Read the Gratiaen prize winning book of 2006, the short story collection, "The Banana Tree Crisis". The book attempts to capture the ways of the cultures, how people think and act in times of adversity, while trying to capture a broad spectrum of the Sri Lankan society. In doing so the best short stories would linger in my memory for time to come, while the few weaker expose as to what they lack.
The short story of the title of the book is quite an ingenious work, as a simple narration of an almost every day affair - that of a banana tree growing and leaning itself across a parapet wall - is made use of with a great deal of imagination to expose how a considerable section of Sri Lankans would not change their ways irrespective of its fallacies and errors, and would rather fight tooth and nail against those who oppose it rather than be self critical. In the same light, the author has managed to reveal with subtle humour how the lack of understanding of foreigners of the ways Sri Lankan, make them present solutions somewhat absurd to our eyes. The book being published in 2006, was written at a time when there were a lot of NGO presence in Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of the tsunami, as well as the civil war that was raging at the time. Hence the presence and doings of NGOs are featured in no less than three of the seven short stories. These actions are never told with the said NGOs held in poor light, but only to the degree that some of their best intentions don't match the ways of our people in certain circumstances. But that those who were affected, benefited from the generous contributions of these NGOs are not contested. Buffer Zone and Shallow Canoes, too feature the work of NGOs, the first focusing in the South and the Sinhalese, and the second in the East, and the Tamils and the Muslims. The latter has been inspired by a news paper article by Farah Farouque, titled 'Women riding the wave', of how women took to the sea for prawn catching etc., and how that unsettled the conservative and male culture of the people. Buffer zone is the longest story here, running to a total of fifty pages, as it gives rather a long account of how Harriet fared in the aftermath of the tsunami, how her insecure lazy husband was quick to adapt to a livelihood of handouts, and how she with the help of her neighbour manages to weather the hardest storms worse than the tsunami, and finds a purposeful life without accepting defeat. The title story as well as these two are possibly the highlights of this anthology.
"How Mrs. Senarath Called a Marriage for Mala" too is a story insightful of how two classes of Sri Lankan society think they should react when opposed against each other. The rich middle class compassion of Mrs. Senarath quickly comes to an end the moment she is challenged by her servant, over what the latter sees as an insult. The poor servant while quick to scent the insult, is not capable of reading the longer plot of Mrs. Senarath as she labours her life away with hope for a man she will never have.
What I carried is a short story which falls between the two categories of the successful ones and lesser ones so, in this anthology. While based on the civil war and how the societies were affected in the east, as the tigers and the government forces battled each other, the story concentrates on a family of mixed marriage. The story carries hope for a better tomorrow.
I am reading this anthology after reading two novels from V.V. Ganeshananthan, and in such a light stories written from a Tamil perspective like, "The house in Jaffna" fail to impress me or convince me, instead show up as one with rough edges and a story in which only the top layer is touched upon. I am not denying that Isankya attempted to come up with an impartial anecdote here, but her best effort in the context that she has chosen shows up weak against narrations by such authors like VVG or Arudpragasam. The best estimate that I can provide for Nadarajah in this story is that he is very naive, - but that doesn't settle with the high profile he carried back in the UK.
The weakest story here for me was The Cricket Match, and it showed up as one contrived.
However, overall the pluses in this anthology out weigh the negatives, and hence can be recommended especially for some of the important themes that Isankya has touched upon. Reading it almost twenty years after its publication, the stories manage to hold on to their own strengths, and comes close to being considered as necessary reading for its then contemporary nature..
Rating: ****
Winner - Gratiaen Prize - 2006
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