Kalu Donkaraya by Karunadasa Sooriyaarachchi

     Kalu Donkaraya by the Chief Editor of the Silumina Newspaper Karunadasa Sooriyaarachchi is said to be based on an experience of a Tamil woman. The narrators of Kalu Dongkaraya are a new born infant and its deceased nineteen-year-old Tamil mother, Meena. The first person narrative unfolds as Meena tries to impart the history of the conflict as experienced by her to her infant daughter in a series of queries and responses. Though the actual time spent in narrating the story is limited to a few hours after the exodus of the Tamils across Nandikadal Lagoon during the Final War, the narrative covers a period beginning from the early days of the LTTE to the defeat of the outfit in 2009. In the course of her tragically brief life Meena becomes the recipient of multiple views on the issues of ethnic relations and the war. Among these, her father’s, Lakshmis’s, and Rathnam’s are of a greater significance. Meena’s father, who is a working class Tamil, initially supports the LTTE cause and identifies with them: “In the early days Appa spoke highly of Podiyans. He did not even refer to Piribakaran by name. Called him Thalaivar. At first, he said even Amirthalingam assassination was something that was fated to happen” (112). However, after his socialist friend Thangaraja was killed by the LTTE for criticising them, his conscience becomes divided: “At times he would say it was fair of Podiyans to do what they were doing and at others he would say it was unbearable to witness people being killed” (113).

     Rajarathnam is an educated middleclass tri-lingual who has lived a considerable part of his life in the south of the country. He is looked at with mistrust by some of his neighbours due to his marriage to a Sinhalese. Ratham, himself, has experienced both extreme cruelty and philia at the hands of the Sinhalese and come to the conclusion that, “[j]ust like the Tamils …some Sinhalese people are good. Some are bad” (25). Similarly, he is quite blunt in his criticism of the LTTE atrocities, too. Ultimately Rathnam is assassinated by the LTTE. 

     Lakshmi is the conduit for the views of her boyfriend Raja who is deeply involved in the LTTE activities. According to her:

[Some Tamil politicians] have maintained a lie for years. Those who went to people wearing verti here, wore ties and coats to go to the Parliament. Spoke in Tamil here, and there, in English. Rathnam is no different to them. Daughter Sara is in England … Son Ram is in the USA … We are in Kilinochchi. Let alone to London, we can’t go beyond Kilinochchi. We are trapped in the land we were born in. (59)

However, she does not approve of violence against unarmed civilians and the conscription. In the end she joins the LTTE to prevent one of her family members from being conscripted.    

     Meena obtains firsthand experience of a community undergoing a war situation. War has made life uncertain for those in the North. In addition, the entire society in the North is facing a socio-cultural crisis. Commenting on the scarcity of sumangali women to perform the rituals related to Meena’s puberty ceremony, her mother Kanmani states, “It has become a difficult thing to find a mother with children and a husband … Either the husband is dead … or the children have joined the LTTE … or shot by the Army” (21). She also adds that “[f]our or five girls in the village have become pregnant” to evade the LTTE conscription campaign (126). Meena, too, becomes pregnant towards the end of the Final War.

     The situation for the Sinhalese is far from being rosy. A news article shown to Meena by Rathnam described the LTTE massacre of the Sinhalese at Dollar Farm. Rathnam also says that in “Kandy and Colombo, parents … await the return of their school-going children with fear” (109). All in all, the novel projects a country that is in the grip of a cycle of terror.

     In the course of the narrative, the condition of Meena’s family deteriorates from a poverty-stricken-yet-hopeful situation to a state utterly without hope. On the whole, Meena develops a negative attitude towards the LTTE and is glad to see the end of the war.

    In conclusion, in Karunadasa Sooriyaarachci’s Kalu Dongkaraya, one of the narrators, the deceased mother, is clearly anti-war and anti-terrorist in her point of view and engages in an extensive “cultural self-criticism” through the incidents she selects to narrate to her infant daughter. The possibility of post-war reconciliation and an inclusive nation-ness is hinted at by three facts: Firstly, Meena calls the army personnel who come to her aid, “brothers”. Secondly, instead of joy, Meena’s death brings tears to the eyes of the nurses at the hospital . Thirdly, the orphaned infant finds a wet-nurse in Ramya from Kabithigollawa – a village where a large number of men, women, and children had been massacred by the LTTE. While inter-ethnic marriage and hybridity are described in not so encouraging terms, the writer does not actively discourage them. Yet, the author’s own nationality makes the “project of cultural self-criticism” his Tamil narrators and characters engage in extremely problematic. 

Kalu Dongkaraya, written by an ethnic Sinhalese writer uses Meena, an ethnic Tamil narrator and characters like Rathnam to criticise Tamil militant activities in general and those of the LTTE in particular.