Her father, the President

The genres denoted as profiles, memoirs, pen-portraits, character sketches, biographies and autobiographies have played a vital role in the moulding of a creative living tradition of writing in the world. The world of letters where the truth is stranger than fiction is by and large centres round a person worthy of honour transpiring a serene sense of persuasion and mindfulness as an exemplary living entity.

When one person, as a scribe, presents the living experience of another remarkable personality, the element of honesty and truth is regarded as the most intimate factor. Chathurika Sirisena, who had been a close follower and a persuader of her father, the President of this country, Maithripala Sirisena, shows the extent to which the nostalgic reminiscence could play a resourceful compendium of material that goes into the volume titled as ‘Janadipathi Tatta’ (2017).

Paternal love

In 40 chapters, which are denoted by the compiler cum daughter of the protagonist as ‘ullasaya’ (reminiscent of Arabi Nisollasaya), a portrait of a stern clearheaded father is presented. This series of episodes consists of paternal love extended from the family nucleus to the entire agrarian cultural milieu in the district of Polonnaruwa. The episodes too are packed with socio-religious and cultural factors flanked by a deep sense of spiritualism.

The protagonist, Maithripala Sirisena, is shown as encouraged and strengthened by a will to live to overcome whatever obstacles that emerged on their way. Quite a number of situations are given where a young image of President Sirisena is portrayed as a Marxist who never idles and stays as a weakling but as a rebel for a cause to change the pattern.

All chapters contain verve of self-referential ideology where the daughter narrates most experiences as retold by her father. They are indicated as ‘as said by my father’, ‘as observed by my father’, ‘as shown to me by my father’ and so on. This is a clear indication of the extent to which she has an inner force driven to take up to writing these chapters in the form of a memoir.

Village surrounding

As such the place of the work triggers off from the present to the distant past far away into the village surrounding. There the grandfather, grandmother and the other kinsmen lived in a small ancestral house. Then the culture spans into the town and other urban areas where the life story gradually changes giving vent to a socio-political climate. A steadfast young image of Sirisena emerges as a victim of circumstances.

For being a truthful stern rebellious young man, he faces the ordeal of getting behind the bars. The concept of agreeing to disagree and to bear up pains under all victimised circumstances with a dedicated ideology of changing the social order emerges. Through the eyes of the daughter, the father is shown as a lover of nature, the fauna and flora of the country.

This loving nature extends in obtaining the required qualifications to be an agriculturalist par excellence. He too paves the way to gauge the type of social order that is needed as against one in which he exists. Thus he enters the popular party politics under the leadership of the stalwarts of the time. He is shown as becoming an avid reader of political literature and becomes an orator too.

Rural sector

The daughter elaborates how the political philosophies that her father followed made him an admirable figure among the youths, especially of the rural sector. This results in the participation in several youth seminars abroad, which include countries such as China, Japan and Cuba. He, in this direction, becomes a trendsetter which ultimately culminated in the provincial politics of nation-building. To the daughter, he becomes not merely a newsmaker but a social trendsetter, which results in the advent to the House of Representatives.

The predominant factor as shown in this memoir is the milk of human kindness shown by a father not only to the family, but to the nation as a whole. He is also picturised as a musician where the specialty is singing and playing a musical instrument. The protagonist Sirisena is shown as traversed a long path commencing from Siyanakorela to Rajarata. The father image as drawn by the daughter shifts from one unit to another.

The Manthri Tatta or the Parliamentarian Father is seen changing the role to another becoming Amathi Tatta or the Minister Father who gradually ascends the ladder of the statesmanship of the country. There are falls as well. All of a sudden the daughter sees that her father taking rest from the general political climate as a result of a dispute. Such an event is recorded in Chapter sixteen titled as ‘Parliamentuven Dotta’.

He is in this context visualised as a protest leader not only outside the parliament but also inside it. At one moment, he had, addressed in a tone of protest, the leader of the house as a ‘garu paga nayakathumani’ to which the response was negative. He did not withdraw what he said despite the request from the chair. The continuous request to withdraw the utterance was undermined. As a result, he was pulled out of the Parliament by the police officers.

Drug policy

This is recorded as an event that occurred during a period where the agrarian sector in his own provinces of Rajarata was deplored by various disasters. He was vigilant in finding solutions to alleviate them. As the daughter records, one sharp feature observed is his keen sense of protest. I am reminded of the statement which goes as ‘however futile the effort is, if you feel like protesting, do it instantly’. Prior to the appearance of this memoir, I have a copy of a biography written by the veteran journalist Malalgoda Bandutilake titled as ‘Maithri’. His functions as a minister are recorded in that biography. Once he was the Mahaweli Minister and then the Health Minister. As the Health Minister, he was keen on two standpoints: Drug Policy and the Medical Education.

These factors resulted in awarding the minister with the covetous award of being the best health minister in 2010. But as the daughter states: “though my father was awarded the covetous prize, the so-called politicians of the time were not so happy. But, we the family were happy to the brim’. In this manner, though the memoirs come to a close as a reader I felt that some of the repetitive factors towards the latter could have been eliminated. The text is illustrated with photographs taken from time to time.