Malinda Words: What a memory-keeping wanderer foregoes

['The Morning Inspection' is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is the 217th article in the new series that began in December 2022. Links to previous articles are given below]

‘A Wanderer and a Memory Keeper,’ is the title of a guest presentation by Tharindu Amunugama organised by the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka. It’s a perfect description.

Tharindu has, over the years, inspired me to write on all kinds of subjects. There have been many times when photographs turn into magic carpets upon which my thoughts travel to destinations I hadn’t previously known or thought of. At times they inspire me to write poetry. And sometimes, they make me go silent because they leave me speechless.

That’s when he’s a memory keeper.

I have been privileged to travel with him. So we have shared memories, but more than that, conversations about things we love and worry about, places that make us stop and of course the timeless questions of being and becoming.

That’s from Tharindu the Wanderer.

The blurb from the flyer announcing the event is spot-on.

‘Tharindu’s photography is about weaving narratives. He can feel this soil; hear the heartbeat of our people. He knows our vaevai, dagaebai, gamai, pansalai connection. His camera clicks by heartstrings which stem from deep-rootedness. There is depth, strength, substance in his art. “My photos are for others, not for me. When I hold the camera before my eyes, I forego a precious opportunity to experience a raw, beautiful moment,” Tharindu says.’

Of course he knows this land as much as anyone else. Probably better than most. He has captured, moreover, the natural beauty of our island. Hills he has climbed and valleys he has crossed. He has immersed himself in rivers and other water bodies, literally and metaphorically.

He has captured what SinhaRaja Thammita-Delgoda calls ‘Eloquence in Stone,’ the title he gave a collection of photographs of Sri Lanka’s archaeological treasures by the late Nihal Fernando, a collection whose aesthetic beauty he completed with exceptionally crafted text. Tharindu has Nihal’s eyes and not just for the history congealed in stone.

He is fascinated by archaeology and history, and is a keen student of both. He is also a student of the present when it comes to things that are culturally associated with both archaeology and history.

‘In our country,’ he once told me, ‘what we have is living heritage.’ There’s life that is at once personal and societal that is evident in places that are primarily considered to be of archaeological interest, he said: ‘you will find even in the middle of a jungle, amid the ruins of a monastic complex, a clay lamp that has been recently lit, some wilted flowers and other evidence of intimate religious connectedness.

Tharindu delves beneath the surfaces that he captures with his camera. Recently he asked me about Kuragala and Kurundi. Drawing from what he has taught me, I told Tharindu that Kuragala is ‘living heritage’ and Kurundi is ‘archaeological heritage.’ That said, it occurred to me that when many of the atamastana ruins in Anuradhapura were discovered, they would have fallen into the latter category and later became deserving of the ‘living’ tag. While some may say that it is some kind of cultural invasion or appropriation (for example, Kurundi Viharaya) because it happens to be located in an area which today is almost exclusively the home of non-Buddhists, there’s nothing to say that Buddhists should be barred from venerating a Buddhist temple/monastic complex. That would infringe on religious freedoms.

Such things we discuss.

For all of the above, what really caught my attention in the blurb on the flyer reproduced above, was the quote, 'My photos are for others, not for me. When I hold the camera before my eyes, I forgo a precious opportunity to experience a raw, beautiful moment.’

This is his most admirable quality. Tharindu is a giver, a sharer. He experiences raw and beautiful moments. He knows our island has natural and human-made treasures that cannot be experienced in a single lifetime. He wants to make the most of the time he has. That, clearly, isn’t enough. He is a student of photography, always looking to improve his art, and yet I sense that the primary compulsion is to capture and share.

Tharindu is amazed by the photography of fellow wanderers and memory-keepers, to whose work he directs the gaze of his friends. The beauty lies in his transparent love for all that is wonderful in our island and the readiness to experience it all collectively, gathering people through photography, travel and conversations.

I owe Tharindu Amunugama. I owe him for the next best thing to a raw, beautiful moment. The photograph. He has foregone many such moments and pleased many like me. I would wish him much wandering and less memory-keeping because that’s what he deserves. He would, I’m sure, smile, make a joke that is also a philosophical statement. He will not retire his lens because his gaze falls not only on that which is before him but that which is not privileged to be present.

10 September 2023

What a memory-keeping wanderer foregoes

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