Like most of you here in the audience today, I have not yet read Elmo's latest offering and so I cannot say anything about the book except to note that it is a thought provoking title which could be used to describe the socio-political state of affairs in our country at present. But I shall not dishonour our hosts this evening by reducing the occasion to a presentation on the parlous state we are in as a country.
Today's event is meant to celebrate the arrival of another book by Elmo and not for a presentation based on the gloomy prognostication of our political future. I propose, therefore, to focus on Elmo Jayawardena the man and his literary and other related humanitarian pursuits. Incidentally for the benefit of those in the audience who might not be proficient in Sinhala, Yana Maga in a rough and ready English translation is 'The Path We Are On' or 'The Path We Are Journeying On'.
Despite spending most of his working life in or near the clouds, Elmo is a simple, down-to-earth human being. He is a man whose feet are firmly on the ground. He is supremely unpretentious. He has a good sense of humour and, better still, that priceless ability to laugh at himself when the occasion calls for him to do so. This is a very uncommon ability. But, then, Elmo is an uncommon personality. Be the above as they may, Elmo is also possessed of a sensitive intelligence, an intelligence not founded on text-book knowledge but on deep human insight and experience.
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| Tissa Jayatilaka lighting the traditional oil lamp at the launch of Yana Maga. Elmo Jayawardena is second from left |
It is the Reader's Digest in an article on him that described him as an 'everyday hero'. Whilst disclaiming the appellation, Elmo is sufficiently practical-minded to point out that the compliment of the Reader's Digest has had its uses. That popular journal's reference to him gave him access to certain quarters he would otherwise not have had access to.
Elmo is a man who likes to and derives great satisfaction from helping his fellow human beings, especially those who are down and out. His work on behalf of the less fortunate amongst us is well known. Some of this work is channelled through Candle Aid, a charity Dil and Elmo founded in 1995 known initially as AFLAC or The Association for Lighting a Candle.
Through Candle Aid, Elmo and Dil have established and equipped several libraries in rural Sri Lanka and awarded scholarships for the less affluent among us. Candle Aid also maintains a ward at the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama for the benefit of the less-well off patients.
Like all sensitive and decent human beings, Elmo strives with all his might and main to be a better human being than he was when he began his life's journey. He desires, to the extent he is able to, to reduce Man's inhumanity to man.
Elmo has on occasion confessed that he is affected by clouds. Sometime ago, whilst going for his constitutional walk in Los Angeles, he had noticed a particularly striking cloud in the sky. He had stopped and watched this cloud change shape before his eyes. And he had decided to likewise change the nature of and approach to his humanitarian work as he proceeds. That is, to change the shape and effort of Candle Aid to suit the needs of those whom he seeks to help. Again evidence, if such be needed, of the practical man of action whose head is mostly in the clouds but whose feet are rooted firmly on terra firma.
I wish to end my comments with some concrete reference to some of Elmo's writing as it is his literary and journalistic output that first brought us into contact with one another.
It is little known that Elmo's first foray into writing fiction resulted in a tome of 866 pages- - 844 of them the text of a historical novel and the remaining 12 forming a glossary of Sinhala terms used in it. In his characteristically self deprecating and practical-minded manner, Elmo held back publication of this tome until his 2001 Gratiaen Award winning novel Sam's Story which established his reputation as an emerging writer of note came off the press.
As noted earlier, Elmo has too much common and practical sense to be a hero or saint. It is that eminently practical sense he possesses that made him hold back the publication of The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay(2003) until after the publication of his award winning novel in 2001. Deft touch, Elmo!
The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay details the fall of Kandy. The story revolves around the decline and fall of our last kingdom. It paints an interesting and arresting picture of the foibles of our monarchy and nobility alike, the brutal might and greed of British imperialism/colonialism and the sadness of the people of a kingdom that once was.
Elmo has good, sound and sensitive questions to ask and equally good and sensitive answers to most of life's significant questions. This is the one reason among many why I look forward to a novel based on the insurrection of April 1971 that he has promised to write next. That is a theme that has attracted me, too, as I lived through that horrendous human tragedy as an undergraduate at Peradeniya and myself almost got killed then. |
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