Habarana
So I just finished two things for work which have taken up all my time for the last couple months. I cursed and cursed from the time I was assigned bc it really isn’t my thing, but now that it’s over I can’t help feeling a bit sad. The only thing that kept me looking forward to this was the fact that it was to take me out of town, first to Habarana which is a place I haven’t been to in ages and then to Galle, where I go all the time but I’d never shy away from some unawatuna fun.
There was some vehicle going from office but I wanted to take my own car bc that way I could run off and see elephants in the evenings after work, N brought his car along for the same reason. I’ve never driven as far as Habarana before so M insisted she join me to keep me awake. Despite leaving at the ungodly hour of 1pm it was a really really nice drive. Kandy road traffic was a bitch bc there was some significant funeral going on, but once we took the Kurunegala turn off things improved significantly. Whenever I go towards the Dambulla/Habarana/Sigiriya area I really get into the mood when we reach the first of two long shady stretches where vendors sell corn. A long time back when we went on a school trip to Sigiriya the driver of the bus knocked down a chap around there and didn’t stop. We were promptly chased down by the cops and spent the best part of the day at the cop shed where we decided to play some cricket in the garden followed by having some of the dodgiest fish curry I’ve ever eaten. It had me puking the next day while climbing some rock and giving the false impression that I was an underage drinker (shock horror). So anyway M and I stopped to have some corn in one of the little shops, sitting on a bench and marvelling at how fresh and succulent the stuff was compared to what you get in Colombo. I can’t think of any better way to get over driving fatigue, the place is so peaceful and cool because of all the trees, it even smells fresh, and the people are so nice and welcoming as well. Two cobs set us back 20 bucks, which is criminally cheap so we gave them a bit extra whilst trying not to be patronizing.
We chatted away for the entire duration of the journey and only kept quiet when we passed Dambulla town and hit the Dambulla-Habarana road around 5pm, which meant it was elephant spotting time. It doesn’t get much better than cruising on an empty road, shutters down and looking for elephants. Unfortunately we didn’t see any, but there would be plenty more time for that. We finally got to Habarana around 5.30 and soon after the lovely ambarella juice welcome drink, we set about sorting stuff out for the next morning. We had a team of 3 support staff and a couple of researchers along with myself so we got things done pretty efficiently. N suggested we take the cars and go for a spin in the night after dinner to try our luck with roadside pachyderms. Dinner was super at the Village, they did some really nice local vegetables, and with red rice and lake fish you really don’t need anything else. I was quite tired by this time but the thought of driving down Trinco road in search of elephants felt like a shot of espresso, so we were off without a second thought. We were initially due to do this gig in October last year, but with the Habarana bomb blast we had to postpone, and I still remember boss asking me if Habarana would be safe, and my answer was “yeah certainly, as long as you don’t go too far down Trinco road it’ll be fine”..and here I was at 10.30pm driving down Trinco road with 3 colleagues.
My memories of the North Central Province have always been of aridity, heat and bright bright sun. So the night drive towards Trinco was a bit of a pleasant surprise. The air was slightly chilly, crisp and everything felt so fresh. We didn’t have great fortune spotting elephants however, just one fellow on the roadside just past the Habarana railway station. About 25km down the road we decided to turn back, the frequency of bunkers was increasing a bit too fast for our liking. We couldn’t tell if the bunkers were manned or unmanned, but we didn’t want to slow down and find out. It wasn’t late as such so we thought we’d try our luck down Polonnaruwa road after going back towards Habarana town. A short way down the road both cars were flagged down by an army checkpoint. I rolled my shutter down;
Soldier - Mahaththayala kohede yanne?
Me - Api ali balanna yanawa aiye
Soldier - Ali?? meh welawata?
Me - Ow, ada tikak parakku wuna (winning smile)
Soldier - (looking thoroughly confused) ah hari hari, eheth poddak mehey hitiyoth ali methanatath enawa.
M looked at me as if to say let’s stay let’s stay..the soldier’s voice seemed to want us to stay as well. But there were another two people in my car, and 3 in N’s car, and it was a bit too much of a risk, and more responsibility than I wanted to bear in case there was some issue. So I dejectedly told him that we’ll go up the road and come back, the soldier waved us off, and as I looked in the mirror he was watching us go, I felt sad. These are the boys who go first, they’re scared, lonely and would like nothing more than normalcy, they’re as human as any of us, but they are reduced to numbers in the newspapers, reduced to propaganda. We didn’t see any more elephants that night, but the drive was incredibly pleasant. The 4 of us giggled all the way and then turned back when I started to feel the pinch of sleeplessness. We waved at the checkpoint on the way back and they waved back with a grin. We got back to the hotel around midnight, and after a short chat by the lake we decided to call it a night.
The next morning work began, and things went pretty well, except that I was a tad overdressed (!!) so much so that a Mayor called me sir thinking i’m some big fish. I quickly said good morning your Worship, to which he looked even more confused, so I ran off before doing any further damage. It was a long day, and we finished up only around 6.30pm. Evening safari was clearly ruled out, but luckily Mr. D had run into some boys on his dawn walk who had promised a jeep at any time of the night to go see elephants. “Flash light okkomo thiyanawa sir” they enthusiastically assured him, and for Rs. 1750, it sounded like a plan. They were due to meet us at half 7, we had no idea where we were going, but we were all excited and looking forward to some unique fun.
