Best Poets' Award from the United States National Library of Poetry. Another poem of hers, "Amirun!", an autobiography, was selected by the same library for that year's anthology. Her present booklet of poems is an anthology of 36 short poems, including both "D.I.N. (Disabled-In-Need)" and "Amirun!". Each poem is accompanied by interesting photographs of the people she writes about (many of them infants or children); or by imaginative pertinent drawings. Her poetry is characterised by her sense of life, vitality and joy. Her innovative poems lead us to abandon grammaticality and conventional ideas of rhyming for their own sake. Instead the poems guide us to concentrate on human life and themes of nature. God and "God's own way", freedom and liberation. Susil Siriwardana, an Oxford graduate in Arts and English, writing in Preface to her collection says: "Amirun Boange's slim volume of verse is a joyous threading together of natural emotions. The disabled, society, Sri Lanka, nature, girl, resistance, the writer herself, mystery spirit, beauty and harmony are the subjects." Her poems are the best illustrations of the characteristics of her poetry and their content. "Amirun!" uses her first name as the title. Characteristics of her poetry are conveyed through these words: A victim of polio from neck - downwards. My parents schooling made me think up - wards. Although physically I am weak and deformed, I am very capable for my mind is well formed. "D.I.N. (Disabled-In-Need)", which also gives the title of her anthology, is the other award-winning poem. Again we turn from the accuracy of grammaticality and poetic conventions to meaning and warm expression of life. Her opening lines are given below: I will make such a D.I.N. (din) For all our rights and win - The cause of the handicapped. For whoever is being tricked and trapped. Amirun Boange writes a large number of poems about children. Most of these poems express her delightful sense of humour. Two poems about a pair of children, sisters, are printed on facing pages of the anthology. She first writes about the younger sister, referring also to the elder sister. Don't be a coward, Always come forward And box her proper - That mischief cropper! She thinks she can boss, And with a twist she can toss. On the opposite page she writes about the "Fatty", the elder sister who is the boss. Oh, darling fatty! I heard that you're naughty. When you get a thrashing, Your teddy gets a bashing! In other poems she dwells on the themes of nature, God, liberation from the city and pollution. Stop replacing nature with useless machinery and concrete, Space away from the cities let nature secrete If man lives with as much nature, As God meant for his creature - There will be harmony and peace Which will never, ever, cease! One last example is taken from the poem "Peaceful New Year". Her simplicity and harmony of thinking are reflected through the poetry. If among the cities they don't clash, Then within the country, unity will flash. If unity flashes from one country to another, Then there'd be peace in the world, my dear brother. These illustrations will give you a good idea of the poems themselves. I read through these with delight. I recommend that you should read these poems too. The collection is priced modestly at Rs. 75/-. Enjoy your reading.
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