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Nihal’s rite of passage
Nihal Silva who took to writing as a mere hobby wins the 2003 Gratiaen award for a work that he says is essentially a creative story that makes
interesting reading. Ruhanie Perera reports

"The fact that I write is a family joke. I now jest that it is only after I won the Gratiaen that my mother-in-law takes me seriously," laughed Nihal de Silva as he flipped open two maps. Old and worn with use, one map was of Sri Lanka and the other a more detailed map of Wilpattu. Spreading them out on the table in front of him, he began to trace the journey that takes shape in his story; the journey to Colombo, through the Wanni, through Wilpattu, through Puttalam - the long and arduous road from Elephant Pass.

Awarded the Gratiaen Prize 2003 for his "gripping story full of suspense and adventure" at last week's ceremony held at the Barefoot Gallery, de Silva shrugged off the 'writer' image claiming, "When I first started writing, it was a bit of a giggle. I used to go off into my room to write, using my writing as an excuse not to take my wife out shopping." But write he did, and within a year his first attempt at writing and consequently award-winning work, The Road From Elephant Pass was ready for publishing.

The writer in de Silva stirred only about two years ago when his two sons returned home from abroad ready to take over the family business. 'Just an ordinary man' de Silva started his own business, Watermart, eight years ago, having been in the water purification business for nearly 30 years. Ready to hand over the reins to his sons, de Silva faced with the possibility of many a free hour, took to writing as one of his "passions" to occupy himself.

Obviously a man who enjoys his leisure time, de Silva's many passions find him on the golf course playing elaborately devised games of strategy, writing and re-writing in front of a computer (the completed draft of his second work The Far Spent Day about "political thuggery" is evidence of this), fishing by a river or camping out in the open - where he is undoubtedly at his happiest. Wildlife tops the list, he maintained, explaining that before the war he walked through the areas discussed in his work. "The background in that sense is my own."

Interspersed with bird sightings, run-ins with leopards and elephants, The Road From Elephant Pass draws heavily from de Silva's own 'wildlife experiences'. "Both my editor Shymali Nadesan and my publisher Vijitha Yapa felt I had overdone the 'nature part'. Perhaps I have, but that's my interest so I didn't make any changes," said de Silva who also hopes, through his work, to give an insight into the "unique nature of Sri Lankan forests", especially for the foreign reader who may one day pick up his book . A stickler for detail and keen to maintain "authenticity" in his work, especially with regard to nature references, de Silva said, "Even if I mention a bird, I checked whether that species would be in that part of the forest at the time I refer to it, and not in migration."

The Road From Elephant Pass, which took de Silva almost a year to write, is not just a nature story. As the title suggests, there are larger issues discussed in the work. "I think the main thrust is that I believe strongly that reconcilement through legislation is not enough," said de Silva, stressing that he came from a generation where people of different races sat together in the same classroom and thus believed, "that it is only through interaction that the humanity of the people prevails and causes cease to be important." Focussed on his intention, his concern was, "Could I convey this?"

To tell such a story, which is in a sense our story, de Silva felt that Elephant Pass because of its territorial and symbolic value was a point at which to start. An army officer, Wasantha, "a volatile and violent but essentially good hearted Southerner" and Kamala, "a trained militant" make the journey from Elephant Pass to Colombo. To make it a 'story', de Silva holds, it had to be a man and woman and the relationship that grows between them, which develops with the escalating threats they face.

Drawing his principal characters from real life, Wasantha is based on a boy from Galle supported by de Silva through a scholarship fund for university students who can't get through on the government funded Mahapola alone. Kamala's source is a little girl whose family are de Silva's acquaintances. "They lived down Ramakrishna Road and their house was burnt during the riots. I found them in the kovil where they had been taken to - parallel to Kamala's story."

The sketching of the relationship in The Road From Elephant Pass was commended by the Gratiaen judges (Shermal Wijewardene, Lakshman Gunasekera and Priya David) for the, "...convincing demonstration that resolution of conflict and reconciliation of differences are feasible through mutual experience and regard."

With such success on his first attempt at writing, was there anything that was difficult? Said de Silva, "For a first time writer, creating a style of one's own, which is not a reflection of something you've read, is a challenge." De Silva found himself going back many a time to redo his work. "If it sounds false you redo it. I'm not a one-time scribbler who just gets it right, so this process helped."

Winning the Gratiaen has made all the difference. "My book was once just one among many but now it's got a separate shelf at the bookshop and is tagged 'Gratiaen Prize, 2003'." The decision to send his entry in for the Gratiaen, however, was not his own. Vijitha Yapa sent it in for the award, said de Silva who at that point had thought, "What have I got to lose?" Sceptical about his chances, de Silva explains, "I didn't think my story would suit them because I thought they were looking for 'creative English', rather than a 'creative story'. This was clarified in passing at the awards ceremony by one of the 'Gratiaen' family who pointed out that as long as it was "creative", that's all that mattered.

His entry was essentially that, said de Silva, a creative story. "What's the purpose of a story that a few critics read and are thrilled with? I wanted mine to be interesting enough to be read..."

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