And quiet runs the court

Usaviya Nihandai
Author: Gooneratne Ekanayake
S. Godage and Brothers, Colombo 10
234 pp. Price Rs. 350

COURT scenes add a touch of authenticity to a novel just as spices add flavour to a curry. The proceedings at the trial of Charles Darnay (in Charles Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities"), for example, generate a disdainful resentment to the riotous law in force in France soon after the French Revolution in 1789. A certain amount of hyperbole is present there to evoke the reader's interest.

Generally it is common to find trial scenes in detective stories but it makes a marked difference in romantic novels. Thereby, the reader comes to know some legal aspects, too.

In this context, Gunarathne Ekanayake's novel, "Usawiya Nihandayi" ("The Court becomes mute") is partly detective and partly romantic as the consummation of a long-standing, growing love between a robust young man and an equally healthy, young girl comes to fruition suddenly.

The impetuous duo, Senarathne and Namali were strongly attached to each other without their knowledge as an innocent bond of love was blooming into a climax which is natural but socially tabooed as the girl is a minor.

Gunarathne Ekanayake displays a high degree of skill in fabricating this story and his approach is very close to that of Gunadasa Amarasekera (in "Karumakkarayo") whose plot reveals an extremely detestable sexual act between father, two sons and the elder son's wife.

Pornography

Gunadasa Amarasekera's "Karumakkarayo" borders on pornography rather than good fiction which should foster social wellbeing. The reader tends to treat it like a report of the vulgar behaviour of a set of passionate people enjoying sex, nothing but sheer sex like wild buffaloes wallowing in mud with much relish.

As for Ekanayake's novel, the reader seems to sympathize with the errant couple fallen into disgrace through a slight, pitiable flaw, innocent of the gravity of their communion. Hence tragic. And the protagonist is made to realize the stark aftermath of his impulsive passion.

He amply pays for it by undergoing mental and physical agony. The serious problem of rape is, however, resolved in the end quite to the relief of both parties concerned.

Gunarathne Ekanayake cleverly builds up a situation where there is an interplay of vegetable love between Senarathne and Namalie, and the fast growing titillation of passionate love leading to sexual feelings and the social stigma which is the outcome of their heightened passion.

One may tend to find fault with Namali's mother for fabricating the complaint to look like a rape which is a criminal offence committed purely against the will of the girl. Here the reader is willing to excuse Namali's mother who is helpless in the circumstance.

With this untoward act as seen from a social angle, the girl loses all her moral values and may, probably, give birth to a fatherless child. Through this frustration born of a mother's worry, Namali's mother gets furious. This view is made to be implied. And there lies the writer's merit.

Tricks of the police

The usual tricks of the police in grilling the accused do not always lead to the proper detection of crime in our country. They rely more on brawn than on brain in trying to discover the truth behind the conduct of the accused people.

Moreover, the legal arguments in courts of law do not always seem to bring about justice. Their arguments flow from a system of Roman-Dutch Law which metes out administrative justice. But natural justice comes into play as a result of the girl's conflict of mind.

She feels guilty conscious for making a false charge against Senarathne whom, to some extent, she seduced with her little but alluring charms, simultaneously letting Senarathne's erotic desire catch fire.

Education

So, whose fault is it after all? At the very beginning, the novelist gives a clue to it. That is, Senarathne is not educated, or through his playing the truant, he hates going to school. Here I remember a certain Sanskrit Shloka (stanza) to this effect:

"Mata Shatruh pita wairi

Yena balo na pathitah

Na sholhate sabha madhye

Hansa madhye bako yatha."

(If a child is not educated, his mother becomes his foe, and his father an arch - enemy. Such a child does not stand out among the elite just as a stork does not shine among the swans.)

Thus we see that a child with a half-baked or little education may turn out to be a scoundrel and harmful to society. I do, however, believe that there is much more than that in this novel.

Here Gunarathne Ekanayake effectively endeavours to analyse a highly complex problem of the human nature. I also presume that this novel is fit for a film but for "adults only"!

- Somapala Arandara