Sugandhi Alias Andal Devanayaki

by T. D. Ramakrishnan

  25

  Though the archaeologist had told me that she wanted to speak to me in private, it was only after a week that we got the opportunity to talk, as I was busy revising the script. We used to climb atop Sigiriya and spend the day discussing ideas and stretching our imaginations to the limit.

  On the third day, we went to Lahugala in the evening to try and get some more information about the Devanayaki Kolam. It was there that the archaeologist had found the Susaana Supina. But the people there did not know anything about these rituals. A couple of old people said that some rituals were conducted here three or four generations ago.

  After considering hundreds of options, Christie came to a decision on the afternoon of the fourth day. When I rewrote the script, intertwining the myth of Devanayaki with the murder of Rajini Thiranagama, albeit without any evidence to back it up, it became the story of every woman in Sri Lanka. They started resembling Devanayaki in her myriad moods. While Rajini countered violence with the message of peace, many other women were burning with the fire of revenge. Revenge against anyone who hurt the mind or body of a woman. The emotions of love, lust, sympathy, peace and revenge were all mixed up in it. My script attained a new dimension as it dealt with events that were believed to have happened centuries ago. The archaeologist’s contribution to the new script was not negligible. She had to bear the brunt of our creative frenzy. It was because of her help that all our crazy desires – from my wanting to climb Sigiriya at midnight, to Christie’s wish to fly over it in a helicopter – were easily achieved.

  We became close during that time. Though we did not speak much, both of us felt that we could not stay away from each other for any length of time. Christie threw a party the night we completed the script. Naturally, the archaeologist was our chief guest. The party on the lawns of the hotel ended at midnight. Christie praised everyone to the skies, with special mention reserved for the archaeologist. Christie and I got drunk that night, but Mary merely sipped at her wine. The archaeologist drank only fruit juice. She wore a yellow sari and a sleeveless blouse. Like other Sinhalese women, she was a bit plump. I found the way she looked at me with her large eyes alluring. It was she who took me to my room after the party, as I was staggering. Mary smiled at me knowingly. I don’t remember what happened afterwards. Did we speak?

  Next morning, she groggily said, ‘Good morning, Peter,’ and went back to sleep. I realized then that I still did not know her name. So far, I had only addressed her as either ‘archaeologist’ or ‘madam’. When we were having coffee after a bath, she told me her name without my asking. ‘Now I will tell you what I wanted to say. You didn’t have time for conversation last night. I am Devanayaki.’ I was taken aback, and seeing that I was shocked, she paused. But I was able to regain my composure quickly.

  ‘Were you sipping your fruit juice and waiting for the party to end?’

  ‘You have been starving for a long time. Anuradha told me to offer you a feast.’

  ‘I am not the only one who was starving.’

  ‘Let’s not argue about that. I’m Devanayaki, but unlike your friend, I’m not Andal Devanayaki. My grandmother called me Devanayaki. The women in my mother’s house traditionally assumed this name. But my parents did not think it enough and named me Juliet D’Souza. Anyway, it is of other things that I wish to speak to you.

  ‘Over the past few years, a group called Save Sri Lanka from Fascism, or SSF, has been gaining strength. After my son died last year, I joined them. It started as an online group on Facebook. As the political atmosphere is against us, all our operations are shrouded in secrecy. We create fake profiles to carry on our activities. Identities are created using historic icons. Iyakkam is referred to as the war in which Stalin was defeated by Hitler. We resist both Stalin who was killed and Hitler who killed.

  ‘But I don’t think this group is organized, or that it has any sort of leadership. Most of the active members are young. Their aim is to free this country from the fascist government and president. At the same time, they want to resist the return of the Iyakkam which is also fascist in nature. It is similar to the people’s movement in Tunisia and Egypt. In Egypt, the struggle was against Hosseini Mubarak who was called the common enemy. Unfortunately, here we are up against two enemies. This country is caught not between the devil and the deep blue sea, but between two devils. Can you help us in our activities?’

  ‘What exactly do you expect me to do, Juliet?’

  ‘You artists would know better how art can be used to combat fascism. It would be nice if you could tell the government that you require my help until this movie is completed. Then I can be relieved from the burden of official duties.’

  ‘I’ll be happy to do it on one condition: your services will be required full time.’

  ‘Of course. Juliet will be to Peter what Mary is to Christie.’

  ‘But I doubt whether I can become Romeo.’

  Juliet rose and came to me joyfully. Though I couldn’t meet Andal Devanayaki, I was happy to have met another Devanayaki. She leaned on my shoulder like a weary traveller who had found her destination after years of wandering. I told her the story of my life. When I spoke about my mother, my eyes welled up with tears.

  At breakfast, I spoke to Christie about Juliet. Both of them were happy. Christie immediately called Samaraveera. He was relieved to know that the script was complete and that we planned to start filming next month. Within hours, we received a fax permitting Juliet to work in our team until the movie was done. From then on, Juliet started living with me.

  Meanwhile, far away in a slum in Colombo’s Slave Island suburb, a group of young men were meeting in a dilapidated building. There were Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims among them. When the doors and windows were closed and the room was lit only by a dim LED lamp, Gayathri Perera began speaking in a low voice.

  ‘We are meeting today to discuss very important matters. Our biggest problem is to find a way to take SSF from Facebook campaigns to real activism. SSF has more than four hundred branches in this country, and a thousand-plus branches in Britain, Canada, Australia and Europe. For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, the youth are coming together for the sake of democracy and freedom of expression, without caring about their Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim identities. Fortunately, nowadays such movements are able to create an impact on society. The democratic movements that recently occurred in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are examples. We saw the common people wresting power from dictators who had ruled for twenty or thirty years. In India too such movements are gathering momentum. But the situation in our country is different. In Egypt, Mubarak had to step down after a period of emergency that had lasted for thirty years. Gaddafi’s rule in Libya had lasted longer than that. The people there agitated as they were fed up of misgovernance.

  ‘The Sri Lankan situation is a far cry from this. The President, who emerged victorious in the twenty-five year struggle launched by the Iyakkam, enjoys the support of the masses. Most of the Sinhalese, even the youth, are in his favour. The Buddhist monks and Buddhist organizations see him as their saviour. A major faction of the army also supports him. The corporations love him. He is a close companion of the casino owners. Countries like Israel and China are extremely generous to him, as they want to safeguard their own interests. The anger that the peace-loving commoners have towards the inhuman practices of the Iyakkam is another reason for the support he enjoys. We must accept the reality that, unlike Mubarak or Gaddafi, the president is not hated by the people.

  ‘Then why are we agitating against him? The answer is clear. He is the cleverest dictator in history. Behind his shining white clothes and wide smile, the fangs and claws of fascism are discernible. Voices of resistance and disagreement are manipulated into silence. Freedom of expression and creativity is completely denied. Honest journalism has become impossible. Many journalists, like Lasantha Wickrematunge, have been murdered in the past few years. He is also one of the worst war criminals in history. He is solely responsible
for the murder of hundreds of innocent people. His actions left many destitute during the freedom movement. Though the international community criticized him, he justifies his stand by saying that it is an internal issue. He murdered his brother, sister-in-law and their children because they had wanted their share in the family property. He is an elder brother who will justify this act by saying that it is an internal issue. The fact that his younger brother was a stubborn ne’er-do-well was not reason enough to rape his sister-in-law and murder their children. The administration of the entire country is controlled by the president and a handful of his close relatives. Thirty-nine of his relatives occupy key posts, like Gota in military and urban development, and Basil in finance. The people in Slave Island who are being evacuated understand the deep connection between the military and the urban development ministry. During the freedom movement, Gota had complete control over the military. It is said that it was he – a former soldier – who gave orders to eradicate the leadership of the Iyakkam. The government has become imbalanced due to great victories. Things have reached a stage where the chief justice of the supreme court is facing impeachment. Justice Shirani Bandaranayake’s crime was that she ruled against the government’s decision to allow the urban development ministry the right to acquire any piece of land that it wanted. We also witnessed the military chief, General Fonseka, being thrown into prison when he turned against the president’s decisions in the war against the Iyakkam.

  ‘The government’s policies on education and culture run parallel to this. Everything is planned meticulously. Great efforts are underway to rewrite history. Feeling that the great race myth is not strong enough, he uses his stooges in the archaeological department to fabricate history. The government is manipulating our art, music and cinema to achieve these ends. The prime example is this movie on Rajini Thiranagama called The Woman Behind the Fall of the Tigers that is being co-produced by the government. The president and his followers, who did not value any of the ideas put forward by Rajini, are now using her story to criticize the Iyakkam.

  ‘We should realize that our country is heading towards a great disaster: the disaster of fascism. The fight for freedom was, in fact, a fight between two fascist groups. The only difference is that the fascist with more power and the authority of the state won. The victorious fascist becomes more dangerous than the defeated one when he gets the support of the majority. There might be those who think that democracy is the will of the majority. It is here that history shows us the truth. Hitler’s Nazi party won the elections in Germany with a thumping majority. Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt garnered more than 90 per cent of the votes. There are also allegations that these statistics are fabricated. Whatever the case, it is our duty to correct the majority if they are on the wrong path. It is our responsibility.

  ‘Though the country is facing such grave problems, SSF cannot act with impunity. If we criticize the president, we will be labelled supporters of the Iyakkam or JVP. It will be followed by arrests and murders. Our first challenge is to convince the people that SSF doesn’t belong to any existing power structure. The best way to do that is to intensify our campaigns on Facebook. We also have to find the strength and courage to resist any sort of attack. In any case, we have to prepare ourselves for a mass movement against the government. We have seen how the Indian public took to the streets protesting against the rape of a young girl in Delhi. Such mass uprisings should happen in Colombo as well.

  ‘We have an opportunity before us now. The next Commonwealth Summit will be held in Colombo in November. The president sees this as a chance to earn the approval of the international community. But we have decided to use this opportunity to react against fascism. Nearly ten thousand young men and women from different parts of Sri Lanka are with us. More than double this number are offering their support from foreign countries. Most of our supporters are based in Britain, Canada and Australia. The British prime minister is with us to a certain extent. Each of you must put forward your ideas to make this venture a success. I hope that will happen in today’s discussion.’

  For some time after Gayathri’s speech, a silence descended upon the gathering. Though long discussions followed, nobody had any new ideas. The gathering began to disperse after deciding to hold another meeting a few days later.

  Then Peer Mohammed, who had been sitting silently in the back row, stood up. ‘If you don’t mind, I have something to say.’ Everyone listened eagerly. ‘I feel that the greatest problem of our age is that Sri Lankan nationalism has sunk to unprecedented depths. The president’s fascism is a part of this. The president is led not by Buddhist principles but by the fundamentalist ideologies of Dharmapala. Having repressed the Tamil Hindus, they have now turned against the Muslims. The activities of the Bodu Bala Sena prove this.’

  Realizing that this was a new perspective, everyone sat up. When Gayathri intervened, asking, ‘Have you forgotten being driven out of Jaffna when the Iyakkam was at its zenith?’ Peer Mohammed replied:

  ‘I can never forget it. I spoke about the BBS because I fear that this tragedy will recur in a different form in Colombo. It was when the activities of the Iyakkam drifted away from leftist ideology and moved towards Hindu fascism that they turned against the Muslims. If Sinhala fascism gains strength, their prime target will also be the Muslims. Karikalan, the leader of the Iyakkam in the eastern region, began the attacks. They turned against the Muslims in Jaffna after having driven away the Muslims in Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

  ‘I was then a student in the Osmania College. Most of the Muslim students in Jaffna studied there. Though it was called the Osmania College, it was really a higher secondary school with nearly 1,800 students. On 30 October 1990, the Iyakkam made an announcement asking all Muslims to gather in the college grounds at twelve noon. They went to streets where large Muslim populations lived and made this announcement on loudspeakers. As they knew and feared the way the Iyakkam functioned, everyone assembled on time. Anjaneyar, the Jaffna leader, addressed us. He angrily said that Muslims are traitors and that they act as informers for the government, that they tell tales of the activities of the Iyakkam when they travel to Colombo on business. “Therefore,” he said, “for the safety of the Tamils in Jaffna, all Muslims must leave within two hours.” When my father and a few young men questioned this decision, Anjaneyar fired a shot in the air and shouted that stern measures would be taken against those who refused to leave.

  ‘As they were about to shoot my father and two others, everyone shouted, “Don’t kill them. We will leave.” Then they made us stand in line and robbed us of the valuables we had. They let us take only a pair of clothes and a hundred and fifty rupees with us. Then they looted our houses. The children of the Iyakkam activists sold our possessions in the market. The female freedom fighters did not have the patience to remove the gold ornaments from our women and they tore the jewellery off their bodies. My mother led me and my sister home with bleeding ears as they had forcefully taken her earrings. Nearly nine thousand Muslims left Jaffna that day. My grandmother died during the journey. My father worked at many jobs in Java Street in Colombo to take care of us. None of us have ever returned to Jaffna.’

  Peer was openly weeping by the time he finished.

  26

  After we came back from Sigiriya, we got extremely busy. Tony Bernard had set up a temporary office of Transnational Pictures in Colombo. Christie’s assistants from abroad had already started work on our project. In the following days, I came to realize how complex the process of making a Hollywood movie is. Their way of film-making was nothing like what I had been taught at the Film Institute. Juliet’s presence was a great comfort. She helped answer the crew’s questions about Sri Lankan culture and history. Each scene was finalized after in-depth discussions on the type of clothes worn by the people of Sri Lanka, their eating habits, their languages, and even the differences in the body language of the Tamils and the Sinhalese. The costume designer, Ursula Anderson, and the art d
irector, Jan Lee, constantly came up with new questions. The director and scriptwriter were bound to answer their queries.

  The casting director, David Smith, had shortlisted about a dozen artists for each role. The auditions were held at Hilton Hotel, so Christie and Mary had to be there often. Famous Sri Lankan actresses were considered for the roles of Rajini Thiranagama and Devanayaki. But a Khmer actress and a few Hollywood actresses were also in the running. The greatest challenge David faced was that no famous actor wanted to play VP. Though Christie wanted me to play myself in the movie, I refused. I wasn’t sure if I could act out all that I had experienced.

  Samaraveera had arranged a luxurious villa for us in Colombo Cinnamon Gardens, opposite Victoria Park. It had four air-conditioned bedrooms and other amenities. Christie was on the first floor with Mary, and Juliet and I occupied the second floor. A beautiful garden, a swimming pool on the terrace and respectful servants – life was comfortable. The star of the villa was Thambaiya, the chef. We enjoyed his cooking and did not even think of eating out. Two apartments were arranged for junior assistants, while the main assistants were with us at the villa.

  Juliet and I enjoyed our honeymoon undisturbed. It was for the first time that I was experiencing the close company of a woman. Sugandhi and I had never stayed together, and women like Manju were merely a fleeting presence in my life. I realized that there was a happiness that lay beyond physical pleasure. Juliet’s presence energized me mentally and physically. Her smile, her naughty glances and endearments, her touch – everything became dear to me. Though she was only a couple of years younger than me, she behaved like a girl.