“The happy children lived in the forest. They were near the equator but did not know it. They knew trees gave them food to eat, medicine to heal, and shade to rest. They knew animals could be friendly and quite talkative when encouraged. They knew that when people stopped breathing, they became spirits. They knew spirits peopling their world visited them in dreams. Their world was mysterious and alive. The children heard stories and heartbeats everywhere.”
The opening paragraph to the first chapter ‘Dreaming’ in Judith Perera’s book, ‘A Trip to the City’, paints a canvas of a time past when humans communed very closely with nature; when the survival of both man and the wilderness were co-dependent. But this is also a story that takes place on the cusp of big changes – compromise for the sake of development – and the hunter-gatherer tribes that dwell in the forests must face these changes that will plunge their lives into utter disarray.
Misadventures
The tale centres on the misadventures of Nili, Kaira, Koba, Kowa and Nagi, children who live together in the forest. The abrupt changes that take place plunge their lives into chaos, kidnapped from their forest home, forced to conform to formal education and behaviour that was deemed “proper”.
As they struggle to survive and fight back, they are faced with seemingly unbeatable forces that will test their courage, strength and love.
Talking to Judith Perera about her inspiration for her tale, she says, “The inspiration really came from teaching students about our early history and trying to help them empathise with how our ancestors may have experienced the changes that came.”
Judith Perera was born in Colombo and lived here till she was eleven. Her family then moved to the United States where she completed her schooling. After getting her PhD in history, she moved back to Sri Lanka a few years ago. “Since then, I’ve been teaching history. I’m currently the Head of History at the British School where I’m attempting to revolutionise the curriculum,” she says.
Future
Talking about future projects with her writing, Judith shares exciting news. ‘A Trip to the City’ is not the last we hear of our group of courageous children. “I’m planning to create a series with these characters to explore epochal changes in history. The next book will focus on what happens after the destruction of the Bronze Age,” explains Judith.
“I continue to be inspired by scholars specialising in social history that focus on the stories and lives of ordinary people. I hope to continue to write and tell stories both in the nonfiction world and through historical fiction genres.”
Judith Perera’s tale is unique and educative and written for children, opening a doorway into the world of the past that reminds us of the words of Dean Kamen: “People take the longest possible paths, digress to numerous dead ends, and make all kinds of mistakes. Then historians come along and write summaries of this messy, nonlinear process and make it appear like a simple, straight line.”
Judith Perera takes the time to highlight the paths less spoken about, bringing alive a side of human history that historians usually ignore. And this is the best way of recounting history; relating it in.