{"id":69270,"date":"2021-07-17T17:35:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T17:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=69270"},"modified":"2021-07-17T21:27:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T21:27:05","slug":"the-suntharalingam-familys-journey-sri-lanka-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/the-suntharalingam-familys-journey-sri-lanka-to-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Suntharalingam Family\u2019s Journey: Sri Lanka to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Suntharalingam Family\u2019s Journey: Sri Lanka to Australia<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"Chellappah<\/p>\n

Chellappah Suntharalingam<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/strong>Thuppahis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew Westwood, in\u00a0The Weekend Australian Review<\/em>,\u00a0\u00a05-6 January 2019<\/a>, where the title is<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCounting and Cracking: a family\u2019s journey\u201d\u00a0\u2026 with some snaps and a partial bibliography added by\u00a0The Editor, Thuppahi<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the complicated and at times bitterly divided history of Sri Lanka in the 20th century, one man\u2019s story may be emblematic of the nation\u2019s changing fortunes. C. Suntharalingam was born in 1895 into a Tamil family, the son of a poor farmer. The boy was a whiz at maths. Sent to a boarding school in Jaffna, he went on to study at the universities of London and Oxford.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Belvoir\u2019s<\/p>\n

Belvoir\u2019s Eamon Flack\u00a0 and playwright S. Shakthidaran \u2013Pic Hollie adams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Like other educated Tamils he sought \u201ctrousered employment\u201d in the colonial public service. He was called to the bar to practise law and later entered politics, serving a term as minister for trade and commerce in what was then the colonial Ceylonese government. He built a beautiful house in the heart of Colombo on a street with views down to the ocean, and held court on the porch where he discussed politics and affairs of the day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/a>The first cabinet in indepenedent CEYLON with DS Senanayake in the centre and C. Suntharalingam (wearing verti) on the far left facing<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

He believed that broad consensus among Sri Lanka\u2019s various ethnic groups was essential for the young nation\u2019s greater good. But he became disillusioned at the racially driven politics that pitted the country\u2019s majority Sinhalese population against the minority Tamils. That division would plunge Sri Lanka \u2014 the beautiful island whose graceful shape resembles a teardrop \u2014 into a decades-long civil war. \u201cHis heart was broken by what happened in Sri Lanka,\u201d says his great-grandson, S. Shakthidharan, in Sydney. \u201cI think his hope that people could work together was destroyed by what happened in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cTowards the end of his life he felt that the practical thing to do was to protect what you can \u2026 He became someone who started to talk about a Tamil homeland, and protecting Tamils and fighting for Tamil rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakthidharan, known as Shakthi, is a playwright and chief executive of a western Sydney arts company called Co-Curious. For the past decade he has been researching the story of his great-grandfather and of the Sri Lankans who stayed in their homeland or fled the war, translating those personal histories into a truth-in-fiction account of love, loss, fracture and a hoped-for reconciliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

His play, called\u00a0Counting and Cracking<\/i>, is being presented by Belvoir in one of the major productions of this month\u2019s Sydney Festival. Sydney\u2019s Town Hall will be transformed into a Sri Lankan town hall, complete with colourful fabrics and plates of delicious Sri Lankan food (a communal meal is included in the ticket price). With a large cast of 16 actors, expect\u00a0Counting and Cracking<\/i>\u00a0to have the panoramic narrative of a\u00a0Cloudstreet<\/i>\u00a0or last year\u2019s\u00a0The Harp in the South<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 only this time it\u2019s a story of migrants not from Ireland but from Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Anandavalli,<\/a><\/span>
Anandavalli, who left Sri Lanka at the start of the civil war in 1983, at her home in Sydney\u2019s Homebush.<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I visit Shakthi at home for dinner one Friday evening to learn more about the play and the stories that have inspired it. The house on a suburban street in Homebush has a wide covered porch and a stick of incense is burning near the entrance. The front door is carved with mythical figures from the Hindu pantheon, the elephant-headed god Ganesha watching over all. Shakthi greets me at the door and asks that I take off my shoes before we go inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

His mother, Anandavalli, has been busy preparing the meal. Valli is a well-known figure in the Sri Lankan community and among dance aficionados for the dance company she founded, Lingalayam. As a teenager she was a beautiful dancer in the Indian classical style and was talent-spotted by choreographer John Cranko during a European tour. Tonight, she has made fragrant dishes of prawn and chicken curry \u2014 not too spicy; I wonder if the chilli has been dial\u00adled down for guests \u2014 and a plate of string hoppers, spongy mats of rice noodles. Valli passes bowls of curry around the table, and runs her finger along the rim to catch the creamy sauce.<\/span><\/p>\n

The house we\u2019re sitting in, with its ceremonial front room where Valli holds her dance classes, is modelled in part on the house built by her grandfather, and Shakthi\u2019s great-grandfather, C. Suntharalingam. The intricate woodcarvings at the entry, the gates and other fixtures have all been transplanted from Colombo to Homebush to create a facsimile of the family estate. Unusually, Suntharalingam had bequeathed the house not to his male heirs but to his granddaughter, Valli, the only girl and the \u201cprincess\u201d of the family. She believed, as he did, that she would never leave Sri Lanka, but all that changed when the civil war broke out in 1983, sparked when the militant Tamil Tigers attacked a Sri Lankan army unit in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Valli recalls the terrifying reprisals that broke out in Colombo days later. Mobs attacked Tamil homes and businesses; people were burned to death on the road.\u201cIt was the day that everyone calls Black Friday,\u201d Valli says. \u201cThe day when people started killing people on the road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the Tamil term,\u201d Shakthi explains. \u201cLess contentiously, it\u2019s known as the 1983 riots. People who were not at home had to be found, otherwise they might have been killed. My uncle saw a house being set alight with people inside.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Valli feared for herself and for her infant son, Shakthi, and made the painful decision to leave. They fled first to Chennai in India, then to Singapore and finally to Australia, where Shakthi\u2019s father had obtained a job with IBM.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to leave Sri Lanka,\u201d Valli says. \u201cThe calamity and the absolute confusion that I went through. People asked me what happened to my smile. I wore a mask face: not of fear, but of not understanding what had happened \u2026 If I didn\u2019t have my dance, I think something really crazy could have happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The civil war would claim the lives of an estimated 100,000 people and many more were displaced from their homes. Shakthi, now 36, grew up knowing the war\u2019s history but his mother refused to discuss it at home. When he started asking questions of members of his extended family, Valli simply shut the conversation down.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my early 20s I knew more about World War II and Europe than I knew about my own family,\u201d he says. But Shakthi followed where his curiosity led him. A key to understanding his family history was gaining access to his great-grandfather\u2019s papers in Colombo. As an MP and a public figure, Suntharalingam had written speeches and published opinion articles in the newspapers. There was also his official correspondence and letters to his family: epistles of grandfatherly affection and moral instruction. From this written record, an ancestor whose presence loomed large in family lore began to take on a more nuanced shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

In some ways, Suntharalingam\u2019s story echoes that of other educated Tamils who achieved professional success and social prestige. Historically the Tamils occupied the northern part of Sri Lanka and were a Hindu minority on an island that is predominantly Buddhist. The Tamils, though, were favoured by the British and advanced through the ranks of the civil service and the professions. Tamil prosperity rankled with some of the Sinhalese population and their resentment, Shakthi explains, was exploited for political gain. Laws were passed that denied Tamils citizenship and made Sinhala Sri Lanka\u2019s official language and Buddhism the de facto state religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suntharalingam died in 1985 as the Tamil insurgency was gathering force. Shakthi believes, from reading his letters, that his great-grandfather lost faith in the prospect of social unity and began to think in terms of the more pragmatic politics of survival. \u201cTowards the very end of his life, he felt that the practical thing to do was to protect what you can, rather than protect everyone,\u201d Shakthi says. \u201cBut once people start protecting only their own base, the gains you can make are short-lived, and you can\u2019t build a society out of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Suntharalingam\u2019s journey has helped give shape to Shakthi\u2019s play. He has inspired the dignified character Apah, or \u201cFather\u201d \u2014 played by Indian actor Prakash Belawadi \u2014 as well as the play\u2019s title,\u00a0Counting and \u00adCracking<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy great-grandfather once said that democracy is the counting of heads within certain limits, and the cracking of heads beyond those limits,\u201d Shakthi says after the dinner plates have been cleared.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how do we not stretch democracy to the point at which violence is the only option. But the play is not about that, in a philosophical sense. It\u2019s about people\u2019s lives and the decisions they make.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Monica Kumar, Jay Emmanuel, S. Shakthidharan, Eamon Flack and Nipuni Sharada are part of Counting and Cracking. Picture: Hollie Adams<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A few days later I\u2019m with Shakthi and Belvoir\u2019s artistic director Eamon Flack at a rehearsal of the play. In one of the scenes, set in 2004, a Tamil prisoner is being released from jail: the guard tells him that in future he must speak Sinhala, not Tamil. The moment is juxtaposed with the sound of a cricket broadcast: the Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has just taken his 500th wicket in a Test against Australia. The prison guard, played by Monroe Reimers, recalls Murali saying that Sri Lanka should be united like the country\u2019s cricket team, without divisions. \u201cBut I can\u2019t forget and I won\u2019t \u00adforgive,\u201d the guard says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe play works in some ways like a puzzle or a mystery,\u201d Flack says during the lunch break. \u201cA note is struck in one scene that doesn\u2019t complete itself until another scene. Each act brings together a set of disparate circumstances \u2026 stories which don\u2019t seem to fit together but which are absolutely co-dependent. The idea that separate lives in separate times actually determine the safety and happiness of each other \u2014 that\u2019s what the play is about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the episodes sound remarkably similar to experiences that Shakthi and Valli described around the dinner table. The play involves a strong-willed woman called Radha who flees Sri Lanka for Australia and who avoids telling her son Siddhartha what has happened in her homeland. At its heart are two love stories: one that traverses continents and decades, and another between a Sri Lankan-Australian boy and a Yolngu girl.<\/span><\/p>\n

The twists and turns of the plot are outlined on dozens of pieces of paper stuck to the wall of the rehearsal studio. Six languages will be spoken on stage \u2014 Sanskrit, Tamil, Sinhala, Yolngu, Arabic and English \u2014 and there is not a single Anglo face among the 16 actors in the cast. They have come from far and wide, after an audition process that involved three trips to Sri Lanka. Among them is Antonythasan Jesuthasan, a Sri Lankan actor now based in Paris who starred in the film\u00a0Dheepan<\/i>, winner of the 2015 Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes. He plays the prisoner in the scene described earlier and his story, Shakthi promises, will surprise the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is probably the most ambitious new play Belvoir has presented since\u00a0Cloudstreet<\/i>\u00a0in 1998. That was a defining moment in Australian theatre, and\u00a0Counting and Cracking<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 in the breadth of its community engagement, in its confidently large-scale depiction of a migrant story \u2014 may well become another. The stage setting alone is an elaborate affair, in which designer Dale Ferguson has created a hall within a hall, inspired by a municipal venue in Jaffna.<\/span><\/p>\n

The whole enterprise has been supported through a long development phase, including a young artist grant from the Australia Council for Shakthi, and a period during which he was an associate artist at Carriageworks. Belvoir and Co-Curious are the production partners and there is a raft of other supporters, including the federal government and the festivals in Sydney and Adelaide, where\u00a0Counting and Cracking<\/i>\u00a0will land in March. Among the many private donors is Shemara Wikramanayake, the new chief executive of Macquarie Bank, who comes from a Sri Lankan background.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Shakthi, the play has been a labour of love that has brought him closer to understanding his family\u2019s story. Valli, who at first wished he had never embarked on the project, has become actively involved in it. She has been coaching the actors in the vocal inflections of British-educated Tamils, has advised on the saris worn by women of older generations, and has chosen the vibrant fabrics that will bring a touch of Sri Lanka to the middle of Sydney.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than anything, Shakthi hopes that his play, his careful research and consultation will bring together the Sri Lankan community, Tamils and Sinhalese alike. He can\u2019t imagine what his great-grandfather would think.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel our community is ready for reconciliation,\u201d he says. \u201cI have not taken any sides in the play about what\u2019s happening in Sri Lanka or what did happen. Instead we get to be part of this family\u2019s journey. We get to face some hard truths, and at the same time celebrate who we are. That is our best pathway to reconciling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Counting and Cracking<\/span>\u00a0is at Sydney Town Hall, January 11 to February 2, and Adelaide Showgrounds, March 2 to 9.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

MATTHEW WESTWOOD<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Arts Correspondent<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Matthew Westwood, the newspaper\u2019s chief arts correspondent, was arts editor from 2008 to 2011. He has been writing about the performing arts, particularly classical music and opera, for two decades. He writes a column in the arts pages every Tuesday.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0 ***\u00a0 ***<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0 ADDENDUM: SELECT BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

Chellappah Suntharalingam<\/strong>\u00a0\u2026\u2026\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/C._Suntharalingam<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

C. Suntharalingam:\u00a0Eylom: Beginnings of the Freedom Struggle,<\/em>\u00a0Colombo, 1967<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

K T Rajasingham:\u00a0\u201cSri Lanka. The Untold Story,\u201d\u00a0Asia Times<\/em>, 17 Nov 2001,\u00a0http:\/\/www.atimes.com\/ind-pak\/CK17Df01.html<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jane Russell:\u00a0Communal Politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, 1931-1947<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0Colombo, Tisara Prakasakayo, 1982<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

AJ Wilson:<\/strong>\u00a0SJV Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, London, Hurst & Co, 1994<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Roberts:\u00a0\u201cEthnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to Accommodation\u201d<\/strong>,\u00a0Modern Asian Studies<\/em>, 12:353-76.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Roberts:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cReformism, Nationalism and Protest in British Ceylon: The Roots and Ingredients of Leadership\u201d,<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Rule, Protest, Identity, Aspects of Modern South Asia<\/em>,\u00a0<\/strong>ed. by Peter Robb and David Taylor, Centre of South Asian Studies, SOAS, Collected Papers on South Asia No. 1, London, pp. 259-80.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Roberts:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe Agony and Ecstacy ofa Pogrom: Southern Lanka, July 1983,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0 his\u00a0Exploring Confrontation.\u00a0 Sri Lanka: Politics, Culture and History,\u00a0<\/u><\/em><\/strong>Reading: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994, pp. 317-27.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Suntharalingam Family\u2019s Journey: Sri Lanka to Australia Chellappah Suntharalingam Source:Thuppahis Matthew Westwood, in\u00a0The Weekend Australian Review,\u00a0\u00a05-6 January 2019, where the title is\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCounting and Cracking: a family\u2019s journey\u201d\u00a0\u2026 with some snaps and a partial bibliography added by\u00a0The Editor, Thuppahi In the complicated and at times bitterly divided history of Sri Lanka in the 20th century, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[35986],"class_list":{"0":"post-69270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"tag-chellappah-suntharalingam","9":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Suntharalingam Family\u2019s Journey: Sri Lanka to Australia<\/title>\n<meta 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