Siva Sivaraj

*PRISONER #1056 By Roy Ratnavel* Reading this book as a Sri Lankan ‘unapologetic’ Tamil was both an emotional roller coaster and a travel through a nostalgic parallel universe. But, I am determined to give my unbiased feedback/review…. This could have been a stand-alone book on ‘Prisoner to Runner to Executive’, ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ Freedom Struggles’, ‘War and human trauma’, ‘LTTE, were they terrorists or saviours?’, ‘Victim or Fighter’, Curse being a young Tamil widow’, ‘A Father’s relentless determination’ ‘Canada and its future through the lenses of an Immigrant’ or ‘Racism and New Immigrants’. But, how do you intertwine all the above difficult topics into a single book and make it an interesting read? I think Roy succeeded in this by being brutally honest. I am grateful as a reader that he did not waver from this. He opened up his soul, fragilities, weaknesses, failures, internal struggles derived from a brutal war and personal life. How do you overcome an irascible state caused by atrocities inflicted on you? You achieve this by proclivity towards hard work and to meet the needs of the hour. Roy demonstrated this through his collective experiences and determination to succeed, not to attain financial freedom, but to be a contributing citizen in Canada as his Father had envisioned it. My only constructive feedback is that the ‘standardization’ system that the anarchical Sri Lankan government employed to suffocate the Tamil youth could have been highlighted at the beginning of the book. As Roy has had highlighted, his success story, albeit with many emotional backdrops, is an example of a success story of the first-generation Sri Lankan Tamil community worldwide. Page 244, Roy described his success by attaining conviction, courage and confidence. As success is a relative term, this sums up the core message of this extraordinary book. His story is not about being rectitude all the time, but an uplifting success story of the first-generation Tamil community in their respective second homes. When I see you next time, apart from giving you a tight hug, I promise that I will sing “Ninaippathellam Nadanthuvittal” in my terrible voice. That is the ultimate compliment I can give you for your bravery. Cheers, Siva Sivaraj