Chai time in Cinnamon gardens by Shankari Chandran

Cinnamon Gardens is a well established nursing home in Sydney. Owned by Sri Lankan Tamil, Maya and her husband, Takir, it is now run by their daughter, Anjaii. Beautifully crafted, the story carries the reader through the stories of the owners, staff and clients at the home. Maya and her Muslim husband fled Sri Lanka during the Civil War in the 80’s, taking over the run down home from an uncle, Cedric. The husband and wife renovated the old house and the nursing home buildings and made the business viable. 

Within the stories are touches of what they saw and suffered in Sri Lanka, where Tamils were being beaten, tortured and killed. When her father was killed and her husband badly beaten, they left for Australia.

Maya’s daughter Anjaii, a psychologist, now runs the home. Her best friend, Nikki a geriatrician, works at the home but is struggling after the death of her daughter.  She and her husband Gareth, have drifted apart, and one night he grabs her causing her to leave. She is involved with Ruben, a worker at the home, whose life in Sri Lanka has left him with horrific scars. Ruben has been beaten again by white youths in the streets near the home. 

Through the author’s cutting back and forth between the 70’s and 80’s Sri Lanka and the current time in Sydney, she is able to draw our focus onto the civil war in Sri Lanka and the racism which occurs in Australia.

When Gareth makes a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, citing the despoiling of a statue of Caption Cook in the nursing home grounds, the resultant publicity spiral out of control. Gareth is seen as a defender of Australia for the Australians, and some take the opportunity to take revenge. Beatings become more regular, graffiti plasters their walls every night, and repercussions seen in the schoolyard as well. 

Right wing jocks, media and politicians attach their names to the rising anti diversity feelings. No longer looking just at the Sri Lankan population in Sydney, the book exposes the hidden racism within our society today. The police only attend when Ruben calls them because of a rape, they take little interest in the graffiti, and dismiss the accounts of the perpetrators. The last few chapters are chilling in their descriptions of the violence sanctified by the government in Sri Lanka against the Tamil population. But at the same time that violence parallels attitudes here, a frightening prospect. 

This is such an intense book, giving the reader a look into the Sri Lankan civil war, and the refugees who came to Australia, focussing on the hurdles they must face before being accepted. The book exposes the racism bubbling beneath the surface in modern Australia and shows that we have not moved far from the days of the White Australia Policy. 

Winner fo the 2023 Miles Franklin Award. Warning: Depictions of violence.

Themes: Racism, White Australia policy, Sri Lanka, Tamils, Civil war, Refugees..

Fran Knight