Beyond the beaten track
It’s telling that Eshan Goonesekera, though having lived all his life in Chelsea, called his publishing business Paradise Isle. The pull of his ancestral Sri Lanka was strong, as evidenced in Eshan’s photography spanning more than three decades – pink sunsets of the southern coast, the cerulean dry zone sky above a pure white stupa and saffron robes, a muragala with a naga deity and the bright colours of a gara yakka exorcist mask…
At the HSBC Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival next weekend, Eshan will take us beyond the beaten track, introducing little known treasures of Lanka, with a raconteur’s flair seeing as Eshan is a wordsmith as well as a shutterbug.
Pigeon Island, as seen through Eshan’s lens
The Goonesekera family, first moved to London in the late 1950s when Douglas (Eshan’s father) who worked at the Foreign Ministry in Colombo was sent to London to open the Ceylon High Commission there. In 1957, Douglas married Violet, an English teacher at Southlands Girls’ School Galle which was also his own hometown.
They had two daughters and then Eshan was born. Sadly, Douglas passed away when Eshan was still very young. The bereft family’s passage back to Ceylon was all but confirmed yet they decided to stay back in London.
Eshan later recalls a happy childhood – weekends filled with (Sri Lankan) visitors when the aromas of his mother’s buth curry wafted around with yellow rice, batu pahi, curried chicken, ala thel dala, mallungs and sambols.
Eshan Goonesekera
Eshan got interested in photography as his mother would take him to a library from age nine so he could read the classics. The bottom shelf of one bookcase was filled with volumes on photography which he “studied profusely and enjoyed immensely”. “There I learnt the physics of the art and the chemistry of developing and printing. Around 10, I was given a camera, and never looked back.”
After setting himself up as a photographer Eshan frequently came ‘home’ to Sri Lanka to scout out new nooks. Though he had been at places like Cusco in Peru with its Spanish cathedral and an ornate pink city ringed by green ‘Inca’ mountains; Zanzibar Island; and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam – more than 40 countries altogether, Lanka is where he returns to time and again.
Amongst favourite spots are Girihandu Seya in Trincomalee (according to lore the oldest edifice anywhere in the world dedicated to Buddhism) with its vatadage and Buddha statues. There was also Thantirimalai, then a little-visited place full of serenity.
He also mentions the Sakwala Chakraya which is a circular rock carving hidden in a boulder in Anuradhapura, an “ancient cosmological chart that has baffled archaeologists, historians and academics for over a century. It is said to be a map to unlock the secrets of the universe, perhaps it is a functioning star-gate, a portal used by ancient aliens for interstellar travel and to traverse the universe.”
Asked about thrilling or chilling moments while on the hunt for photos he cites (in the latter category) being nearly arrested for taking photos at the Galle Face Green and a run-in with an armed gang in Galle. During those days of endless checkpoints his “tripod had a case which made it look like an AK-47 so pulling up at police checkpoints was a challenge…”
Some of the most thrilling adrenaline-pumping moments he recalls include sailing down the Amazon from Iquitos (in Peru) to the tri-border with Brazil and Colombia over three days. “On departing the vessel,” he says “I realised that the boat I was on was being used to smuggle drugs across the border.”
Eshan is also a food aficionado and was a restaurateur, his London restuarants Tandoori Nights and Nirvana specializing in Indian, Sri Lankan and modern British cuisines. He says, “Although it is a tough business, I enjoyed it immensely. The restaurants also served as a gallery for my photographs of Sri Lanka.
“It was humbling to see various celebrities dining at my establishment, including David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins and Liam Gallagher to name a few.”
His company Paradise Isle Publications, was begun to put into book form the large collection of photos that Eshan had accumulated. In 2006 they published a lavish volume written by his sister Shevanthie to celebrate the bicentennial of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. They also did a book on the artist George Claessen of the ’43 Group.
Eshan’s debut novel is an exciting, Dan Brown-like adventure ‘The Seventh Shrine’, which though based in Sri Lanka during the last days of the war is the story of a treasure hunt for lost Buddhist manuscripts. Currently, finances are being raised to make the book into a film.
Eshan’s advice to budding photographers is to cultivate the eye. “With photography it is all about the eye – the technical side is a small part while the composition is all important…”
Catch up with Eshan Goonesekera at the HSBC Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival; see the programme on ceylonliteraryfestival.com
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