In the sense that writing is to retrieve the past and stop the passing of time, all writing is about loss. It's not nostalgia in the sense of yearning to bring back the past, but recognition of the erosion of things as you live.
— Romesh Gunesekera
The nationalist movement supported Sinhala by suppressing Tamil; there were competing nationalisms. It was a fundamental mistake to make parallel streams in education - or a calculated political gamble. Politicians were playing with it.
Most childhoods are full of anxiety, but that tends to get smoothed over, so you have a sense of nostalgia.
Writing is incredibly important to me as a way of handling the world, understanding how it works.
