මෝනාලීසාට රැවුලක් - එරික් ඉලයප්ආරච්චි

 මෙය ඉලයප්ආරච්චිගේ සත්වෙනි කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහයයි; 2015 දී පළ වූවකි. ප්‍රමාණයෙන් කෙටි, කෙටි කතා නමයකින් (පිටු දහය නොඉක්මවූ) සහ, පිටු 12ක එක් කෙටිකතාවකින් ද සපිරිය.

කපුරාල සහෝදරයා නම් කෙටි කතාව මගින් ඔහු අප සමාජයේ අරටු බැස ඇති විශ්වාස, වාම දේශපාලනය, සමසාමජයේ විද්‍යාත්මක පසුබිම පසු බස්සවමින් නැගී සිටින බවත්, එය එක්තරා විදිහකින්  අප සමාජ පද්ධතියෙන් ඉවත් කල නොහැකි මස් දල්ලක් ආකාර බවත් පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මෙහි එන රසවත් ම කෙටි කතාව දර කඩේ ගණිකාව විය යුතුය. සිංහල සමාජය විශවාස කොට, ඔවුන් අතර ජීවත් වන අහිංසක දෙමළෙකුට, තමන්ගේ හා තම බිරිඳගේ දිවි ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට ගෙවිය යුතු මිලේ අසාධාරණය ගැන අපූරු කියවීමකි.

පොත් සම්මාන හා ඊට නිර්දේශ වූ පොත් කියවීම පසුගිය කාලයේ රැල්ලක් ආකාරයට පැතිර පැවතුන අතර, අප ද අඩු වැඩි වශයෙන් මෙම නිර්දිෂ්ඨ කෘති පරිශීලනය කලවුන් අතර සිටියෝය. එම සම්මාන තරඟය අතර අයෙක් අනේක ආකාරයෙන් තම පෞරෂය වඩවා ගැනීමට භාවිත කල අයුරුත්, නූතන සමාජ ජාලා අතර ගැවසෙන විට එම පෞරෂය වඩවා ගැනීමට බොහෝ දේ කිරීමට නොපැකිලෙන ආකරය පමණක් නොව, සම්මාන ජය ලබා දෙන අය ට යම් උපහාසෝත්මක ඉඟියක් එල්ල කිරීමද මෙහි අපට දැකිය හැකිය. (හබී හෙවත් මෝනාලීසාට රැවුලක්)

අප රට ජන කොට්ඨාශයන් කෙතෙරම් තම මතයන් මත ම වෙසෙන්නේ ද, අන් අය ඉවසීමේ ප්‍රවණතාවේ දුර්වලතාව පිළිඹිබු කරනා නිර්මාණයකි. පසුගිය කාලයේ මුහුණ වසනා කළු පර්දාව ජාතීන් අතර අවිශ්වාසයට හේතු වූ ආකාරයත්, ඊට ඒ හා බැඳුණු දෙජාතියේම කොටස් වල නොඅඩු සම්බන්ධතාව ත්, සමහර චීවරධාරීන්ගේ ඇවිස්සීම් ද හේතු වූ ආකාරයත් අපට මතකය. සම තැන්කට ඒමට ඇති බාධාවන් පිළිබඳ හොඳ කියවීමක් අපට මෙහි හමු වේ. ( කළු ටියුටරිය )

"දවසේ ශූණ්‍යතාව ගමනක දී අත්දකින්නට ලැබෙන  හැඟුමකි. නිකරුණේ ඉගිලෙන කුරුල්ලන්ම අහසේ වලාකුළු, මහ පාරේ වැටී ඇති දේවල්, ඈතින් මතුවන වැව්පිටි, පාළු බිම්වල ලැගි හරකුන්, පසුපසින් හිරු බසින විට ඉදිරියෙන් දුවන දිග සෙවණැල්ල යනාදී සියල්ල ශූන්‍යතාවයෙහි ගිලෙන්නේ අරුත්සුන් මායාකාරී හැඟීමකිනි."

තම නිදහස භුක්ති විඳින අයෙකුට, තමන් වෙසෙන දේශපාලන පරිසරයෙන් එන තර්ජනයන් එම නිදහසට සීමා ගෙන එයි. විශේෂයෙන් හොරු සමඟ වෙසෙන අහිංසකයන් හට හොරු ලේබලය ඇලවීම ට බොහෝ අය බලා සිටිති.

සිංහයා සරුංගලය ලියැවී ඇත්තේ 2015 හෝ ඊට ප්‍රථම වුව, මෙම කෙටිකතාව අද ට වඩාත් අදාලය. 2015 දී සිංහයා විදේශිකයින්  වීසින් බැඳ තබා පසුව, ගෙයි මුල්ලකට විසී කර තිබූ වසරකට සැරයක් දෙකක් දුවිලි පිහ දා සරසන්නට ගත්තකි. අද සිංහයා ට ගෙයි මුල්ලෙන් ඇවිත් තම කඩුවෙන් කොස් කොටන්නට සිදුව ඇත.

ජවිපෙ හා සබැඳි කැරලි දෙකේ දී සමහර අය තම ඇති තතු සඟවා අලුත් ජීවිත අන් දේශ වල පිහිටුවා ගත්තෝය. එවන් අයෙක් මුල් කොට ගෙන නිර්මාණය වී ඇති මවුබිමේ මරණයක් කෙටි කතාව මගින්, මවුබිමේ එකල සිදු වූ මරණ රාශියක් ගැනත්, මීගොඩ කනත්තේ බල්ලන්ට කන්න දෙන මනුස්සයා මෙන් අමතක කල නොහැකි ඉතිහාසයන් මගින් හොල්මන් කරන තැනැත්තෝ බවත් අඟවයි.

දේවසිරිගේ භාවනාව තරමක් වෙනස් ආකාර කෙටිකතාවකි. ඉන් පළමුව 2009 න් පසුව සීඝ්‍ර ලෙස වෙනස් වූ කොළඹ මුහුණවර ගැන කියවීමකි. ඇත්තෙන්ම අද අප මුහුණ දෙන දේශපාලන අපරිණතභාවයට ප්‍රධාන හේතුව එසේ 2010න් පසු ව ඇත වූ ඇස් කඩං යන ආකාර වෙනස්වීමයයි. එහෙත් මෙම කෙටිකතාව අවසන් වන්නේ දේවසිරිගේ කිසිඅයෙකුට බිඳිය නොහැකි භාවනාවකට සම වැදීමෙනි. ඉන් කෙටිකතා කරු කීමට බලාපොරොත්තූ වූ දේ පැහැදිලි නැත. අප රට නීතිය ආගම ඉදිරියේ පසුබසින බව ද ?

අනෝජා නම් තම පැරණි පෙම්වතිය, රංජි නම් තම අනාගාතය ගැන වික්ෂිප්ත වූ අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයාට මුණ ගැසෙන්නේ චන්දයකින් පසු හිස් වූ කොළඹ මද්‍යයේය. අනෝජා ගේ ප්‍රියතම ටැංගෝ නැටුම ම මතක් කරලමින් අලුත් දේශපාලන කරලියේ, රංජි ට තවත් අනාගතයක් බිහි කරලීමට ඇගේ දේශපාලන සම්බන්ධකම් ප්‍රමාණවත් බව පෙන්වන්නේ, අපේ දේශපාලන බලමාරුව ම එක්‍තරා ආකරයක ටැංගො නැටුමකට උපමා කෙරෙනාකාරයෙනි.

රජරට වකුගොඩ රෝගයත්, එහි දීර්ඝකාලීන විසුවන්ට ඉන් මිදීමක් නැති වීමේ අසරණබවත් ඇඟවෙන කෙටිකතාවකි, අටු බස්සා. එම පක්ෂියාගේ හදිසි වියෝව මෙන්ම මෙහි එන අන් ප්‍රධාන චරිත දෙකේ අනාගතයන් ද එතරම් විශ්වාස නැත.

මේ කෙටි කතා දහයෙන්, හොරු සමඟ, අටුබස්සා, දේවසිරිගේ භාවනාව, ටැංගෝ නැටුම, සිංහයා සරුංගලය. කළු ටියුටරිය, සහ මෝනාලීසාට රැවුලක්, 2015 හා එම කාලයේ සිදුවීම් අලලා ලිය වූ ඒවය. කෙටිකතාවක් තුලින් ඊට බල පෑ සමාජ-දේශපාලන තත්වයන් දකින්නට උත්සාහ කරන ලේඛකයා, ව්‍යාකූලත්වය පෙන්වන අතර, ඒ තුලින් වඩාත් සංවේදී පාඨකයකු ඉපැද්දවීමට යම් මැදිහත්වීමක ට ඉඩ පාදයි. දරකඩේ ගණිකාව, කපුරාල සහෝදරයා, මවුබිමේ මරණයක්, මගින් අප රටේ පසුගිය වසර 40-50 තුල සිදු වූ කැරලි මාතාවට ගෙන ඇත. දරකඩේ  ගැහණිය යන නිර්මාණයේ පමණක් අප කියවීමට රුචි එරික් ගේ මීගමුව ආශ්‍රිත සමාජ ජීවිතය තරමක් කරලියට ගෙන ඇත.

සමස්තයක් ලෙස කිව හැක්කේ, එරික් ගේ තවත් සාර්ථක කෙටිකතා සංග්‍රහයක් කියවා හමාර කල බවකි.

ශ්‍රේණිය: ****

The Graveyard Book & Coraline - Neil Gaiman

 I read two children's books written by Neil Gaiman - The Grave Yard Book , and Coraline (2002).

1) The Graveyard book was published in 2008. I've read three Gaiman book prior to this, all of which could be considered adult fantasy, and I was intrigued to read this, because my son, a teenager, found this dull - a notion that I don't associate with Neil's fiction.

So read I did, as a spare book ( meaning it usually received tit bits of 15-20 minute reading time - till today - when I was taken up with it, to complete it). It reads very well, and am unable to place as to why my kid found it interesting.   Frost's transition was true horror like, as he was painted as a self conscious, pleasant mannered, middle aged gentleman. I also liked how Gaiman describe the rustling, or the wind which is a ghost, and the fading - enough germ in how it has been written to think twice about totally writing these things off - unless your mind is set to do so. I think it will have an impact on a young mind, against ruling such things off, and maybe, just maybe that is not accidental, as an intention by the writer.

Rating: ****

2) Coraline, first was tried as an audiobook on my two elder kids. We used play it  in our car a good 7-8  years back. However I don't think we ever listened to the audiobook to completion. Later I got them a copy of the physical book, and both read it - while I couldn't. Not until now, when by way of reading it to my youngest child, I read the book.

   The book has the usual Gaiman charm, the unnamed chilliness, fear, although, to keep the read through. Few subtle messages add value to the book - that about parents paying less attention to their children, and the necessity of children accepting at and devising their own lives. The other part being the importance of not getting everything you want in life. Reading parts such as that offers a chance to digress, where it opens up a window to have a healthy chat with your kid, bordering on philosophy, and he/she too, getting a chance to dwell on such a thought.

Reading to your child offers a great opportunity to read all the books that you never could as a child - plus you become a better parent as a bonus.

Rating: ****

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (stories) - Wells Tower

 

This is a fantastic collection of short stories, most of which have an open ending, but where the insight offered by the "cross section" of modern life ( at least in eight of the nine stories), gives the reader a lot to think about. An introduction to each of the short stories is as follows;

The Brown Coast:

I saw the ocean meet the man
I saw you buried in the sand
A friend was there to hold your hand
Said walk on by
So I went walking through the street
I saw you strung up in a tree
A woman knelt there said to me
Said hold your tongue
                ( Monty got a raw deal - R.E.M)

I enjoyed this story, with its subtle metaphors, and inferences. Bob (not Monty) appears to have got a raw deal, from more than one front. Yet Bob, it appears can make a life from the new circumstances he finds himself in. Derrick's grievance, which Bob puts away aside, comes to pay Bob when he least expects it. The author presents an intimate scene with subtlety, while inferring some detail. The final episode of the sea cucumber being thrown back to the sea, and the young couple avoiding it, possibly suggests that one must be careful not to lose a good thing - possibly a hint on what Bob and Vicky lost out on.

Retreat: An attractive trait of this book is its somewhat meandering, only for irony to hit the reader with a punch. In this story, we see two brothers who never had a model fraternal relationship. Here we see the elder brother offering the olive branch to his sibling, inviting him over a holiday, only to have things go sour from the time the latter touches down. The tale almost suggests that there is something intricately wrong in certain relationships, that they are near impossible to restore.

Executors of Important Energies: Step parents are common to the protagonists in this collection, suggesting its modern setting. In this one, we have a complex relationship between Burt, his father who is suffering from a strange illness of memory loss, and his step mother. There is a nice dive in to the complex, yet realistic character of Burt's father, a successful lawyer before his illness put a stop to his practice. Burt reflects on the contribution to society that his father has made, despite his flaws, and compares it with his own work. Like most of the stories in this collection, the story has an open finish, suggesting that the reader make her own conclusions.

Down Through the Valley: This is another story of irony, and where a partner ends up in a tight corner, over no fault of his own. Here Jane reaches out to her ex-husband to help out with the new husband, who's had an accident. But accident or no accident, the new husband Barry puts his nose into matters which are none of his, and ironically our protagonist, Ed, the ex-husband gets a raw deal. His daughter's actions with the gear shaft too leaves a disturbing after taste, questioning if Marie is being used in a monstrous way. 

Leopard: Another case of a kid having a less than happy home in the hands of a step parent - while there isn't out right cruelty, the step parent's socialism influenced beliefs aren't easy on our young protagonist - who's having a bad day although he was able to fudge from going to school. Just like the escaped pet leopard prowling in the woods, the narration suggests that there is a threat to the boy even though it is not outright abuse.

Door in Your Eye: This is a tale where an aging father spends some time at the house of his daughter, and visits a woman, whom he reads as being under duress. The woman has been in scrutiny for sometime by the father-daughter duo. He finds out that his daughter has read the woman's "vocation" completely wrong, and a friendly, breaking of the ice results between the woman and the older man. 

Wild America: In this short story we find two cousins, who were close friends in their younger years, have since drifted apart in their interests. The girls go out to a walk into the woods, and things go wrong between them, resulting in Jacey taking a risk by approaching a stranger. There is a subtle suggestion that the broken family, her love for her missing father, (while disappointing her due to his aged looks,) works in a manner that a young girl cannot understand or settle to. 

On the Show: Is a fabulous creation, where we are presented with a few characters from a visiting fair. It also features a seven year old boy being sexually exploited, while his father spends some time in the fair on a date. Probably this is the pick of the stories for me.

I cannot help, but strongly feel that in this collection, the unfortunate circumstances that children find themselves in, is one of the inklings that the author factored. True, that in the modern world, children are known to adopt to new circumstances; new relationships. However, the new parent and the natural ones, may need to go out of their ways to work towards a confidence that the child needs. Ed finds his daughter Marie in a position that disturbs him ( down through the valley); Jacey is clearly finding her life in a confusing state ( Wild America);  Jim is worried if he'll have his visiting rights taken away after his son is raped during his blind date, while even the young man Jeff Park has a ugly fall out with his step dad who is pushing seventy ( On the show ).

The short story which lends its title to this collection is different from the other eight. While the other eight could be thought of as having an American setting of the eighties, if not early nineties, the title story is one based on the times of the marauding Vikings. The senseless violence is not only brutal, but even has a tone of humour given its absurdity. There is even a line here which suggest that the insecurity where I come from, experienced over millennia, has a similarity although our neighbours weren't quite as brutal as the vikings of a long gone era.

"You could say that those people on Lindisfarne were fools, living out there on a tiny island without high cliffs or decent natural defenses, and so close to us and also the Swedes and the Norwegians, how we saw it, we couldn’t afford not to come by and sack every now and again. "

This story ends suggesting that one's happiness in his or her family, was always a burden to carry in those violent times. Harari in his seminal book Homo Deus suggest that we are living in the best of times. Indeed, compared to the senseless violence that Tower portrays in this short story, maybe an unkind parent, new relationships, adaptability is a small price to pay in the journey of humanity to what it is today.

I have no hesitation in recommending this collection, not only to lovers of short stories, but those like to read modern fiction - it might even be looked upon as essential reading.

Rating: *****

My Favourite Music albums from 2021

 1- Crawler - Idles*****: This is the first Idles album I've listened to, and I was blown away. I honestly think there was little competition from the other albums in the top five, against this. Only once has a band that was totally new to me, grabbed the top slot before (Parquet Courts-2018).

 2- Flying Dream 1 - Elbow****1/2:  Elbow first hit my top 20 with "The take off and landing of everything" (2014 - no.13, it gave me my favourite song from that year, "New York Morning"), but missed out the top 20 with "Build a rocket boys" (2011), and "Little Fictions" (2017). They've now succeeded in two back to back runner-up albums (giants of all sizes - 2019). Elbow seems to be a band I am settling into over the years, with their new music (I've no particularly listened to their older stuff much, although I even have 2-3 of the albums on CD)

3- Hushed and Grim - Mastadon****1/2: I clearly remember listening to their 2017 album, Emperor of Sand, and it didn't have enough effect on me to break the top 20. But this album clearly is rich with some great tunes, and clearly one of the best albums of the year. 

4- Carnage - Nick Cave/Warren Ellis****: I listened to Mr. Cave rather late ( Ghosteen, No.10, 2019), and have been listening to his rich earlier work. Carnage has the usual Cave effect, although it shifts between his near spoken word baritone, and some melody, with a little brutality in the middle.

5- As the Love Continues - Mogwai****: The closest reason I started listening to Mogwai, is a friend with wide musical tastes from Scotland, recommending them. My first attempt with them, and the largely instrumental album is awesome.

6- Queens of the Summer Hotel - Aimee Mann****:"Mental Illness"(2017, no.10), easily converted me to an Aimee fan, and she delivers another stellar album, so good that it is knocking on the top 5.

7- Uneasy - Vijay Iyer Trio****1/2: Back in 2017,"Far from over" just missed the top 10, but this time around they are clearly in top 10 album. I think it is my listening maturity ( a work in progress, no doubt), which brings them in to the top 10, and possibly the album from 2017 equally warranted a similar position.

8- Fat Pop I - Paul Weller****: The Modfather has been an artiste I've listened to, over a long time, and he's made appearances over the last 7 years in the top 20, and just outside ( Saturn's Patterns No.26- 2015; A kind of revolution No.20-2017; True Meanings No.6-2018; On Sunset No.22-2020), and this year he notches up his second top 10 with a rather accessible collection of songs.

9- Sympathy for Life - Parquet Courts****: Their 2018 album, "wide awake!" was an Indie favourite, and I truly was glad that I listened to it - it was my no.1 album for the year. Four years later, they have a second top 10 in my preferences.

10- Brighten - Jerry Cantrell****: Mr Cantrell can brighten up and sound hopeful, and delivers a solid album. Compare this to his previous albums Bogey depot (1998), and Degradation Trip(2002) (and all Alice in Chains albums), and the difference of the tone, while sticking to his signature is something that needs some contemplation.

11- Fortitude - Gojira****: My first outing with the French rockers, and there's enough variety within their heavy metal signature to make me give them a top 20 slot.

12- Senjutsu - Iron Maiden****: I had not considered The Book of Souls (2015) back then, so this was the first album that I had considered of Ed and co. While this is the closest to we have to classic heavy metal, it has to be given that the sounds of Iron Maiden has evolved somehow from the time of the number of the beast.

13. The nearer the fountain... - Damon Albarn****: The Blur front man missed out on the top 20 with everyday robots back in 2014. Seven years later his effort is a beautiful ambient journey of clearer atmospheres, and the ode to his adopted homeland, works.

14. Imposter - Dave Gahan****: The Depeche Mode front man's record of covers work for me, particularly Cat Power's Metal Heart, Neil Young's a man needs a maid, Bob Dylan's Not Dark Yet, giving him and his Soul Savers a second top 20 album (2015, no.15, Angels and Ghosts)

15. Ocean to ocean - Tori Amos****: A frequent visitor to my charts, and sultry Tori has impressed me from her "Under the Pink days". She had the runner up album in 2011 (night of hunters), but missed the top 20 with Unrepentant Geraldines (2014) and Native Invaders (2017).

16. Dark Matters - The Stranglers****: I suspect that this is an album that most didn't notice, but there's good new wave music that listener's shouldn't missed out on, here. 

17. The Future Bites - Steven Wilson****: Another frequent artiste whom I have enjoyed listening over the years, from his "Porcupine Tree" days work, and one of the two artistes who has two number 1's over the years ( 2013:The Raven that refused to sing, no.1; 2015:Hand.Cannot.Erase, no.1; 2016:4 1/2, no.5; 2017:To the bone, no.13), has his fifth top 20 album.

18. Heavy load blues - Gov't Mule****: A steady album by the Mule, but their first top 20 in my charts. I have enjoyed their blues reworking of the dark side of the moon (2013: The dark side of the mule), but I reckon that I learned of it some years after its release. 

19. Medicine at midnight - Foo Fighters****: Probably their most pop sounding album in their career. It has enough vibes to earn a top 20 nod, although it mayn't be one of my favourite records of theirs ( i.e. 2011:Wasting Light, no.8; 2014:Sonic Highways, no.6; 2017:Concrete and Gold, no.12). Given that from here till about position 27 or so, we have consistent records but with no marked significance to make them stand out, probably allowed the Foo Fighters this slot.

20. Skellig - David Gray****: An artiste whom I have tried not to miss a single album of, since White Ladder, makes a atmospheric, quiet, meditative effort. The album may have just enough power to hang on to the top 20, against lots of similar standard, but consistent records from position 19 or so, but personally am glad that Mr. Gray is in there, especially since his efforts from 2014 (Mutineers), and 2019 (Gold  in a Brass age), failed to break the top 20 after consideration.

21. Downhill from everywhere - Jackson Browne****
22. The Quest - Yes****
23. No Gods No Masters - Garbage****
24. Georgia Blue - Jason Isbell & the 400 unit****
25. Dreams are Waiting - Crowded House****
26. Stand for yourself - Yola****
27. Raise the roof - Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss****
28. Future Past - Duran Duran****
29. For Free - David Crosby****
30. Traveler's Blues - Blues Traveler****
                       ( All these artistes are have been around for sometime, and some have even recorded no.1's - Duran Duran, 2011, and these 10 albums are good listens any day. What they lack is sounding fresh, with the exception of Garbage, and possibly Isbell's tribute to Georgia. I would've liked to have seen Mr. Browne in the top 20, but I don't think I can rank him above the Foo Fighters and David Gray. Crowded House has come up with a good album which brings to mind Neil's Finn's atmospheric stellar solo work. The album by Yes to has largely been ignored, but I do think its a solid record.)

31: When god was great/Mighty Mighty Bosstones;
32: Deltra Kream - The Black Keys;
33: Soberish - Liz Phair
34: Wolves - Candlebox
35: Daddy's home - St. Vincent
36: Gold - Marcella Detroit
37: Chemtrails over the Country Club - Lana Del Rey
38: happier than ever - Billy Eilish
39: Working with God - Melvins
40: Music of the Spheres - Coldplay
41: Exit wounds - Wallflowers
42: We are - Jon Batiste,
                                             form the tail, while Santana, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Lindsay Buckingham, Weezer, and Juliana Hetfield end it with a tally of 47 albums in total.