Weaving tales of little people

He may have started his foray into writing pretty late but judging from Matthew Thomas’ first literary outing, it’s definitely worth the wait, writes INTAN MAIZURA AHMAD KAMAL

“The silver tailed monkey… his tail moving independently as though a precursor for the mechanical pendulum which in later time would tell the time…,
“Rukumani Devi, the court interpreter cum court clerk, cum file caller, cum amicus curiae of the court, cum confidant of the magistrate, cum Amway agent rose, a tinge of white ash smeared on her forehead…”
SUCH wonderful prose. So vivid are the descriptions of the antics in a fictional courtroom in Palong Likit that I’m left chuckling to myself even now, days later, as I sit opposite Matthew Thomas, the 63-year-old author of Tales From The Court And Other Stories, the book that the monkey, and Rukumani Devi, come from.
Thomas, a mild-mannered retired lawyer, is indeed the consummate storyteller. With his kindly face and gentle demeanour, the soft-spoken Capricorn, clad in sombre browns, is surprisingly anxious about my thoughts on his debut outing. “It’s brilliant,” I tell him and to my surprise, he looks almost grateful.
A voracious reader, Thomas confesses that he’s always enthralled by what people write.
“Life takes on a new meaning when I get hold of a new book,” he says, beaming. “Then I decided that maybe I should try writing something too. I started late, in my late 50s, as I was too busy with my legal practice before.”
The first story he ever wrote was A Wedding And A Funeral, the last tale in the book.
“I sent it to Silverfish Books for publication and they published it in their Silverfish Writing Series,” continues Thomas. “In fact, Raman (Silverfish owner Raman Krishnan) liked it and put it in the best of the 25 best stories for the last five years. That was really nice.”
His kindly eyes shining behind his glasses, he adds: “Then I asked him whether I could write more stories. I wrote all the other 12 stories within a span of two years because I was still quite busy with my legal work. My stories go way back (I’m quite an old man, you see) to the early 60s and throughout the spectrum of the period, to the 70s.”
His cleverly-woven tales are inspired by people, or the “little people” as he puts it.
“There’s a story about a fellow who builds castles in the air. There are people like that who talk highly of themselves but actually they’re nobody. But these are the little fellows who make up life, the ones whom we always neglect. My stories are based on the ordinary, simple, non-entities, so to speak.”
Are the stories based on people he’s met in the course of his life?
He smiles and says: “You might come across certain things which might be related to something that’s real but most of them are fiction. I just create. I grew up all over the country and I went overseas quite early to study.
“I picked up a lot of characters there. Even now, when I go to the pub, I observe friends especially when they’ve had a bit too much too drink. They have interesting stories!”
Thomas admits that he’s always had a knack for storytelling, a skill he picked up from his late mother. “She was quite the storyteller,” he says with admiration in his voice. “My mum was a housewife. She wasn’t a very educated woman. She was self-taught. By the time my siblings and I went abroad for our studies, she could write to us in beautiful, good English which she picked up from reading the Straits Times.”
His father was an accounts clerk in the Labour Department but he was constantly busy with work. Life was tough but, says Thomas, his mother was an ambitious woman who made sure all her five children did well.
“There’s a story about my mother in the book where she talks about her life in India. I’ve collated all her stories and put them into one. When she died, I went to visit her hometown in India and there’s a story about that in the book too,” he adds.
Writing has brought so much joy to this amiable lawyer who cites Indian author V.S. Naipaul as one of his favourite writers.
“I enjoy creating and tying the sentences together. If they turn out really nice, I’m thrilled,” he says, eyes sparkling.
“Sometimes it takes a long time to create beautiful language — it all depends on my mood. When I start writing, the first sentence must be correct — otherwise it’s gone. If the sentence is correct then I can go on and on. To write a book, I must know my subject matter deeply. I have to feel for the story. And when I want to write it badly enough, the pen will flow.”
Thomas is definitely not letting the ink dry. He’s already working on his next book, another fiction.
“It’s quite funny,” he confides, chuckling. “It starts with a story about my grandfather. Actually, I don’t even know who my grandfather was so I created one in my mind, a fellow who looked like my father! I did entertain the idea of writing a novel but I don’t think I have the prowess or the capacity or the research for one, so I’ll stick to short stories.”
Tales From The Court And Other Stories will be launched on Sept 6 at Silverfish Books in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.