Who is Motwani and who is Clara? Their daughter Goolbai explains:
by K.S. Sivakumaran
“A North Indian (Kewal born in Arzi, in Sind Province, a few hundred miles from Karachi) / American (Clara born in Lousiville, Kentucky) marriage was an extraordinary event back in the nineteen thirties (in the last century). That such a couple decided to settle in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was even more so.”
They became Lankan citizens and had two daughters, one of them is Goolbai. Her surname is Gunasekera. She has written a book called Chosen Ground. This book of 222 pages is a Vijitha Yapa Publication. There is a picture in the front cover of Lanka’s first Prime Minister and his wife being received by Clara. The back cover has a picture of the mother and the daughter - a beautiful picture of two pretty women in Indian saris. The inside cover picture shows a matured academic –Principal of Asian International School, the author of this semi-biography.
Goolbai Gunasekera, we learn, is the author of several books of History for school children. Yasmine Gooneratne informs that “Clara and Kewal Motwani were two remarkable people whose influence on Sri Lanka’s educational culture resonates today”
What is this book about and why is it important? Goolbai Gunasekera is quick to point out that “Chosen ground is not strictly speaking a biography since events are not always in chronological order While relating of Mother’s Principal ships in various island schools is chronologically done, events sometimes crisscross. Also this is personally realted story and in writing of my family a strong sense of personal identity naturally comes through”
It is important because it relates ‘the life and times of an American woman in Asia’ and also it is about a great educationist in Lanka.
The book has 24 chapters, a Preface, tributes to Mrs Clara Motwani and an Index. There are also 41 black and white photographs of vintage interest, 21 colour photographs of family and other VIPs, and 2 cartoons by the late Collette. So this book is a record of some educational and cultural history in the country. Well informed readers by now would have known that Clara Motwani was the distinguished Principal of a wellknown school in Colombo – Vishaka Vidyalya. From Vishaka, she went to India, her husband’s birth place. He was a Yale University product.
I first read the following chapters: India, In Jaffna, Hindu Ladies’ College and Peninsula Idyll because of my particular interest.
The other chapters are titled: Poor Little Rich Boy, From India to Yale, Growing Up in America, The Beginning of an “Oriental “Experience, The Change Comes in a Hurry, Educating the Misses of Vishaka, Winds of Change at Vishaka, Grace Under Pressure was her Motto, The Bandarawela Experience (The War Years), Musaeus College, Museaus – A Personal View, Dinner with Daddy, Riot over the Diet, Remembered Yesterday, Mother and the Zonta Award, Father, An Unorthodox Heritage (Contemporary Friends), Leisure, The Founding of Buddhist Ladies’ College and Sujatha Vidyalaya, The Pleasure of Reading, A story to Tell. Each is interesting to read.
In Thamilnadu there is a hill resort known as Nilgiri Hills. It is known as Uthakamandalam in Thamil. But the Anglicized name is Ootacamund. It is now called Ooty.
On page 67, the author says: “I was enrolled at the Ooty Convent, and was one of the first four Indian pupils to be accepted by what had, up until now, been a totally British affair. An alumna of the convent was Mrs Angela Kadirgamar (former minister’s wife).She had the enviable reputation of being the school’s beauty.”
In regard to Yaalpaanam (Jaffna), the author says on page 76: “The Thamils of the north and the Sinhalese of the south co-existed in reasonable comfort, peace and quiet despite earlier historical depredations on both sides. Distinguished Thamils were at the forefront of the national movements for Independence, along with other great leaders belonging to the Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher communities.”
“Colombo schools- indeed, schools all over the island, had Thamils studying happily beside the Sinhalese majority island race. Alongside were Parsis, Indians. And the earlier mentioned Muslims and Burghers. This rich mix made up the multi-racial, multi-culture population of Sri Lanaka, and has done so for as long as we remember”
This book gives us valuable information on many matters pertaining to this little island in the past and therefore somewhat of asource book for those who do not know of the contributions that many races have made to the building up of the nation and for them to rethink in broader terms to understand the humanity at large and move away from mono-consciousness.
Contact: sivakumaranks@yahoo.com
