‘Look, this is the society we live in’

By Marisa de Silva
The 'Mirror Making Factory', a production directed by Ruwanthie De Chickera, is set to go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on March 21 and 22.

Ruwanthie De Chickera is known in theatrical circles as a talented young playwright but just who are these people, who will bring the 'Mirror Making Factory' (MMF) to life? Who acts as the students, the doctors, the various functions of the machine, the MMF graduates, the rejects… and how do they see this 'very different' play?

A cross-section is how one would best describe the cast of the MMF; a cross section of young and older people from all races, religions, backgrounds and classes. It could easily be said, that there has been no play in recent times that has featured such a diverse group of actors. It seems quite evident that the experience gained, both theatrically and on a personal level, has enriched their lives.

"Even in our every day life, we each have a role to play, so the most important thing is to learn how best to play it," says Omar, a member of the cast. Words of wisdom indeed but, how many of us can actually live up to this ideal? People should learn the right way to act in normal circumstances, instead of simply reacting to them because that's where the problem lies, he says.

"Through drama, it's possible to learn this, thus helping people to live better lives. Taking part in this play has been a novel experience as it gets me away from the regular, dreary routine, a welcome break from the 'rat race'. It has enriched me and helped in more ways than I can imagine.

"What I find most appealing in this sort of production is that everyone works with each other devoid of the boundaries that are so apparent in the 'real’ world," says Ruwan Fernando. The distinct line created by society between the 'so called' normal and the abnormal disappears, leaving only talent and the use of it to its maximum potential. This is one of the most important things in taking part in plays of this nature, he says.

It's futile taking part in this sort of production if you don't take anything back with you that'll open both your eyes and mind, adds Ruwan. "Personally, I have gained a lot from this whole experience and will put into action all I've learnt from here.”

"My role depicts the epitome of 'normalcy'. I'm the perfect citizen. A mirror reflection of every graduate of the Modern Man Foundation," says Gihan De Chickera proudly. It's the first time ever that he's taken part in a bilingual play. Also the first time he's had his end of semester exams on simultaneously. "My role is used to laugh at some of the strange behaviour of the 'normal' people in our society."

"It's my first time taking part in a drama of any sort," says Eranga Boteju, who plays the role of a student. How the drama brings out various social truths on how society behaves towards specific sectors of our community is one of the unique aspects of this play. How society accepts only those who conform and rejects all those who don't, too is brought out quite effectively through certain characters in the play, he adds.

It's definitely not her first time on stage, says Chamila Peiris, but no matter how many times she acts in productions of this kind, she just can't seem to get enough. She portrays someone who opts to play all the right cards to get to the top. She wants to say exactly what the interview panel wants to hear so that she'll get to where she wants, no matter what the odds are. "This is human nature for you," she says.

This type of production is more challenging and difficult but at the same time more rewarding, says Keshan Thalgahagoda, an honours graduate turned Tour Guide, of the MMF.

The 'Mirror Making Factory' is simple, direct and to the point. At the same time, its hidden meaning will strike at the viewer's conscience.

Because, like it or not, we are of this entity called society, that drives many who belong to this very same entity, to isolation and rejection. Maybe the MMF will help you search your soul.

Sesha's power of love with words

Sri Lankan writer Sesha Samarajiwa has won first prizes in two prestigious literary competitions in Australia.

The Death of a Skywalker won first prize in the poetry competition, and two other poems, City of Concrete Erections and A Question of Zen, won commendations in the poetry competition organised by the Melbourne University Post Graduate Review. In a separate essay competition, Sesha's satire Eat your way to better sex garnered the first prize, while his humorous essay, In praise of the chilli, won a commendation.

Commenting on behalf of the judging panel on his contributions, editor Vyvyan Cayley said: "All your submissions were excellent and we had a hard time selecting the best from among them. You offer a wide repertoire of themes and styles with admirable economy of expression to give your audience a wonderful aestheticexperience. Your work is memorable, powerful and thought provoking. Congratulations on winning first prize in both our competitions."

Meanwhile, the latest issue of the respected Australian literary journal, anti THESIS, has published another of his poems. The introductory remarks of the issue, which dealt with the theme of transition, states: "Sesha Samarajiwa shows how transit in the shadow of colonialism requires the sidelining of his family and cultural heritage and the identity which is embedded in it. In his poem, 'What's in a Name?' he is forced to 'cut his name down to size'."

Sesha has been invited to read his poetry at a number of literary events. His poem City of Concrete Erections, specially composed for the Hong Kong Fringe Festival, won high praise.

"I have been in love with words as long as I can remember," says Sesha. "As a little boy growing up in a lovely little house on a hill in Peradeniya, I used to spend hours just touching and smelling the books in my father's library. I spent many delightful moments with my father who used to read me stories and, more often, we would invent stories together.

"We used to go to the theatre often - Sinhabahu, Maname and Hunu
Wataye Kathawa. The first movie I saw was Lester James Peiris's Rekawa, which was screened in a giant tent. Many decades later, I had the privilege of meeting and writing about the great auteur.

"I was also in the habit of stealing my father's prized fountain pens. One of his favourite photographs of me shows a chubby two-year-old clasping his Parker. Another shows a bare-bottomed me fiddling with the tuning knob of our PYE radio, which gave me endless hours of fascination.

"I learnt early the power and magic of the spoken and written word."

Sesha, who also writes in his mother tongue, considers the late Colin De Silva, the author of the international blockbuster 'Sinhala' quartet, to be his hero."I had the great privilege of becoming Colin's friend. He was a tremendously versatile talent. He was the last of the Sinhala Lions. In fact, that was the title of a profile I wrote about him for Serendib."

Sesha was a pioneer editor of the then Airlanka's award-winning inflight magazine, Serendib, to which he contributed a range of articles.

Eat your way to better sex

Sexologists have long known that there's a connection between eating and sex. Both activities satisfy appetites, fill two powerful needs. Gluttony is a known substitute for sexual starvation.

I have a theory about eating and sex, a theory worthy of a Freud or a Foucault, albeit a blatantly essentialist one. My theory, in a nutshell, is this; those who eat with their fingers enjoy sex much more than those who eat with tools.

I categorise the human race into three distinct types: those who eat with metallic implements like knives and forks; those who use sticks; and those who use their fingers. (That's my hypothesis.) For the latter the food is always finger-licking good or finger-non-licking bad.

The first variety of people generally inhabit the Northern Hemisphere. Those who do so now in the Southern Hemisphere originally came from northern climes.

The stick eaters inhabit, in the main, North-east Asia. The finger-eating people inhabit the Middle East, South and South-east Asia, Africa, South America and many Pacific and South Sea islands.

Those who use steel implements - and sometimes in a hurry plastic ones - did not always use such tools.

In fact, the custom came into vogue in the European middle ages. Indeed an English queen deplored the new fashion creeping in from France, saying: "Heaven forbid! If God had intended man (I'm sure she was using the generic term here) to eat with knives and forks, he (I'm sure she believed the deity is male) would not have given people fingers, thank God!"

So knives and forks were banned from the royal table during this queen's reign. The courtiers literally pitched into their food with gusto, tearing juicy chunks of meat with their teeth, ripping off chunks of bread to scoop up the gravy, and generally having a highly sensuous culinary experience.

But the knife-and-fork-fad which originated in France, caught on in Europe.

On the heels of this absurd fad came the reign of the puritans, with their sterile attitude towards life's pleasures. The repressed Victorian era saw women suffering the masochistic custom of enslaving their feminine assets within bondage cages to pretend they did not exist. Thus they repressed their sensuality.

Soon, the puritans of the cold, northern climes colonised the sensual south where native elites began to ape their customs. The finger-eating sensualists of the colonised regions were told that everything sensual was bad for them.

The colonisers spread the repression, waging a crusade against sensuality. They introduced the missionary position and proscribed the Kama Sutra. One colonial governor of India even planned to raze to the ground the temples of Khajuraho (humankind's ultimate ode to sensuality), declaring them a barbaric affront to "decency and civilised norms".

Such prudishness, which has already systematically vanquished pagan-sensual Europe with sustained raids, witch-hunts and brainwashing on a massive scale, was repeated in the colonies. Some caved in; others continued to touch the objects of their culinary pleasure.

Now, those who use sticks to eat have been doing it with sticks for a very long time. On first encountering the custom one would think it an amazing feat of Oriental dexterity. But with practice anyone can master the use of chopsticks.

Still, the food one eats with chopsticks tends to be bland, lacks zest. But that's not the point. The point is that stick eaters also distance themselves from their food by using sticks instead of their hands.

To come to the crux of my theory, any couple who have made love with a condom between them can tell the difference between it and the real thing. Imagine eating a banana with the peel on. Or a lolly with the wrapper on. Likewise with food.

It all comes down to touch: more precisely, those who touch and those who distance themselves from their objects of desire. Those who eat with utensils can never experience the exquisite pleasure of touching, feeling, caressing the food you eventually raise to your lips to be placed on your tongue to be savoured with a slurp and a burp. Total pleasure demands the stimulation of all five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste - and touch. So those who eat with their fingers delight in a total sensory experience, because the consummation of the pleasurable act of eating begins with smell and sight and culminates in the titillation of the taste buds.

Tool-users, on the other hand, are quite different from the touch-people of the warmer climes of the planet.

As with other forms of life's activities, the former tend to rely too much on gadgets to accomplish things - a form of touch aversion. These are the sort of people who don't like to get their hands sticky, so to speak.

Have you seen an Arab eat? Or an Indian? Or an African?A Tongan? Exotic dishes garnished with multicoloured leaves, red-hot chilli peppers, spiced with.... well, spices; colours, aromas and sights to inflame the senses. Imagine an Indian banquet with dishes of delight inviting to be fondled, caressed, squeezed, nibbled and savoured.

Ama Rhasa, the Food of the Gods! To eat such food with tools would be to do injustice to a potent element of human sensuality - touch. Indeed, it would be an affront to the cook to prudishly pick at such food with tools, rendering it insipid, lacklustre, demeaned.

When friends not accustomed to eating with their fingers drop in for a meal at my place, I watch them.

Some are visibly repelled by our custom of breaking a hot naan or roti, dipping it into a succulent dish to scoop it up and transport it to our mouths with our fingers. (How else can you eat this food, anyway?) Their look betrays their sterile attitude towards sex; those who wade in with all ten fingers must be the sensualists or those with that potential.

It's all about how we go about satisfying two basic needs which also delight our senses. Eating is like making love. Take my advice: touch that morsel of delight and feel the difference.

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