One Week, One Book - 05

I always had a curiosity to know how the world sees my country. When I was living outside the country and meeting people from Asia, Africa, and many other parts of the world, one question I often asked was:

“Have you heard about Sri Lanka? What do you know about us?”

The answers I received were sometimes interesting, and sometimes completely unexpected. That curiosity pushed me to find books connected to Sri Lanka.

One of those books was the Ram Chandra Series by Amish Tripathi. I decided to start from history because of the Indo–Sri Lankan mythical connection surrounding Lanka and Raavan.

The series consists of four novels:

1. Ram: Scion of Ikshvaku
2. Sita: Warrior of Mithila
3. Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta
4. War of Lanka

What I noticed is that Amish has tried to paint a modern colour onto the ancient epic of the Ramayana. Maybe by giving it the title “Ram Chandra Series,” he gives himself the freedom to move beyond the strict boundaries of the original epic. The first three books mainly focus on Rama, Sita, and Raavan as individuals. While reading, I kept thinking whether the author intentionally wanted to present these epic figures more as human beings rather than only divine figures placed on a pedestal.

At the same time, I can understand why many critics see this series as something challenging to the traditional version of Valmiki’s Ramayana. It reinterprets the mythology through a modern lens.

I’m still only in the first book, and I’m still deciding whether to continue the other three. 😌😌  Somewhere in my mind, I feel like reading the original Valmiki Ramayana might give a deeper understanding of the epic itself rather than reading a modern retelling first.

"History is written by the victor" 

Tharushi
10.05.2026

One Week, One Book - 04

Stepping away from fiction into non-fiction is a different kind of feeling.

Fiction allows us to imagine pain, while non-fiction places it before us without an inch of distance and does not soften reality. That is why I find myself drawn to autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs.

In 'I Am Malala (The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban)', silence is not just a condition instead, it is an expectation, especially for a girl growing up within a deeply conservative space shaped by fear, politics, and rigid control. Yet from within that silence she emerges a voice that cannot be contained. Malala’s courage carries the echoes of histories we have already encountered in literature.

The reader quietly witnesses the transformation. The term “Talib,” once meaning a religious student, shifts into something darker through slow and almost invisible ideological influence. It begins as belief, then gradually hardens into cruelty. It is, ultimately, manipulation.

While reading this book, it was difficult for me to keep my thoughts in one place. They moved from Malala’s Swat Valley to Midnight's Children, to Train to Pakistan, and to Cracking India. Different narratives and different forms that share disturbing reality.

This is a real story of a small but immensely brave girl, not written to entertain us, but to awaken us. 🙂

One of my favorites 👇👇

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me. 

                                                               - Martin Niemoller- 

Tharushi
05.05.2026