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Vision of the people’s prince
Lal Gulab Zindabad (Long Live Red Rose) by Muthu Padmakumara. Reviewed by Smriti Daniel
Poetry is powerful beyond belief. The gift of a poem is the gift of empathy. To read a poem is to be drawn into the poet’s world and for that moment to know the state of being the poet is in; to feel to the depths of your soul both the agony and the ecstasy. Muthu Padmakumara understands this and uses it skilfully to take us with her as she pays tribute to the life of the late Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Lal Gulab Zindabad (Long Live Red Rose) is Muthu Padmakumara’s third collection of poems. Exquisitely presented, the hardbound Sarasavi publication features Ms. Padmakumara’s poems along with a set of carefully chosen pictures representing the life and times of Rajiv Gandhi. The impact of each poem is enhanced by the picture that accompanies it and the result is a moving experience.

In her introduction to the collection, Ms. Padmakumara explains how as a child growing up in Sri Lanka she remained largely indifferent to the events occurring in India. “This was all to change with Rajiv Gandhi,” she says. She goes on to acknowledge the tremendous impact Rajiv Gandhi had on both nations and grieves for the loss of a man who was considered by many not only a great leader, but a great man as well. “Initiated seven years ago, the expressions in this collection are my way of paying tribute as a young Sri Lankan, to the vision and memory of Rajiv Gandhi and if I may, offer in a way an apology to India and the people who loved and believed in Rajiv,” she says.
In this collection of 17 poems, Ms. Padmakumara can only touch on some aspects of Rajiv Gandhi’s life and yet one finds her account far from incomplete. She manages to give the reader a sense both of the ordeals that faced Rajiv as well as those experienced by the nation at large.

She begins with “The First Son” where she looks in on the birth of a man who was to become one of his nation’s most beloved Prime Ministers. She follows his life from that point on, with a thoughtful and almost sombre eye, always seeming to see the doom that lies ahead of the young politician so reaching out so confidently to his people. She traces with a grave hand a man who even through his pain and disillusionment dreamt big dreams for his country. “I too have a dream” is perhaps the most appealing illustration of this view. “Are these impossible dreams – or those we dare not?” she asks, going on to conclude the poem with –
“A Single drop dreams
Of an ocean of one
India dreams fearlessly”

In another poem, “People’s Prince” she draws a detailed and perceptive sketch of how the Indian masses viewed Rajiv. He was royalty to them, and they who adored him would think nothing of waiting for hours on end. Ms. Padmakumara’s imagery is beautiful and somehow heart wrenching, because for that moment one can see right through her eyes and experience the adoration and desperation lavished on him by the multitudes.

“They wait;
In the searing heat, the monsoon rain,
To wave, stretch outspread arms,
Fingertips reach out to hope.”
Many times Ms. Padmakumara catches the reader off guard. For a minute it is almost as if she was there, looking over Rajiv’s shoulder. Take “The Inheritor” for instance;
“Day casts death’s messenger catching
At my heels, and night comes too soon
What will I find – what will find me?
Faith stays me on this shadowed way.”

It is this insight that makes the last few poems all the more forceful. The tragedy, the betrayal, the sheer aching loss of his death is communicated so successfully to the reader that one can only grieve. “To Kokila”, “On garlanding”, “Funeral rites”, “Silent Witness” and “Man Killer” are particularly potent expressions of anger, bitterness and despair. But the death of a man is not the death of his legacy and in poems such as “South of the Border”and of course “Lal Gulab Zindabad”, Ms. Padmakumara leaves us with hope and sense of purpose. She asks the question “can dead men do nothing?” and answers it herself with the affirmation that
“Echoes of the glorious
Essence lingers within

The land of Gautama and Mahatma”
In conclusion, it is perhaps Sonia Gandhi, wife of the late Rajiv Gandhi, who best expressed the effect of Lal Gulab Zindabad. In her foreword to the book she says – “As Muthu Padmakumara writes, his [Rajiv’s] spirit and his vision live on, and continue to bring us hope and inspiration.”

A responsible message for greater wellbeing
Responsibility Matters by Associate Prof. Diyanath Samarasinghe. Reviewed by Maleeka Salih
Associate Professor Diyanath Samarasinghe is well known to many of us who work in the area of wellbeing and mental health, even if we do not know him personally.

It is always inspiring to see a person of his professional background and experience find the time to write on topics which are part of the everyday and which shape our lives as well as the lives of those around us in meaningful but often unnoticed ways.

Responsibility Matters, the latest book by Associate Professor Diyanath Samarasinghe, is exactly such a book that stimulates thinking and personal reflection in those who would read it.
It is also a book that would help us to lead better and perhaps more rewarding lives.
The book seems particularly pertinent in an age where the primary consideration often appears to be self interest. Associate Professor Diyanath Samarasinghe asserts the value of social relations and the inter-connectedness of behaviour.

He emphasises the need to re-engage with the world and with what is happening around us and sounds a note of caution regarding the price we have to pay in terms of our personal happiness as well as the social consequences of choosing to look the other way.

He also moves between the personal and the political, examining responsible action at broader and higher levels where people who make decisions affect the lives of many people rather than immediate friends and family and the additional burden of responsibility this carries.

What is in addition appealing is the style in which the book is written. It is not meant to lecture, advise or instruct. He writes in a personal and reflective manner, inviting the readers to engage in such reflections about their own behaviours and attitudes.

In fact, I often found myself mulling over different points made in the book during the course of the last week when I was reading it. Hopefully, it is already making me a more responsible person! The book is also concise and easily read, even in the midst of a busy life.

Responsibility Matters is the rare example of a busy practitioner caring enough and taking the time to share his experiences with the larger community and helping in a significant way to promote better wellbeing amongst all of us. It is a must read for those who are looking for ways to make their own lives and the lives of those around them more rewarding.
The book will be available at bookshops from July 27 .

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