Janakie launches ‘The Little Aeroplane’

Text and pix by Harsha Udayakantha Peiris

“The true relationship between parents and children in our society should be exposed and expressed under realistic cultural standards in order to develop a citizen with confidence who could productively shoulder the development of the nation,” stated Janakie Deegahawathura. She made these remarks at the launch of her first children’s book ‘The Little Aeroplane’ to the primary readership of Sri Lanka.

The book was also published simultaneously in Sinhalese to extend to a wider readership among children. The launch took place on 26 April 2012 at the Bank of Ceylon auditorium in Kandy as a book published by ‘Wijesooriya Grantha Kendraya’. The event took place with the initiative of Prof. Sarath Wijesooriya of the University of Colombo.

Having received her education at Mahamaya Girls College in Kandy and having been a banker for more than 30 years at the Bank of Ceylon, Janakie says that parents, especially the mother has a distinctive yet a predominant role in the life of the family circle to children. “Childhood is the father of mankind. The child we bring up today will become a leader or an effective team member who can drive the forces of economy in the global arena towards prosperity, but this happens only if the parents perform their part of responsibility in time, to extend the correct guidance and confidence during the early stages of childhood of their children.

“Therefore, children must be supported with content that include cultural aspects like values and ethics for their continuous moral and spiritual development. In this context children’s literature is the best to convey and create a disciplined society in the future in the country and such a generation will have confidence and loyalty to foster a better socio-economic culture as well,” the author added.

‘The Little Aeroplane’ is a story that is coined around the life of a nestling namely ‘Malithi’ who is brought up and taught at its mother’s warmth. The story also tells how her mother gives Malithi her first lessons of flight with patience, love and affection. Although it is difficult for Malithi to practice these lessons at the beginning, with much patience the mother teaches Malithi to stretch out her wings, close them and clean them. As Malithi looks at the mother’s face to understand whether she is doing the right thing, and through her mother’s response, Malithi builds confidence on what she learns.  

“That is the way a parent should act and guide a child. Parents should be able to create confidence and faith in their children. Love and affection cannot be achieved through mere punishment during the childhood. It is the parents’ devotion to the family that builds strength in the mind of the child to love his or her parents.

“When the child steps into the society one day, he or she reflects what the parents have gifted them with, during the childhood. And these gifts are not always toys and cloths. The gift of life, love and affection with the correct guidance to stand on one’s own feet, are the best things once in a life time  parents can give their children if they wish to produce a balance personality in the future, to the society. When the parents’ role is over, they can be satisfied of their contribution and dedication to nourish the childhood of their children and as I always think, mother’s role is the heaviest in our society,” Janakie noted.

Being a contributor of short stories and poetry to several national newspapers and the BOC journal over the years, Janakie has also won institutional and national level literary awards for her work since school days. In 2005, she won the second place for her short story at the annual BOC literary competition. The award winning short story was later published in the Ceybank News journal in 2007.

The author also comments that though there exist interesting children’s books and many European translations for the local child to read at the market today, contents in many such publications are rapidly dragging the child’s mind out of the authenticity of the cultural inheritance of the Sri Lankan community where as the child cannot derive anything useful for the development of his or her spiritual development which is a major component in the socio-economic context. “Therefore, guiding the child to go for the correct choice of literature, especially at the bookstall has become a preset day parental responsibility,” she said.