"Master Sivalingam": A Genius in Story Telling!

    As children brought up in Batticaloa, we had the privilege of learning life’s greatest morals from one of the best storytellers of this era, and that is none other than "Master Sivalingam." The whole of Batticaloa waits for him, and many Sri Lankans wish to see him. As a famous personality, appearing in television programmes, and many other traditional and religious events, he had a huge amount of fans that were always ready to spend hours listening to the stories and the morals he teaches. He won the prestigious Sahithya Academy Award for Children’s literature for his book Anbu Thantha Parisu. He also has many laurels behind him, a master of all. 

    He usually wears the traditional Tamil dress and that dress was one of the symbols of this famous icon of storytelling. If you could imagine and feel the spirit of celebration whenever he enters a school premises to tell stories, you will understand the immense impact he had on all of us. The whole school will break out of silence and scream at the sight of him (not only the students but also the teachers!). You can see the excitement on everyone’s faces. Everyone loved and adored him.

The moment he appears on the stage, putting his hands together and raising them over his chest, he says “vanakkam marumakkale” (greetings my children), and we all shout in an uproar “vanakkam maamaa”, just like the cubs roaring at the sight of the lioness. This whole custom of greeting him was not just words; it was a song. The greeting had a nice tune, just like going up on a chromatic scale in music. Not only when he is on stage, but also whenever a child gets to see him on the road, the child will shout out in excitement the same words with the same tune. Sir will reply by signalling with his hands his blessings to that child.

"Master Sivalingam" was an expert in speech and drama, and the magical expressions with which he used to describe the characters and incidents can be felt only by those who have seen him live. So hard to express them in words. If he tells stories in a school one day, that night in every child’s home, the parents can listen to the childish versions of his stories. The impact won’t leave for the next few weeks. Some of us took up the challenge of imitating him, but never even reached near his standards. His apple-eating, horse galloping, Majestic laugh, the background music when the thief enters the house (“gneee.. gnooo..), the cry of the fellow bitten by the dog and the old lady who chews and talks, are few of the many outstanding actions which still remain pure and clean in front of our eyes. His every story will end with a moral that we may need to hold on to, throughout our life.

How efficient was he in holding our attention while giving heart attacks once in a while? By the time the fox comes near the rabbit’s house, most of our eyes would be closed in fear. Covering them with our hands, we wait for the fox to finish its raid and leave the rabbit’s house. So scared to open our eyes and see his expressions. Pin-drop silence! Some of us know that the suspense will break out in a bursting sound. We wait with excitement. Then suddenly we hear the sound “bhaaah”, when none of us would have had the tiniest clue, releasing a tidal wave amongst the audience. It will look like the floor under the audience has experienced an earthquake. Most of us had to tap on our chests to clear out the sudden increase in the heartbeat. Sir will deliver a drop of his smile looking at the plight of his audience who are the victims of his art.

I could recall one incident of the mastery of his art. It was the Christmas celebration at the Paediatric Ward at the Teaching Hospital, Batticaloa. We were there to sing Christmas carols for the children and Master Sivalingam was invited to grace the occasion with his stories. The time began, and he started his collection of stories. We as students who have experienced his thrilling blockbusters were aware of the sudden shocks that would surface once in a while. But many of the children, some of the doctors and medical officers who were witnessing his art for the first time, did not have a clue. Interestingly, most of them had their precious cups of iced coffee in their hands. The story went on very well, progressing with its complexities, and the moment finally came where 'the fox comes near the rabbit’s house.' Our warning signals started working, but these poor children and doctors didn’t have a clue of what is going to happen within the next few minutes. They were too enchanted with his magical expressions and they were literally moving with 'the fox into the rabbit's house,' carefully following every detailed description in their own imagination. And, finally, there came the sound, release of the suspense, and we found, not only the children but also some of the doctors and medical officers, spilling their precious cups of coffee in the sudden shock (note: the Chief Guest for the occasion was also one of the victims!). What else do I need to say? 

Apart from his storytelling, he was also a versatile teacher of Tamil Literature. We had the privilege of studying under him during our preparations for the GCE O/L. He taught us Ramayanam. It was the first time we realized that we can really put effort to learn all these archaic Tamil words presented in a poetic style. He made us understand the passages, one by one, making us understand and read between the lines by drawing the incidents in our imagination through his descriptions. We are really thankful to him for the contribution he made to our progress.

Master Sivalingam also made many efforts toward creating a generation of storytellers and actors who would be in such lofty standards. In the library, he always visited the children’s section to update himself with new stories. Such was his immense devotion and flexibility towards his own talent. The greatest of them all was his humility. He showed all of us the magnitude of the impact a person could make on thousands of hearts by nurturing and sharing their natural talents. I hope we would have in our generation, a few personalities who would stand up like him to show society many such important morals of life. I would call him A Diamond in the Necklace of Batticaloa!

You may like to read this too; all about him, I found on the internet.

http://www.batticaloa.com/masiva.htm