A Cinderella ON A MISSION By Priyanwada Perera
How often do you see a little child reading a newspaper bigger than her? That cute picture of a child, barely able to hold the newspaper open, yet deeply engrossed in the paper that you doubt whether she is actually reading? That is what Aruni Kalupahana looked like as a child. Kalupahana had stacks and stacks of story books. Her mother had bought tons of those. Of course, her mother knew the importance of the books. Yet, little did the mother know what kind of a transformation was taking place in the mind of her little girl. That was where the love for storytelling started.
Kalupahana grew up with characters from books, fascinating mental pictures, imagination running wild.
Her thirst for words would not let her stay at reading story books. As soon as she learnt to write, she came up with her ‘story books’. Her little stories were about four or five pages long. The writer that is inside her, is fuelled further.
Kalupahana attended Holy Family Convent, Wennappuwa and by the time she reache Grade 7, she joined Lionel Ranwala Foundation. This exposure took her one step further. On one level her work got published in newspapers. On the other, she became a performer. “Being a part of the school Media Unit was a tuning point in my life. Then, I got chosen to be in the Editorial Team of the school magazine – Wibhawa. This was also done by the Media Unit. In Grade 11, I became the Editor of the magazine. All of this was taking me in a certain path.” Kalupahana reminisced. When a girl is recognized for her talents, the sky becomes her limit. Not only did she start the school Photography Unit, but stayed in charge of the unit from Grade 9 to Grade 13. No matter what other things she took part in, her love for writing and storytelling remained firm.
Very early in life she recognized her passion. Who else would think of doing a 16 paged newspaper in Grade 7, all on her own? I named it Top-son-Top. I would do it during the holiday month and bring it to school when school started.” She may never have known these were the baby steps of executing her dream one day.
However, much to the surprise of her teachers and peers, Kalupahana chose the Bio stream for her Advanced Level exam, instead of opting for Arts subjects; that opened up new avenues for her. She becomes a part of the Editorial Team of the Bio Magazine, Widhumuthu, done by the school and went on to write the theme song of their Biology Section. “It was a beautiful feeling to have them put a tune to my lyrics. It gave me goose bumps to hear my own batch mates and friends singing my song on stage.” she let her thoughts drift to the past.
Kalupahana followed a Radio and Television Announcing course at the Institute of Media and Performing Arts in 2011.
It was her Advanced Level project that came out as her first book of poetry. Kaviya Nuba, Sulaga Se Vith was published in 2013 and Sri Lanka Press Council and Prof. Sunanda Mahendra appreciated her efforts.
While still in school, in 2013 she was into blogging. Life took her exactly where she was hoping to go: to newspapers.
She started her journey at Mawbima as a journalist in 2014 and that took her on a whole new journey. It was in 2015 that Kalupahana’s cousin surprised her by printing a book Kalupahana had written when she was a mere child. Punchi Lily Kumariya or Lily the Little Princess is a story book for children. Kalupahana recelved her Diploma in Photography at the Indranatha Thenuwara Photo Academy in 2017.
In 2017 she moves to Lake House, freelanced at different newspapers. and has been the Chief Editor and Producer for The Colombo Post, “I learned so much, thanks to journalism. I met different people and the sharing of experiences was what icherish most. It is not as if you can do everything in life. You do not get all the opportunities. However the next best thing is getting to meet people from different walks of life. The
experiences they have shared with me have been the rewarding part of this profession. I think these are what nurtured me when it came to my novella.” Kalupahana’s encounters have not been with just ordinary people. “In 2018 I produced a show for The Colombo Post called Life & Art in which I managed to interview Hamid Ismailov, when the Sinhala translation of his book The Dead Lake was launched. I got the chance to produce the programme and improve my skills in video production as well,” she said visibly beaming with pride. Together with her Cousin, Shervon Fernadopulle, Kalupahana launched a website called Shades of Lotus, a website dedicated to providing content such as travel, celebrity news, business and technology innovation in Sri Lanka and India.
It is her travel experiences during her assignments that get transformed into her creative thinking. That comes as her first novel in print.
Rasthiyadukara Cinderella. “I used to travel a lot. I met people at tea estates and heard their stories. Their lives are not similar to our day to day living. It is amazing to hear these from them. The stories make one question as to how little we know of the lives of some of our very own people. Just because we live far away from them, even in this tiny island nation we are so oblivious of what they go through, Kalupahana said.
Wanting to study more about writing, Kalupahana went on to follow a Diploma in Writership and Mass Communication at the University of Jayawardenepura in 2016. She has also followed several other short courses and it is in hope of studying further that she left journalism after five years in the field.
Speaking of her novel Rasthiyadukara Cinderella she said that the true experiences, which were shared with her by the children in the tea estates were absolutely touching. “It enraged me to think that the people who are revered and placed up there on a pedestal are also those who ruin lives of many innocent people. I was very critical about these issues. Most of these were Tamil children, in estates. These are sad stories that we might think of as fictitious. Although nothing has changed for them.” Her eyes shining with tears, she said that she went back and gave the books to those children.
Kalupahana is now doing her research for her next novel. She is also studying and travelling. Along with all that, she has her own youtube channel – Stories by Aruni. “When I was in Grade 8, I remember this senior girl who was blind. She studied using Brail. Once, i got the chance to read out the question paper for her to answer in Brail. This incident made such a great impact on me. This troubled me all my life. That is why I wanted to have an audio book created by me but that did not work out.”Since 2013 I’ve been volunteering at International Movement for Community Development (IMCD) which is a programme that helps school children by building schools. Mv YouTube channel is not just for children. The stories have attractive pictures and they also have sub titles. So that even differently-able children can enjoy it. But it is in its developing stages.
Why does she write, we asked her. ” I think, every writer has her heart’s yearning, the joys, tears and pains which are churning inside her heart. Like that of an oyster’s pearl, all that hardship and pain gets polished into becoming the creative work. That is how I let my soul free.” Kalupahana said dreamily. She is young and soulful. Creative and waiting to embrace the world to know better, to gain more experience about life. In the journey, she would continue to create. Continue to touch lives.
2019 July 14 Sunday – Ceylon Today 📸 – Kahandagamage Sajeewa Chinthaka
