By Sachithra Mahendra, Lake House, Colombo
There were many factors that made Dr Pushpa Sooriyarachchi take up writing beyond penning clinical notes that physicians have to do all most every day! She admits she suffered from nostalgia. She was nostalgic about the picturesque places where she spent her childhood back in Sri Lanka. Now domiciled in Australia, Dr Sooriyarachchi lived amongst the dreamy misty mountains in the hill country filled with lush green tea estates. She later studied at the University of Peradeniya amid its blooming pink Robarosiyatrees.
Dr Pushpa Sooriyarachchi has been living in Sydney, at the foothills of spectacular Blue Mountains ranges for the past couple of decades. When the Sydney suburbia comes out from the wintery cold and the spring dawns, it brings a new lease of life to the flora. The majestic Jacaranda trees lining the suburban streets slowly start blooming with a hue of mauve in the horizon. When the Jacarandas are in full bloom, it is truly a festival of mauve.
“We have some Jacaranda trees in the hospital where I work, outside our ward. When they are in full bloom, I usually spend some time admiring the beauty of the flowers with patients during my ward rounds, which invariably takes me down memory lane to the blooming Robarosiya trees of my youth,” Dr Sooriyarachchi notes.
She first started writing down some memories of her childhood spent in the misty mountainous central hill country of Sri Lanka and the bygone days of youth spent under the Robarosiya trees. She finally found a cure to her nostalgia in compiling ‘Lost in Floral Rain’ and she has been compliant with the treatment, taking a weekly dose of writing for the last two years.
Dr Pushpa Sooriyarachchi’s debut short story collection, Lost in Floral Rain: The Journey Of A Medical Student is fiction of course. But reading the text, it echoes autobiographical. How much real-life events could have influenced her?
Lost in Floral Rain can be seen as a collection of short stories, but as these stories are connected to each other, you may call it a novel perhaps.
“This story is based in the central hill country of Sri Lanka, during the 1970-1990 period. I have given a lot of thought to accurately report the changes the country experienced during that era to enhance the storytelling. Events such as political upheavals, change in government, students’ protests at the university etc helped me give realism to the tales. I have included narratives on a few real-life events that I have experienced but magnified them with a touch of fiction.”
Dr Sooriyarachchi took up a short course in creative writing and that has assisted her in improving writing, and especially the narrative techniques she has adopted in this novella.In short, while there are glimpses of her life events, Lost in Floral Rain is a work of fiction and not a memoir.
To whom does she write these stories? Is it to the Australian, the global or simply the Sri Lankan readers?
“I had several objectives in mind when I started writing this book. I wanted to share my memories of the beautiful picturesque environment, the cultural milieu, socio-political and cultural events at the time, and how those events could possibly affect the psychological well-being of a child growing up in that era.”
She also wanted to highlight how the psychological trauma of the protagonist’s experience, goes unrecognised and the challenges the protagonist’s faces and continues to deal with after entering the University. The real test on her will power takes the reader to the final chapter of Lost in Floral Rain.
“I think this book may provoke memories and appeal to the Sri Lankan readers who have lived through the era I have used as the background for this book. I am, however, yet unsure how the global readers and in particular the Australian audience will react to this novel.”
Noticeably Dr Sooriyarachchi has interjected Sri Lankan poetry and language into her English fiction. They seem deliberate efforts to provide a hybrid text to enrich the writings. Or is it simply that they are an integral part of the narrative she has used in the stories?
This is a challenge encountered when writing a book in English based on experiences in a different language in a different cultural milieu. How can we express the intricacies of that language?
“I think the use of Sinhala poetry is an integral part of the narrative which I adopted with the aim of enhancing the storytelling. In addition to Sinhala folk poems, I have written poems for each of the other chapters of Lost in Floral Rain. I have had no prior experience in writing poetry and therefore these are indeed an experiment aimed at indirectly introducing the content of each chapter, sometimes through a riddle and at times with a pinch of sarcasm.”
As Perth-based poet Dr Sunil Govinnage points out Sooriyarachchi represents the Sri Lankan sensibility and cultural nuances. He believes that Sooriyarachchi’s understanding of Sri Lankan culture and language makes her writings unique compared to most other Sri Lankan writers. However, Dr Sooriyarachchi is humble to admit herself as a novice.
“When it comes to literary work I think I have a long way to go. However, in my experience, before embarking on writing any book, it is paramount that the author acquires a good understanding of the history, culture, beliefs and practices of a given society. The accuracy of the information included will, in my opinion, open the eyes of the reader.”
Dr Sooriyarachchi’s writings are based on her childhood experience and research into historical socio-political events that had a significant effect on her native country and its people during that era. She feels that using the terms and phrases from the Sinhala language in narrating the story will improve its connectivity with the culture, values and beliefs. She also notes a similar pattern used by eminent Australian writer Professor Chandani Lokuge.
The book will also be translated into Sinhala. Hopefully next year, Dr Sooriyarachchi keeps fingers crossed.
“My objective is to translate this work extremely carefully and thoughtfully into Sinhala, so the narrative remains unchanged from its original version.”
END
Online version: http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/04/25/tc/183724/no-rain-no-flowers
ePaper: http://epaper.dailynews.lk/PaperArticle.aspx?imageId=pg25_6&&ndate=2019%2F04%2F25
Copies from the second print of the novel "Lost in Floral Rain" are available for sale in Australia. Those who are willing to purchase a copy are kindly requested to refer to information given in the following location: https://lostinfloralrain.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-to-buy-copy-of-lost-in-floral-rain.html
All revenue raised from the sale of "Lost in Floral rain" will be used for the charity named "Project Home Owl". For details of "Project Home Owl" charity please visit: https://lostinfloralrain.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-project-home-owl-charity.html
For details contact: pushpa.suriyaarachchi@yahoo.com.au.
I consider Pushpa Suriyaarachchi's debut novel as a significant contribution to Sri Lankan diasporic fiction emerged from Australia. One of the unique features of Pushpa's work is the representation of genuine Sri Lankan sensibility and cultural nuances throughout her work. Undoubtedly the text provides evidence of Suririyarachchi’s understanding of Sri Lankan culture, and her knowledge of Sri Lankan sensibility. Evidently, Suririyarachchi’s native language skills and her understanding of Sri Lankan culture and literature as depicted in this novel makes her writings unique compared to most other Sri Lankan writers who have written capturing Sri Lankan themes, plots and representing Sri Lankan protagonists.
ReplyDeleteEach chapter in this novel can be read as interconnected narratives of the main protagonist; Kusum and her journeys from childhood to her domiciled new sense of place: Australia. The chronological structure of the prose also provides an insightful and fascinating journey of the protagonist’s life described within a socio-political milieu facilitating the reader to grasp the socio, political shifting that Suriyaarachchi portrays as a gifted writer who has mastered a unique narrative style.
I hope Pushpa Suriyaarachchi’s work will receive the attention of both readers and critics alike initiating a meaningful dialogue of representing the new writings emerging from Australia.
Sunil Govinnage, PhD (Sydney, Australia)