ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday September 23, 2007
Vol. 42 - No 17
Plus  

Of familiar people and feelings

By Smriti Daniel

‘“Does your daughter know how to replace a bulb in the hour, or service the small radio in her room?” That’s my father talking to his audience.’ You can almost see Manu Tissera Gunasekera smile, as you read her collection of short stories. Filled with familiar characters – grandmothers and grandchildren, fathers, daughters, uncles, aunts, priests and teachers – the book serves not only as a compilation of personal memoirs, but also of stories with universal appeal, says the author describing her literary debut ‘Recollections’.

Manu Tissera Gunasekera

Dedicated to her father, Sumith Tissera, the book is unusual in more ways than one – all proceeds are to go to a fund set up with the Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka for children with diabetes. For Manu, who lost her father two years ago to the disease, this is a fitting tribute to a pragmatic yet compassionate man. While the sum collected is likely to be modest, admits Manu – the volume is priced at Rs.195 only – she hopes that this will start a trend and that it will inspire more people to consider innovative ways of adding to the fund.

The 35-year- old author who wrote ‘Recollections,’ over a period of a few months, chose to keep the stories brief, and the collection itself small. The book is divided into six chapters, with “each speaking of five key personalities who are close to me and who are still close to me in real life,” she writes in the foreword to the collection. In a later interview, Manu elaborates, “I talk about my first hand experiences with the character and with the situation, but in a broad sense each story talks of the subtleties of relationships – of love, of happiness, solitude, separation and death.”

The first story in the slender volume, titled ‘Achchiamma: My Grandmother’ was “the story that started it all,” says Manu. Celebrating what make grandparents so beloved of their grandchildren, Manu sketches the relationship between her child and her grandmother, drawing on her own fond memories of her grandmother’s quirks and eccentricities. In a later chapter Manu details her family’s long standing relationship with Panditha Hamuduruwo, who she calls ‘The Learned Priest.’ With a light hand, she describes her Uncle Jeff, a man born in Australia, yet intensely attached to his family in Sri Lanka. Yet another story features, Mr. Minekawa from Japan – mentor and friend of Sumith Tissera.

While each has its own importance to Manu, the last two chapters in the collection are the most revealing of the author’s self. ‘70’s and 90’s’ is filled with Manu’s memories of her formative years – the time when she began schooling – contrasted with her older self in the 90’s. Looking back on her experiences, Manu pays tribute to those who guided and inspired her as a young girl. She also revels in the changes the years have wrought, enjoying the changes in her own perspective and emotional makeup.

But it is the final chapter which reveals the heart of the collection. ‘Life-Skills,’ is about her father, Sumith, and his contribution. Describing him as the “inseparable link,” Manu goes on to add, “each story speaks of a time of its own, and invariably has a link to my father, for the best times of our lives were well wrapped in him.”

Currently, Manu is the head of Publication and Communications at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka. Dividing her time between her job, caring for her family and her young son, and still finding time to write continues to be a challenge she relishes.

 
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