The novel, “Gini Pupuru” (The Sparks) by Sarath Samarasekera is a story which can be read and finished in one breath continuously. It is a quite readable story that tempts one to read it over and over again as it is of a wonderful and unusual taste which makes the book un-put-down-able.

 
The author showed his language competence and creativity by publishing his first literary work, the translation of “If You Could See What I Hear” an autobiographical novel by Tom Sullivan, as “Mata Esena De Obata Dekiya heki Nam” in 1999 and his first collection of Short stories as “Hithay Ida” (“Scope in the Mind”) in 2004. After 12 years, he publishes his first novel as “Gini Pupuru” (The Sparks).   The author attempts to present the tragic situation people had to experience in the latter part of the 60s and the early part of the 70s, because of the blunders of the then political leadership, committed through un-farsightedness. The author shows the sympathetic plight a youth falls into, after he was frustrated by falling between two stools, when he is deprived of his higher education and the expected government job because of granting the government jobs on political affiliations disrespecting educational qualifications and the merit.

The protagonist of the story Nandana, is a youth of a poverty-stricken family living in a village, yet he manages to further his higher education under duress and compelling of his mother, with the great expectation of becoming a doctor. Having understood the economic hardships that Nandana’s family is undergoing, his paternal uncle who is an ardent supporter of the ruling party, offers him the possibility of obtaining a teaching post. Due to the expectation of the occupation, Nandana gives up his education since the prevalent circumstances made him stay at the uncle’s farming abode marking time for interviews and etc. Unfortunately, there was a political upheaval and the leftist fraction was chased away from the ruling alliance and Nanndana’s name was included in the list of the leftist Parliamentarian who is the friend of the uncle. The leftist Parliamentarian becomes a powerless puppet and the party organizer of the ruling party becomes the omnipotent political authority of the area and he replaces the old list with his new list. Nandana having been disappointed and fallen between two stools becomes one more farming labourer among the work force of the uncle. At the end the depressed Nandana, decides to avenge himself on the powerful party organizer who had caused injustice to him.  

The author has been able to hold the reader spellbound from the very beginning to the end, presenting the reader with a smoothly flowing story.   The vigour of this novel is greatly due to the style of the language of the author. He shows a wonderful aptitude in the apt usage of the jargon of agricultural folklore and the remote peasantry life. In this way he commands the comprehensive trust of the reader.  

Because of the ability of language usage of the author, he has been able to portray a fantastic cognitive image that a by-stander at a river at a moonlit night can witness.   The metaphors and images used by the author is innovative. The effectiveness of their usage makes a great impact on the reader’s mind.  The author’s attempt has been to foreground the detriments caused to the society because of the nature of the rotten politics. The characters he uses for that purpose are strongly built by the author.  

The story begins with the portrayal of the realistic role of the teacher and the plight of school education under prevalent social system of that time. A live scene is created by the author in which a tutor/teacher who chase after money and the poverty stricken students who cannot find means to meet the day to day essential expenses. Having passed the decade of 70s, today we witness the rapid development of this concept.   

Characterization is a significant feature of the modern fictions. Some present day critics express their views about complex and comprehensive character building. Just because of the live nature of the characters in “Gini Pupuru”, it is apt to say the author has taken a keen interest in the characterization. In order to build the live characters of Nandana, Podi Ralahamy and Kira, their mindsets, traits and personal identities along with their speech styles and idiomatic expressions and so on are well utilized by the author. Thereby the author has been able to protect the identities of the character and the reader will feel that these characters are hanging around with the reader.  
Re-creating of the experience, imaginative strength, usage of the language and broad vision of life are the salient features of an artistic invention. The author of “Gini Pupuru” has been able to present this novel in such a way that the whole narration gets grafted with the readers’ soul. The novel “Gini pupuru” which approaches from pleasure to wisdom consists of deep social and political entities.  
- R.M.Ashokananda, former Asst. Director - Administration of Parliament.