An Audience with Ashok Ferry

Ashok Ferrey is the author of five books, all of them nominated for either Sri Lanka’s Gratiaen Prize or its State Literary Award. By day he is a personal trainer. The final episode of Season 1 and Dee talks to Ashok Ferry about his multifaceted life, including his experiences studying at Oxford University, attending a Benedictine monastery in Sussex, his journey as a property developer in the UK and his role in founding the Galle and Ceylon Literary Festivals. Ashok shares insights into his life and his unique creative process. They discuss the cultural richness of Sri Lanka, its emerging creative talents, and the emotional depths of Ashok's work.

The episode features Ashok reading a personal and moving excerpt from his book 'The Unmarriageable Man', encapsulating the profound themes in his writing beyond the satire and humour.

PODCAST LINKS Spotify here / Apple here

'The Unmarriageable Man'

'At his father’s funeral in Colombo, young Sanjay de Silva is approached by an elderly matron with some advice: ‘You will of course now think of going abroad,’ she informs him. (Abroad is that great white shark swimming out there, the one that every good Sri Lankan dreams of being swallowed by) Heeding her words, Sanjay travels to London.

London 1980. It’s the start of the glorious blue-rinsed Thatcher Years, when every girl looks like Princess Diana though not every boy looks like Prince Charles. Here Sanjay meets Janine, old enough to be his mother – a hooker of the very highest class with Royal connections,according to the outraged Lankans of London.

Managing to buy an old wreck of a house Sanjay succeeds in converting it into two flats. But all is not well with that house. At night there are voices . . .

This is the story of South London’s very first Asian builder – who developed and sold 84 flats in the city, miraculously cashing in his chips just before the crash of 1988. But at its heart it is about grief: how each of us copes with it in our own inimitable way. Because as Sanjay is about to find out, ‘grief is only the transmutation of love, of the very same chemical composition – liquid, undistilled – the one inevitably turning to the other like ice to water.’

Ashok Ferrey Reading for Kalukanda House

During lockdown, I asked Ashok to read for us from one of his books. He is a writer well known for his wit and social comedy, and here he reads an excerpt from his book, 'Serendipity' for us.

The Reading

Video link

Ashok's book Serendipity gives us an insight into Sri Lankan society through a different lens. It is about a young female barrister living in London in the 80's, half Tamil and half Sinhalese, and newly responsible for her family's share of an inheritance in Sri Lanka. She heads back via a number of different characters in London and Sri Lanka, has a few sexual encounters along the way and is determined to be independant and achieve her ambitions even if it means flouting her family's wishes.

It seems like a run of the mill occurrence, but when you imagine this story was set in the early 1980's when a Civil War was breaking out and the cultural contrasts between Sri Lankan and Western attitudes to relationships, especially when the main character is an independant young woman, the story takes on a different flavour.

This is a clever satire cleverly disguised as a light and fluffy story. It gives a tongue in cheek account of Sri Lankan society of the 80's and 90's.

This is a slightly alternative travel guide, one that makes you think more about the people in the context of the landscape instead of the other way around.

You can find all of Ashok's books on Amazon and follow him on his facebook page here https://m.facebook.com/ashokferrey/