Stories from the war front: Author Mike Masilamani pens award-winning book

It is often said that every war is a war against children. Mike Masilamani’s recent book The Boy Who Speaks in Numbers, published by Tara Books in Chennai, traces such accounts of the effect of conflict and war on children through a dark satire. This telling tale has also been chosen as the Honor Book at the South Asia Book Award for children’s and young adult literature. In a recent interview with DC, Mike tells us about penning this award-winning story...

“The idea for the book started as a short story for a children’s magazine but refused to stop there. The more bizarre the events in my country Sri Lanka were (especially during the war), the more it fed my story. My children were my initial audience and my biggest critics,” says Mike on the ideation of the book.

The author spent his childhood in Chennai and then in Colombo. He took to the shoes of a writer from being a  copywriter  and he says, “Both the professions come down to storytelling. You never set out to be an author; just to tell a good story — in my case to my children Kethaki and Mandeep.” He remembers his time in Chennai to be quite picturesque.

My days in Chennai were quite idyllic. I was lucky to get involved in Loyola Amateur Dramatics. It helped overcome my disenchantment with Economics as my chosen field of studies and minor setbacks such as getting chucked out of the hostel at Loyola. Some of my best friends to this day are Loyolites!” Mike recollects.

Mike says it is important that tales on war and political unrest be narrated to children — “Children are some of the most important observers in times of war and they are not easily taken in by the lies we adults are willing to contend with. It was a child who pointed out to the emperor that he wasn’t wearing any clothes! (in the story by Hans Christian Anderson). Children are an important audience for the influence they exert on us adults to be less hypocritical.”

His life in Colombo during the time of the civil war is what gave him a different viewpoint on the war, he says. “I had a relatively privileged childhood in Colombo — especially in comparison to children in the northern parts of Sri Lanka. To me the war was far away. The best part of  living in Colombo was growing up with Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslims and Burgers as close friends. It gave me a different perspective on the conflict,” Mike concedes.

As a child, the author read lots of books by Enid Blyton and The Adventures of Tintin, and he continues to read children’s books. “My favourite author would be Neil Gaiman,” Mike adds. Mike’s next book The Story of Stories will also parallel with his life, tracing the life of Gunadhaya, a poet and his fall from grace, he signs off.