At first I wanted to ignore Matara Amma’s letter of 08/08 because she does not have the guts to reveal her true identity and takes cover behind a pseudonym, but decided otherwise. For MA’s information I must mention that several years ago, too, I criticised the giving of postal tuition and making pol sambal and driving three wheelers in a teledrama (TD) but I don’t comment on every TD.

"Batti" may be highly popular but that doesn’t mean that the story is realistic and true to life. It may also have meaning and depth but the story writer has failed to develop it in such a manner as to bring out that meaning and depth.

MA agrees that Damitha’s absence was a drawback for the TD, but defends her absence forgetting that the principal actor/actress can’t run around without completing the job in hand to appear in another TD and five films. The weakness is in the story itself that there is no cohesive theme and the writer keeps on adding, on a regular basis, various incidents that have nothing to do with Batti’s life so that the TD will drag on in the misguided belief that these additions will make the TD more interesting and popular. This betrays the writers’ immaturity and inexperience.

My main complaint was about the distortion of our age-old and long cherished customs and the wrong message given thereby to the viewers and specially to the younger generation. Now there is more to comment on that score. Madhavi brings her cousin Ivan (and a female cousin) to Arty Walawwa, keeps him under the same roof, gets her husband Merryl to do all the menial work for them, and gallivants with Ivan. Is this behaviour on the part of a wife, in keeping with our Sinhala ethos and culture which MA seems to be so proud of and I am supposed to be ignorant of? Merryl later admits that she gave a "farewell umma" to Ivan. Would MA and her son, if any, have tolerated such a daughter-in-law/wife for a single day? Now, could MA tell me who is ignorant of our Sinhala culture - her goodself hailing probably from Matara, or the ignorant writer born and bread in a remote part of the same district?

Both Arty Hamu and Loku Hamine (and Merryl at times) address Adiriyan as tho, musalaya, kalakanniya etc. and never have a good word for him. Adiriyan, in turn, calls the duo all types of names such as alavakaya, alavaki etc., says nodakin mun etc. and criticises and ridicules them in the presence of outsiders. Is this the type of master-servant relationship that existed in Sri Lanka? No, not at all, not even eight decades ago. Does MA approve of this type of language by masters or servants?

Kaluve refuses to hand back his sister Batti (who was in hospital at the time) to her husband. Has MA heard of any "Eka badavela kadagena apu" most loving brother trying to separate his sister from her husband and destroy her life? How realistic is this attempt by Kaluve?

Has MA ever heard of a professional coconut picker who acquired house and property, acres of coconut land, a car and a lorry within such a short time? Only Kaluve could do it. How fantastic!

I am indebted to MA for the kind advice given and wish to tell her that there is no dispute about the need to encourage our artistes or anybody else who bring credit to the country. But we must not get carried away by emotion and sentimentality, but be circumspect, critical, and discerning.

My eleven-year grand daughter tells me that her class/school mates who have watched ‘Batti’ call it a stupid TD.