Milk Rice

Milk Rice – 9789558897164

Reviewed by Yasmine Gooneratne Every story in the collection has more to it than at first meets the eye. Faith Ratnayake’s story ‘Meetings’, which begins the book, seems at first reading to be about Raju’s disappointment when the colourful kite he has built – the joy of his life – gets tangled up in telephone wires and soaked in a downpour, so that it has to be abandoned. In fact, however, the tale ends on a note of cheerful optimism, as the narrator Rohan – a boy of Raju’s own age, from a much more affluent home – learns from his new-found friend a timely lesson about resourcefulness and the true value of possessions: “We stepped back along the path to look at the kite again. I couldn’t help noticing how the gloomy blue thunderclouds showed up its brilliant yellow. Raju folded his thin arms across his chest. I couldn’t believe how cheerful he was. I felt ashamed, remembering the awful fuss I made the first time my bicycle tyre got a puncture. “Can’t help it,” he said with a cheery smile. “Let it be, I can make another one. My mother will manage to get me the materials. It’s worth it.” He grinned cheekily, said cheerio, and ran as the raindrops crashed to the ground. “Where do you live?” I called after him, meaning to be polite, but he had gone.”