He is not a child of a lesser god. He was born just like most of us. No abnormalities. No disabilities. But ten years ago in 1985, a mere flu altered the life of Rohan Felsinger drastically, leaving him paralysed for life.
Today at 32, Rohan is confined to a wheelchair and is lifeless below the chest. He can only use his hands to get about the house. Thanks to the rehabilitation he underwent at the Rheumatology Hospital in Ragama, Rohan though confined to a bed is capable of eating, bathing, washing and cooking all by himself.
Second in a family of six children, Rohan hails from a very close knit Catholic family in Talawakelle. His father was employed at the Tea Research Institute there and Rohan worked prior to his illness, at a welding plant.
One day while at work Rohan had felt uneasy, experiencing a slight temperature. At home that evening his condition worsened with the onset of severe body pain. All that time Rohan was on his feet. But when he sat down and tried to get up to walk to the van, he never realised that these were the last steps he would take. "I was paralysed and that was the last time I walked," says Rohan.
From then on it was a matter of being taken from hospital to hospital, finally ending up at the Colombo General Hospital that very night. For the next seven months life was hell for Rohan who was examined and re-examined by different physicians to ascertain the cause of his paralysis. No reason was found and tragically the numbness that he suffered below his hip spread upwards to his chest, leaving him helpless except for the use of his two hands.
Confined to bed Rohan suffered from severe bed sores for which he had to undergo a skin graft. Although the skin graft helped, when the wounds eventually healed, they left such deep scars as to expose his bones.
With no explanation given for his paralysis and with no cure in sight Rohan returned home to lead a life where he was entirely dependent on his family.
When nearly ten years later in 1993 Rohan heard of the Ragama Rheumatology Hospital which help those in his condition. He immediately went there seeking treatment. But his call for help came a little too late. Since he had not used the lower part of his body for so many years, the bones had wasted away, leaving no hope for a cure.
"It makes me sad whenever I think that none of the doctors told me that such a place existed and I had hope. Even though I'm confined to a stretcher I can at least use my hands. But I feel sad when I think of those disabled persons who are not so lucky as I am. Some can't even use their hands. Such people must know that they have help. I don't want to see people suffering for the rest of their lives due to ignorance", emphasised Rohan.
Back in Talawakelle confined to a house in a vast estate Rohan feeling bored, began painting. Eventually his emotions, his feelings flowed onto the canvas. Soon his paintings were being appreciated by outsiders. The Buddhist society of the Tea Research Institute helped him with the purchase of brushes, paints and material. Rohan completed nearly 60 paintings within eight months and in 1989 he had his first solo exhibition. He held another in 1990.
Since he started painting Rohan's dream was to meet his idol Senaka Senanayake. He realised this wish last week when the Leo Club of Colombo organised an exhibition of handicrafts by the inmates of the Rheumatology hospital.
Enthusiastically describing their meeting, Rohan said, "I like Senaka's style and I've been experimenting with it in my paintings as well. Senaka advised me on how to improve on my own style, because as he insists that each person must have a distinctive style of painting. He also advised me on the art material I should buy and gave me tips on preserving my paintings. I'm so happy that I was able to meet such a great artist of Sri Lanka. It is my dream to meet some of the renowned artists of this country. H.S. Sarath is also one of my favourite painters".
"I'm impressed at the fact that he is a self taught artist. He is enthusiastic and very determined," said Senaka Senanayake.
According to Senaka, Rohan exhibits a great deal of talent and potential, but has to develop a lot at the same time.
"Considering his disability Rohan is extremely clever, but to reach a professional standard one has to work hard. After all talent is only 20 per cent and the rest is hard work. Someone might buy his paintings just to help him, but I feel that people must buy his works for their value".
Art is a funny thing, says Senaka who feels that depending only on the local market to sell one's work was unpredictable. It all depends on people's taste, explained Senaka. As such Rohan has to improve, especially in developing his own style.
"Rohan is eager to join an adult art school, but unlike other countries we do not have any such institution. But he certainly can improve through hard work and I can help him by providing artistic criticism from time to time", said Senaka.
As for Rohan, he is determined to make a life of his own. Given the facilities of modern technology, Rohan feels that a small home with the necessary mod cons would help him survive.
"I would like to have a disabled companion who shares a similar interest in art. Since I can do everything around the house on my own, I can manage a house", he says confidently.
Although Rohan's family members are willing to look after him and take care of him, he craves independence.
"My parents are old and they are unable to wheel me around the house any more. And why must they suffer watching me day in day out in this state.
My three sisters are not married because they have been looking after me. I don't want them to feel that it is their obligation to take care of me".
Rohan's only hope is a motorised wheelchair, which will help him to be mobile around the house which he will be able to operate himself. Electrical wheelchairs are not available in Sri Lanka and importing them would cost several lakhs. The wheelchair can however be made locally as well and this will be much more advantageous as Rohan can easily obtain the spare parts. Currently Rohan uses a wheelchair which he himself designed and which cost him 5000 rupees. He has saved Rs. 50,000 - 60,000 towards getting a new wheelchair.
Rohan does not need our sympathy. Although he has only his two hands to depend on, he is fiercely proud of his independence. What he needs are better facilities at his finger tips to improve his quality of life.
Leonard Woolf A British Civil Servant as A Judge in the Hambantota District of Colonial Sri Lanka (1908-1911) by Prabhath de Silva
Any writing on Leonard Woolf is of perennial interest to readers in Sri Lanka. This new book by Prabhath de Silva evaluates the work of Leonard Woolf as a judicial officer in the Hamabantota District during the early years of the century when Sri Lanka was still under British Colonial rule. It is the author's intention to understand the Judge in Woolf.
The author has pointed out sharply how the personnel of the elite Ceylon Civil Service then manned, important executive, legislative and judicial positions in the colony. They formed the most important instruments of British administration in their far-flung imperial territory.
He has also indicated that there was no strict separation of powers at that time. A district administrator would at the same time function as a judge thus wielding both executive and judicial authority. Today this would be looked upon with suspicion but in those years it was common enough.
While Leonard Woolf has been treated fairly sufficiently as a writer of fiction and to a lesser extent as a colonial administrator and as a figure of significance in the initial years of the 20th century. Mr de Silva chooses to focus his attention on Woolf as judge. As we peruse the pages of this slim but eminently readable volume, we are quite convinced that the author has performed his task admirably well.
In the introduction there is a short but interesting review of general nature about Leonard Woolf. One is exposed to the many roles that Woolf had played during a pretty long life of energetic activity during his time. His stay in Sri Lanka however was limited only to a few years but we find it to be eventful.
Woolf's judicial work in Hambantota in Southern Sri Lanka consisted of his duties as police magistrate, commissioner of requests and additional district judge: three judicial positions, in this rather outlying district away from the capital city, Colombo. Indeed those who are familiar with Woolf's well known novel" Village in the Jungle" would realise that a good portion of the material in the book had been culled from his experience as a judge in southern Sri Lanka.
We have to be obliged to Mr. de Silva for his painstaking and thorough study of several books as well as primary records and reports. Since Mr. de Silva got an opportunity of serving in Hambantota he has personally scrutinised the collection of case records pertaining to Woolf's service there. It is from them that he has crafted his valuable account of Leonard Woolf's judicial career.
Mr. de Silva in Chapter II entitled "Nervous Tremor and Justice" takes the reader through the records of Woolf and presents to him his activities as Judge and an insight into a judicial mind. In this short chapter we are also exposed to critical comments by the author on the performance of Woolf, especially in pages 18 and 19.
In chapter III, Mr de Silva outlines Woolf's sense of humour and the same time shows him as a very strict and severe Judge. In fact, one gets after reading the account, an impression that Woolf could be harsh and little of his judgement in cases could have been tempered with mercy! He could brook no misdemeanour.
The chapter that follows recounts the type of work as well as the nature of the responsibility that Woolf had to shoulder in his capacity as a judge in Hambantota district. The types of offences that came in for trial were more often related to murder, bribery and even communal riots. Of course, other types of offences too were heard in Court. Cattle stealing or illicit growth of produce in chenas were common offences.
These are quite familiar to historians of the period. There was more than enough of work for one official. But somehow or other Woolf seems to have been able to keep a steady pace in getting through his judicial duties without allowing them to lapse into arrears. The dispensation of justice was summary in form.
Chapter V is devoted to the Boer Prisoner of War, Engelbrecht, originally from South Africa. This is a particularly interesting chapter and the personality of this foreign figure has fascinated many writers, especially to our newspapers. Mr. de Silva tells a lively tale which grips the attention of the reader throughout.
He thereafter goes onto delve into the case records available in Hambantota. It is in this chapter that the reader gains details of the valuable primary material for the historian that is found in the Record Room of this District Court in South Sri Lanka. The procedure in a trial is given in a detailed manner on pages 68-73 as an illustration of the nature of the judicial work that Woolf had to perform in the early years of century.
Chapter VIII deals with the police, the village headmen and crime. Woolf is stridently harsh on the methods resorted to by the local police and headmen in dealing with investigations. Police practices of that time were of a rough nature, one wonders whether they are any better or only more sophisticated now.
In Chapter VIII the writer has given a lengthy account of his understanding and interpretation of Woolf's famous work of fiction, "The Village in the Jungle". Clearly in a number of ways Mr de Silva lucidly points out how the novel evolved out of the personal experiences of Leonard Woolf in Hambantota.
Once again the real focus of de Silva is fixed however on the legal trial recapitulated in the book and on the dispensation of justice. This Chapter provides the reader with a pleasant and informative account of legal proceedings in Court, and it is easily intelligible to the lay reader.
Finally, the conclusion comes as a succinct, short and salient comment on the judiciary of that time by the author. Naturally, Mr de Silva has found that Woolf had carefully maintained his diaries and letters and furthermore provided additional data in the form of a highly readable autobiography as well as an illuminating novel. It is the availability of such rich sources which has enabled many like Prabhath de Silva to be able to undertake this type of survey of the work and mind of Woolf.
It is clear to the reader that the writer had done a substantial amount of research, spent much time on reading, and more in searching for material. Certainly the author had made valuable and rewording use of his stay in Hambantota in spite of the many calls of an official nature on his time. This book is clear and straight-forward.
Most of the chapters are brief and deal with the theme of Woolf as a judge which he has chosen to built upon as a special story. He writes with clarity and felicity of expression and has a good grasp of his material. It is a pleasant book to read and to possess, and very useful to the student of history.
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