One one things

Was in Nuwareliya last weekend, along with half of Colombo. I came across a phenomenon i had never seen before. There’s this big lake in nuwareliya (its probably famous and probably has a fancy name but i just call it the lake) and we went for a spin around midnight and there were about 50 vans parked on the shore and ppl were sleeping in them (well at least i hope so..for hygiene’s sake). Some of the vans had a bit of a music and were hosting mini parties with boys in banians dancing with bottles in hand and girls in frocks looking shy and swaying a bit. The rest of the town was dead hehe actually the only happening thing was a funeral which is hugely ironic. The next day the van phenomenon was alive in daylight. The van’s had migrated to the “pavements” of the main road and the music was on in the vans and the passengers outside, drinking and dancing. There was a group of chaps dancing on the road to some dodgy hindi song, a funny sort of dance really, it resembled running on the spot with arms flaying about as if attacking multiple mosquitoes. But hey im not one to talk, i can’t dance if my life depended on it, im more of the sort who’d sit at the table and pretend to be the drummer or guitarist. Anyway it was all good fun, not the stuff we say in day to day colombo (other than at galle face) Im sure someday the folk of nuwareliya will exact revenge and come to colombo in drones in December and give us a taste of cultured udarata natum.

We stayed in a pukka place, the hill club. Now this is the last sort of place my family goes for holidays. The dress code requires dinner jacket and tie after 7pm!!! My father was keen to go bc his friend invited us and we figured it’s the crowd more than the place that makes a holiday. So off we went, dinner jackets and all. In the end it wasn’t too bad. I can now imagine what it feels like for girls to dress up dolls (and themselves as they get older, then their kids as they get even older) it was quite fun playing dress up! The last time i wore a dinner jacket was in uni..and i HATED it! bloody formal dinners, the scourge of my 3 years. hehe and for the first time inmy life i actually had matching socks! (heh just checked today’s fair, it’s black and dark blue ). But it was fun, i get along well with my parents friends and it was one big party bc everyone in the club knows the other (either royalists in the 1960’s, or golfers or bankers - yes, real working class folk ) it was a totally new experience bc my family hardly ever socializes, we go for our weekly dinner at seeya’s place but thats about it! Also managed to terrify the kids (all of age 10-14) with some classic nuwareliya ghost stories, spiced up bc the poya day, and got along with them fairly well too. It wasn’t the recipe for an ideal holiday, posh place, nobody my age, 4 long days and not much to do in nuwareliya, but it turned out well, guess it all depends on your mindset, i could have easily decided that im not going to have fun and sat in my room and waited, but im glad i decided to keep an open mind.

hehe had another interesting experience while i was there, had my first introduction to a girl by one of those aunties! Now i’ve been teasing my elder brother for ages saying that the next wedding he goes for he’ll be introducedto the bridesmaids and what not, so i felt a bit sheepish that the ball was in the other court. So this aunty (who barelyknows me, she had mistaken me for aiya a short while ago) comes with a girl to where i was sitting with about three 14 year old kids talking about ladies college, and says..

Aunty: “Putha, have you met this girl?”
me: smiling, “No”
girl: smiling, looking exceedingly bored, “Hi”
Me: “How?”
Aunty: to 14 year old boy sitting next to me, “putha move aside and let this akki talk to the aiya”
Aunty: “this is so and so (i honestly cant remember her name! something with M i think), she’s studying in the states.” looking at me, “this is so and so, he’s studying in the UK” (again a blatant show of aunties ignorence, i finished my degree last year, i’ve been in sl for the last year!)

I sat there, ginger beer in hand whilst the girl made herself comfortable, then i waited somemore. So we talked a bit about uni, she does archaeology and it’s a always nice to find a Sri Lankan who didnt do medicine, law, engineering or econ. Then as all Sri Lankan conversations do ours shifted to common friends and happily enough found that my buddy lives in the same apartment complex as she does, and then worked out that she lives in the apartment complex down my road. It wasn’t the most electrifying conversation, she seemed exceptionally bored, and i felt very formal and wasn’t in one of my chatty moods, still embarassed and taken by surprise at the circumstances.
At least i’ll be prepared for the next time an aunty comes and utters the dreaded words, “Puthaaa! have you met so and so?”

Christmas!!! someone has posted the contents of my wallet back to me!! including ID, Licence, CREDIT CARDS (ok fine i cancelled it so not like it was of much use to him) heh and even my sentimental stuff! ohh and my SSC card so i can go swimming today! I’m so relieved at not having to go through the whole process of getting new ID and licence any more. My regard for humanity increased a couple of notches above where it was..it’s not so bad after all.

Off to Nuwaraeliya tomorrow for 4 days and back at work on wednesday with an interesting new assignment..happy vesak all!

It’s another one of those slow days. The Boss (hmm wonder how the word boss came about, don’t know if its short for something) hasn’t called me up since last evening so i don’t have anythign to do. At the end of an ice day i always think ok that was a waste, i must use the free time to improve myself. But no, never happens..spend my time between playing eons of stickcricket (and recording my scores on a spreadsheet table to practice my excel ok not really, i do it bc i’m obsessed with cricket stats even if they’re make believe!), chatting with my friends in england on msn, most of whom are doing exams around this time and so studying late in the night but i disturb them nonetheless with the silly things i say, and just doing random things.

I just got a call from one of the older chaps working here saying that the Indian govt. has decided to categorically go ahead with the Sethusamudram project (SSCP). If our govt. has any sense they will go about making things very difficult for the Indians, or at least trying to. The SSCP is a canal that cuts across adam’s bridge in northern SL and it will allow india’s ships to navigate the Palk Strait. The biggest impact on SL is that 70% of Colombo Port’s activity is made up of Indian feeder cargo that has to circumnavigate SL and therefore stop over in colombo, but with the SSCP in place this circumnavigation becomes redundant and our port will lose 70% of her transactions. In the long run i don’t think there will be much of a problem bc colombo port is anyway moving towards the main line market and the extent of feeder shipping activity in the indian subcontinent will be so great in the future that there will be enough for everyone to share.

Thats one issue, there’s more. The EIA (environmental impact assesment) for the canal was done by a research institute in Nagpur, and it’s basically shite. They haven’t gone into half the detail they ought to and they take little or no account of the environmental impacts on SL which are serious. As it stands the tides between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea circumnavigate Sri Lanka, bc Palk strait is too shallow. But if it is deepened as envisaged in the SSCP there is every likelihood that tides will flow through it and change the entire ecosystem, disrupting fishing in Northern SL as new species will enter the ecosystem affecting fish stocks. It’ll cause sea erosion in the Jaffna peninsula, damaging coastal property. Also changing sea temperatures could affect rain fall and thus agriculture in Northern SL. There are also question marks about the extent of dredged material and how much future dredging is needed. The EIA by Nagpur hasn’t taken ANY of this into account.

All that our govt. has done is to appoint a committee to look into the matter and they’ve met the indians twice and obviously not been very convincing. I don’t think we can expect the indians to not go ahead just bc our fears, but the least we can expect is a joint EIA to get a better idea of the longterm impacts of this project.

ahh bugger it all! just got a rejection for one of my masters applications

Ahh the biggest cock up ever. I lost my wallet last evening and only noticed this morning. I had gone to SSC to swim and i think it must have fallen out of my bag. I noticed later on that i couldn’t find my wallet in the car while i was driving but figured i must have left it at home but this morning when i was about to go to work i couldnt find it. Quickly called HSBC to cancel my credit card and they said it had been used twice last night at a restaurant for Rs. 1400 and Rs. 500. Must have been some kabba who took his friends to celebrate with a bite and a booze. There wasn’t much money in it, around 500 bucks but the biggest losses and my ID and licence and my Dhammapada. Ahh i’m just very pissed off at myself for not being more careful and for not being vigilant about it. I guess its the sort of thing everyone goes through at some point and becomes that much more careful afterwards.

But it could have been a lot worse, at the moment its more guilt and a bit of shame more than anything else that is bothering me. Ugh have to go to cinnamon garden cop shed at 12 to report it, not looking forward to that! hehe ok now im just feeling sorry for myself! need to do some work now.

Spent 20 hours of my 48 hour weekend on the “Podi Menike” chugging up and down Sri Lanka’s mountain ranges. Went with 5 ppl from work, booked 6 sleepers for friday night and we were welcomed at the pitakotuwa station by the stench of stale urine. The train was fascinating, there are 2 bunk beds in each cabin, a small sink and a “toilet” shared between 2 cabins. The carriage is so old that the sign says the fine for pulling the emergency brake is Rs. 20. The ride itself was well, charming, nobody slept till about 3am and when we woke up at 6.30 it was stunning outside. The sunrise over the hilltops was gorgeous and the air was so crisp and cool and the scenery was nothing short of outstanding. It’s easy to forget what a beautiful country we live in, i wish i had a digital camera, could have posted the pics here.

The whole hill country seems to be in a different era, somewhere in the late 1940’s early ’50s or so. Everything feels so colonial, heh ok not that i know but i can imagine. The stations are so old and have that colonial architectural touch. We eventually got to Bandarawela around 8 in the morning and made our way to Bandarawela Hotel. Now this place is a story on its own, it’s made for 65 year old nostalgic european tourists who wish they still ruled the downtrodden natives! The reception guy was wearing suspenders!!! I choked as soon as i saw him but managed to suppress it and turn it into a cough. The location is nice as are the rooms but the food was not flash by any stretch of the imagination. I’m a very rice and curry boy but i don’t mind nice western food at all, but problem with this place is that the rice and curry is soo bland and the western food is umm poorly done and tasteless. I guess there’s still a lingering feel of colonial hangover, pandering to the europeans in any way possible. Sri Lankans bend over backwards for white skin, be it a hotel waiter or a man on the street. But hell to an extent even i’m like that, if i read a paper by someone with a Western name it instinctively carries more weight than a Singh or a Sen (except Amartya). I’m sure that even when Wimal Weerawansa meets suddas he has that apologetic smile on his face.

We started the return leg disastrously. We had just set off from B’wela station when we heard shouts of “ho ho koachchiya nawaththanna!” to see a man had tried to jump onto the train after it started moving and had fallen in between the platform and the train and got hit by the train :S He had a large split across his skull but was conscious and was able to move. We were all in shock for a long time but were really thankful that he survived. Again the scenery from the observation car was breathtaking and you dont really feel the 10 or so hour journey until you get into bed in the night when you realise how tired you are.

This morning on one of Shaq’s YES FM’s morning polls he asked what are the most overrated things, and one answer was “Sri Lanka by Sri Lankans”, and i thought to myself thats not quite true, in which other country do you find within such a small area the most breathtaking mountains, gorgeous beaches, fantastic wildlife and ancient architecture? Can’t think of too many.

heh it’s my second free day in a row! Le boss is still not back, I think he’s gone abroad again, he seemed preoccupied when he said he’s not going to be around for 2 days. But i’m off to bandarawela today! some fellows from office and i try to go out of town at least once in 3 months. So far since i joined we’ve been to yala (stayed at Patalangala on december 14th :S) and white water rafting. Today we’re doing a more cushy trip to bandarawela by train. I have no idea what to expect bc the last time i was on a train i was 8 years old and was too excited to notice things like hygiene, dodgy insects, urine infested walls etc.

The other day two of us went to the station to reserve the tickets and i was in the queue leaning against the wall when i thought, “bugger, how many ppl would have taken a piss against this wall after a 7 hour train journey?” not a pleasant thought.

So we’re leaving tonight, friday the 13th and all that on the small gem..Podi Menike night mail. It’ll be a bit of a whirlwind trip bc we arrive on saturday morning, and then leave for Colombo on Sunday morning. But so far my trips with this set have been fun, we all get along well and laugh a good deal. But it’s not the same as with my school friends, unfortunately most of them want to be doctors so are still in england freezing their asses off if not working them off.

I always miss home a lot whenever i go out (other than to yala), specially my dog, my bed, my music and my routine. I have to go back to england this year to do my masters, its only been one year since i finished my degree but it feels like an age and i’ve got so used to being at home and im going to miss it all a lot. sigh. but then there are some benefits about being there too heehee.

alrite time to head for a swim and then home and packing :S the worst part of any journey! ohh have a safe friday 13th btw!

hmm i didn’t think i’d do this but it might be fun. everyone around is either busy or pretending to be busy so i can’t really voice the nonsense that i like to. anyway this is potentially a nice outlet to get some feedback from other random ppl, make conversation and well just have a bit of fun. i’ve actually got a bit of work to do so if there’s anything interesting to say i’ll probably say it later. ok have to call up that chap at the department of commerce, he’s probably having the 2nd of many cups of tea for the day. speaking of which i haven’t had my first of many cups either but sadly work calls.