During the latter half of the 1980s, The Island hired a flock of first class journalists. D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Qadri Isamail, Rajpal Abeynaike, Richard de Zoysa- to mention a few names. One day DBSJ introduced me to Sivaram. I had on my desk a Thamil book which was given to be a Thamil scholar from Thamilnadu, Saalai Ilanthirayan. I hadn't even opened the book to read, but Sivaram wanted that book borrowed from me. That was it. He didn't return it to me. Three Day Conference In Hill Capital by K.S.Sivakumaran Not knowing that a Sri Lankan intellectual belonging to the Thamil community had been brutally gunned downed for his candid views on many matters in late evening last Thursday, I boarded a Mahanuwara Intercity express on Friday morning at 5.30 and reached the beautiful lake cosmopolitan town by 8.30 a.m. The purpose of the visit was to attend as a delegate at the Fourth Biennial Conference which took place on April 29, 30 and May 01. The venue was Swiss Residency. But not familiar with the current setting in Mahanuwara, I took a three wheeler to take me to the Swiss Hotel not knowing that there three hotels beginning with the first name Swiss. Realizing my mistake, I took another 'auto vehicle' to go to the right place -thus spending unnecessarily Rs 210.00 to reach the Swiss Residency Hotel. Before I describe what followed, let me take this opportunity to express my condolences on the atrocious murder of Tharaki. The loss of an agile mind Dharmaratnam Sivaram was born in Mattakalappu where yours truly was also born and lived for 11 years (1942-1953). But I had not met him there as he was not born at that time. It was in Colombo that I saw him first. But I didn't know who he was. He was a regular reader at the American center down Flower Road, where I worked at the desk for a short time. Among the many voracious readers were two people who became famous as political commentators in later years. One was Jehan Perera and the other was D. Sivaram. I had no opportunity to speak to them while I was at the desk, but I noticed that both were selective in their readings and picked up books on terrorism and fiction which were of espionage nature. I have seen these two journalists at The Island office in subsequent years when I myself worked for the paper as a deputy features editor. During the latter half of the 1980s, The Island hired a flock of first class journalists. D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Qadri Isamail, Rajpal Abeynaike, Richard de Zoysa- to mention a few names. One day DBSJ introduced me to Sivaram. I had on my desk a Thamil book which was given to be a Thamil scholar from Thamilnadu, Saalai Ilanthirayan. I hadn't even opened the book to read, but Sivaram wanted that book borrowed from me. That was it. He didn't return it to me. The book was full of information based on research studies on the Thamilians. Although his nom de plume Taraki is pronounced by some as Thaaraki, he became one of the Sri Lankan finest and acute analysts of matters military and political climate. His superior knowledge on these matters was really astonishing. But he was a multi-disciplinarian. He offered English as a subject at Peradeniya for his first year but dropped out. He had a love for Thamil literature as well. Although I did not have much opportunity to associate with him, I used to read avidly his columns both in English and Thamil. One may not necessarily agree with him in toto, but it was refreshing to look at things from different angles. His articles in Thamil were projecting an awareness of Thamil nationalism prompted by extreme Sinhala nationalism that was evident to any body. It is a shame that intellectuals are not welcomed by people who have a closed mind with narrow historical understanding. The Theme of the Conference The Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (SLACLLS) held its fourth biennial Conference with the theme: Texts and pretexts: Resistance and complicity in Colonial/ Postcolonial literature. Please do not expect me to write my review for you from the point of view of an academic, because I am not one. I am interested in reporting what had happened or 'transpired' at this conference with my impressions in a lighter vein. Professor Emeritus Ashley Halpe' (a scholar in English, a translator, a teacher, a painter, a poet and an aesthete and Editor of Phoenix, Professor Walter Perera (a don in the English department and a bibliographer, contributor to world encyclopedias and co-editor of Phoenix and with other accomplishments a judge in literary competitions and singing) and Careema Jayaweera (visiting lecturer in English and Linguistics) and of course Brigitte Halpe' were behind this organization. There were about 20 to 25 participants at this conference where much time was devoted to reading of works by some of the participants. There were a few papers read and opinions from the audience were welcomed. Indian Participants Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies was activated some years ago by the late Prof. C.D. Narasimhaiah, a Telugu speaking English scholar attached to the University of Mysore in the Karnataka state in India. He was the pioneer editor of a journal in criticism, ‘The Criterion’ which is published even to this day. In Memorium of Prof. CDN, Prof.A.H. introduced the specific contribution of CDN and said that he brought in Indian Rasa approach to English literary criticism. At the formal opening the Indian High Commissioner, poet Nirupama Rao couldn't make it to be present, but her deputy stationed in Mahanuwara, Pillai graced the occasion. Prof CDN's son Prof.Srinath was one of the delegates from India. There were also Keki Daruwala, a Farsi poet writing excellent poetry in English and two young women - English teachers in the universities at Shantiniketan, in northern India and Paandicherry in southern India. They were all enriching the conference with their deep analysis. The names of the Indian women were Kalpana Rao and Debarati Bandopadhyay. The papers presented by them were "The Menace of Theory" by CN Srinath, " Text and the polemics of representation" by Kalpana Rao (a Kannada speaking English scholar teaching in French speaking Paandichery in southern India adjacent to Thamilnadu) and Margaret Atwood's World : "Resistance, Reactionaries and the Complicity of History" by Bengali speaking English scholar, Debarati Bandopadhyay. I liked and gathered new knowledge in listening to their respective papers. Lankan Contribution Trilingual Careema Jayaweera read two papers: "Fundamentalism or Traditional Islam," which provoked discussion and so was her innovative " Switching: A Meaning Marking Device". Carl Muller read or rather spoke in his inimitable style, "Shane Joseph's" Redemption in Paradise": The Many Faceted-Aspects of Postcolonial Literatures" Rajapal Abeyanaike was to read his paper, "The Anything and Nothing of Sri Lankan Writing". He couldn't come for obvious reasons: His friend, Taraki had been gunned down in Colombo. Last Sunday Times, where he works for now, had two moving pieces on Taraki. Two of our leading male writers of whom I am personally proud of, Tissa Abeysekera and Carl Muller whose recent works I have reviewed in these columns, the new Gratiaen Prize winner Jagath Kumarasinghe ( the other winner in the Goonetileke Prize) Vijita Fernando though invited to read her translation did not turn up for some reason or other, Keki Daruwala, Nimal Sanderatne ( an Economics analyst who writes short stories in English and also publishes books), Jean Arasanayagam (the indefatigable and indomitable poet and fiction writer), Kamala Wijeratne (the unassuming poet with a lot of empathy for the humankind), CN Srinath and Ashley Halpe', Premini Amarasinghe (a radiologist and poet), and Frances Bulathsinhala read`A0 portions of their work. In the open section, Thamilian writer Aiyathurai Santhan's English poem was also read by Premini. Mrs Seneviratne read a poem by her. Had I known early for sure, I could have read myself some of my own creative writing in English. Sandra Fernando, Sumathy Sivamohan, Mrs Senaka Bibile, Ranjit Wijekoon, Walter Perera, Carmen (Head of the English Dept at Peradeniya) and Mrs Seneviratne were some of the others I noticed among the audience. A Play, Readings by Young Writers Association and a film by Sumathy Sivamohan were other features in the programme. I am not reviewing or reporting them in this column. I must say I enjoyed the three days but it was a little strenuous and not widely represented by all the commonwealth countries where English is still a dominant field of study and research.