Martin Wickramasinghe, through his son’s eyes

Saturday, 7 September 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Cheranka Mendis To the world he was one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th century. For Sri Lanka, he was one of its greatest intellectuals and thinkers,

contributing to the literary landscape of the country. But for Vasantha Kumara (V.K.) Wickramasinghe, second son of celebrated author Martin Wickramasinghe, he was a kind and tolerant man who brought home Danish chocolates on his way back from work. Much has been said about the man who has written over 90 books, with some of his major novels and short stories being translated to and published in English, Tamil, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, Romanian and Tamil. But little has been said by his sons about the father they adored for his gentle ways and quiet brilliance. Sitting down after a tour of the Martin Wickramasinghe Museum of Folk Culture in Koggala located on the same property as the house he was initially brought up in, Vasantha remembered his father as a man of less talk and more work. Born to Lamahewage Don Bastian Wickramasinghe and Magalle Balapitiya Liyanage Thochchohamy on 29 May 1890, Martin Wickramasinghe was the only son in a family of nine daughters. Having learnt the letters of the Sinhala alphabet from the village tutor, Andiris Gurunnanse, Wickramasinghe attended Buonavista School in Galle until the demise of his father. “My grandfather died when my father was about 11 years old,” Vasantha reflected. “He was attending Buonavista at that time. However with 10 children to look after, my grandmother couldn’t afford to send him to school for long.” At 12, an age when most children nowadays get hooked on various bands and TV shows, Wickramasinghe had to leave school and settled to write his first book, ‘Balopadeshaya’ (Advice to Children), which he later put down to being coerced into writing under the tutelage of the monk Koggala Dheerananda Thera by his mother. He was later sent off to Batticaloa (at the age of 16) to work as a book-keeper in a store run by one of their relatives. “Those days the Colombo harbour did not exist,” Vasantha explained, “All the imported goods went to Galle Harbour and from there were taken by steamboats to Batticaloa, etc.” During his stint there for some six years, Wickramasinghe taught himself English and Paali during his leisure time. “For Paali he got help from a Buddhist priest there, but English he learnt on his own.” While he was away, he also started writing to the Sinhala daily ‘Dinamina’ under a pen name ‘Hethu Vaadi’ (rationalist) and later came to Colombo to join the editorial staff of the paper. It was somewhere during this time that he tied the knot with Prema de Silva, a resident of Koggala, and moved to Borella to pursue his career at the newspaper. Settling down in an area that is likely to have brought him closer to his childhood memories with the salty winds making their way through the hustle and bustle, Wickramasinghe moved to Mount Lavinia where he fathered seven children. However, only six grew up to go to university and pursue higher education as the first born died within three months after birth. Vasantha recalled his father’s ‘obsession’ with words. “When he was writing for Dinamina, he had to be in office from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. So every morning he used to wake up early and either read or write. This was something we were used to when we were small.” Wickramasinghe’s interest in books was not limited to a particular field, Vasantha said. “I remember him reading a lot of books on theory of evolution. However, he also read a lot of books on culture, history and even fiction.” Wickramasinghe was not a strict father, Vasantha acknowledged. His key advice for the children was to study and pursue their dreams with education as a tool. “This was something he used to constantly tell us – the importance of education and how we must improve our lives through education.” He sent his sons to S. Thomas’ College despite the expense in order to create a platform that would help them move up in their later lives. “College was about a mile away from our home. My brothers and I used to walk to school every day. Those days, during the 12:15 lunch break we had the ability to go home for lunch if needed and be back in school within an hour. School closed at 3:15,” Vasantha explained, “That meant that we walked four miles every day back and forth from College. “My father also used to bring chocolates when he was coming home after work. Despite it being late, I remember how we always used to try stay up until he did to devour this treat.” Thanks to Wickramasinghe’s persuasion all his children attended university. One of his sons went on to become the Chairman at a British company which was later nationalised, while Vasantha became an economist and his other brother became a doctor. The daughters too received university education and became teachers. “My father was a saint-like man,” Vasantha recalled. Vasantha has read all of his father’s fiction novels and the famous ‘Gamperaliya,’ originally published in 1944, remains his favourite. In his work, a key theme pursued was his search for our roots and identity. Wickramasinghe is known for his creative and imaginative exploration and application of modern knowledge in natural and social sciences, literature, linguistics, the arts, philosophy, education and nationalism to guide his readers to the enduring roots of the common national identity that existed in the folk life and culture of the country. Pix by Upul Abayasekara