Arthur Charles Clarke
June 6th, 2008 | by Naimp | Posted in Entertainment |Did anyone really know Arthur C. Clarke?
Such a diverse man with so many interests in the world, space, ocean, people, controversy, knowledge and last but not least imagination.
What an interesting life he lead, Not only was he a great Scientist and a Mentor for many, he also traveled the globe and spoke to many
Universities students spreading his ideas as he roamed across the planet.
But Who was Arthur C. Clarke Really? Born: 1917 Dec. 16, Minehead, UK.Parents: Charles Wright Clarke (Lt. Royal Engineers, Farmer) & Nora Mary (Willis.) Married Marilyn Mayfield 1953; divorced 1964. Lived in Sri Lanka since 1956; First non-citizen to become ‘Resident Guest’ in 1975. Author of 100 books and over 1,000 articles and short stories. Laid To Rest at Borella’s General Cemetery in Colombo, Srilanka on March 19th 2008.Okay everyone knows the details’ they are everywhere! Type in Arthur C. Clarke and hundreds of pages appear with details of his life and death.
I married my husband Mohamed a native of Srilanka in 1987 and as we prepared for our first trip to Srilanka in 1992. We were watching a TV Show and It was narrated by Arthur C. Clarke. I told my husband that I really liked Arthur C. Clarke and that was when my husband told me that Mr. Clarke lived in Srilanka. He then asked me if I would like to meet him? He placed a call to his brother in Srilanka who new Mr. Clarke and the meeting was set. I could not believe that I was going to meet him not only did I get to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth, I was going to meet the infamous Sir Arthur C. Clarke in person.
When we arrived in Srilanka I still had a week to go before being able to go see Mr. Clarke. However Srilanka is a place where everything is serial and there were so many beautiful things to see and places to go so that the time passed swiftly. Talk about living the “National Geographic Dream” this Srilanka was a place of Mystery, Adventure and Beauty! The day finally came and I found myself In Front of Author C. Clarke Home, I was feeling a little nervous and very excited, we were invited in and taken to his office where Mr. Clarke was waiting for us. After being introduced properly Mr. Clarke invited us openly to make ourselves at home and to ask him anything that we would like to know” Boy here I was sitting in front of a man with so much knowledge and I could pick his brain and ask anything I wanted too (I needed to pinch myself at this point). The room was very relaxed and comfortable and you got the feeling right away that you belonged there. So having relaxed and feeling quite at home I asked my first question?
I asked Mr. Clarke Why out of all the places you have been in this world, why did you choose to live in Srilanka? He looked at me and said (Oh My Srilanka why not) it is a place of beauty and the people are full of kindness. They welcome you with open arms they accept you for who you are and love you anyway. A lot of my work now is about Srilanka and I will live out the rest of my life here in this beautiful country (And He did). As he spoke with the others that were with me my husband, my son, my brother in law, my daughter in law, I looked around the room the first thing I noticed was the pictures on the walls. There were pictures of many famous people with Mr. Clarke standing by them and a lot of framed Awards and Honors that he had received also hung on the walls. I noticed all this books that he had behind him on a large bookcase, it was his life’s work displayed everything he had accomplished in his life was in this room. Wow what an honor to be sitting here and talking with him. There was a few pictures that really stood out to me and it was Mr. Clarke with the Presidents of the United States. I thought about how proud he must have been at these particular moments in his life.
I ask him several more questions and we talked for a while he was very Pleasant, Funny, Kind, Amusing, Keen, and his Personality was very likable, he was a unique host and very colorful. But there was also a glimpse of sadness in his eyes that seemed to peer out at me every once in a while and it seemed to haunt him. What was it? What could a man of his accomplishment have to be sad about? Was it loneliness? Regret? Unfinished business? Was there an emptiness in him that a man of his status could not obtain or fill? Were there thing in his life he would have did different if he could do it over again? Had children maybe? Discovered alians? New God? Or made some infamous discovery at the bottom of the ocean? I at that time’ did not know the answer to what I was thinking and to what it was that I saw in his eyes. Maybe it was the fact that we were there to meet the famous Arthur C. Clarke that bothered him.The person he no longer wanted to be’ I Was not sure but what I did learn that day was that Sir Arthur C. Clarke was a normal person that had lived a tremendous life of adventure and accomplishments. However under all of that he was a normal human being with the same needs as the rest of us. But he was also very good at hiding that fact” They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and I believe this to be true, because I seen the sadness in him when I looked into his eyes that day!
My how the time had passed so quickly, It was time to say farewell to this wonderful man and the time that we spent with him. I told him that I was and always had been inspired by his work and that I now Knew that my interest in writing would progress. I also told him that I thought of him as a writer yes, but also and most of all as the greatest narrator that ever lived and I always thought of him as the man behind the voice, and that I would always remember him as just that. He looked a little surprised at my comment then he smiled and said he had a gift for me. He then reached into a box by the side of his desk and he handed me three books, It was his Space Odyssey series and they were signed by him to me on the inside of each of the front covers. I remember trying to hold back the tears in my eyes and I thanked him for taking the time to meet with us and for sharing a part of himself with me, I gave him a hug and said good buy. I new that this would be the first and last time I ever saw sir Arthur C. Clarke
However I left there knowing that he had given me a rare glimpse of himself and that I truly got to see, meet and to know the real man. The real Arthur C. Clark not the famous writer or scientist, not the under sea adventurous and not the famous man in the pictures on the wall. But a man that was gracious and kind, that laughed with us and welcomed us into his home and his life with open arms. He showed me the side of Arthur C. Clarke that the world rarely seen and did not know. As I now Knew the answer to the sadness I had seen in his eyes that day.
I now Knew why he choose to live his life out in Srilanka! (His Srilanka) was a place where everyone is the same and excepted, a place of true belonging. I Knew that this was what he wanted and needed.I don’t know why I Knew that I just did. His Srilanka was a place where he could be Arthur Charles Clarke the man that was born in Minehead, England on December 16th 1917, The man who adopted a country as his own. Here In his Srilanka he could be just the son of Charles and Nora Clarke, Here in his Srilanka he was treated as just one of the members of the community, Normal is what he longed for and is what he found. Here in his Srilanka he could truly be just himself. Here in his Srilanka he could be and just was a normal man that was loved and excepted as there own by the natives of this tropical paradise. Truly Here in his Srilanka he could just be the man behind the voice, “Himself”
By Dee Saibo