Chinthaka Ranasinghe as a bright one in the new generation of Sinhalese poets has won quite a name among them. He introduced himself as a literary critic first, but his ability as a poet has produced three books of poetry so far. The foremost line of his identity that can be recognized through his writings is extreme social consciousness, which disturbs in a way his work as a poet.
His arrival as a poet through “Katussakuge Malagama (Death of a lizard)” in collaboration with Tharanga Ranasinghe presented some memorable poetic thoughts, but the second collection of poems (Kalayak Thisse Liyu Kavi) that he wrote alone did not take us into that far in terms of poetic quality in them. Similarly, through the latest arrival also he has not been able to supersede his first work by himself.
Chinthaka’s poems hint at some sort of protest he would like to direct against social issues that he himself cannot tolerate. His poems have captured several significant thematic areas.
Some of his remarkable poetic thoughts are resonating in my mind and heart. For example, read these lines:
“Hela Basa Manaram
Hela Resa Manaram
Molaya Tibenam
Demalath Manaram”
“Sinhalese is winsome, the race of Sinhalese too winsome, even if you have brains, Tamil too winsome”
is the meaning of this Sinhala poem. These lines with a rhyming pattern alarms us toward social inequity by questioning the thinking pattern of majority people. Even in the new book he does not have limits in using the language and he is very free to present his experiences, but it creates a critical and bitter environment for the parties who are subject to his critique. Some of his most personalized thematic areas are immature and emotionally charged efforts.
One poem in his new collection (“Mevan Viyaulen Nithi Kal Gevanemi”- living with a confused state of mind) enchanted me with his mind's eye. Before starting this remarkable piece of thought, he quotes from one of Nandasena Rathnapla’s poems and this poem implies the maze that he came across with the birth of his daughter. In a way this is a very feudal thought, but it occurs in his mind as an inevitable stream of thought, often which we cannot keep away from. This is also a tragedy that is faced by Asian fathers every now and then.
In memory of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova he has written a poem but to a certain extent it has become a phony effort which cannot be expected from a poet like Chinthaka. To sum up, Chinthaka has associated Sinhala literature broadly and he has a vast language scope that has been acquired from classical Sinhala. Besides his social awareness could contribute a lot to shape up his poetic thoughts if they are driven towards commonest directions rather than individual pinpoints.
Upul Gamage | උපුල් ගමගේ
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