Connie

I made my first visit to Colombo last week to find a city that has lost its shine through the years of ethnic violence. It survives like an old lady, once gracious and grand and now fallen on hard times. Its people divided; many of its citizens in refugee camps and prisons; its rich resources depleted; its beautiful coastline communities devastated by a tsunami ; its stately old buildings caught in a time warp and neglected.

Two cities, Colombo and Yangoon ( Rangoon), have been reduced from a glorious past to neglect, in my life time. In Yangoon, which I visited three years ago, the poverty is visible and its people longing for better times but pessimistic about their future. Both, Yangoon and Colombo, are capital cities of countries rich in history, culture and resources.

Colombo was the exciting city, definitely Asia’s most developed and affluent city during the 1940s and 50s, even through the 60s. It was then seen as a model of development for newly independent countries such as Singapore.

But now that ethnic tensions have eased somewhat Sri Lankans are beginning to feel more optimistic about the future and there is hope that the city will rise again and become the successful city and country that it once was.
Tourists are slowly returning attracted, as I am, by the natural beauty and rich history of the country. My earliest romantic imagination was stirred by visits of uncles from Colombo who like me in Singapore were a second generation of Indians to settle outside of India. Even as a child I was attracted to names such as Mt. Lavinia, Gall Face, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Anuradhapura, and Ratnapura – there was a romantic ring to them. It took me a long time to get there though. And then I had to regretfully forgo the long 6-hour drive to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya,– a concession I had to make to my aging back and bones!

During this my first visit I caught up with the next generation of relatives who continue to make Sri Lanka their home. I walked the promenade in front of Galle Face Hotel, watched a glorious sunset, had dinner and cocktails at “Sails” fronting the Ocean. I wandered the cobbled streets of the old part of the city, Pettah laid by the Dutch and took the long trip to the Fort of Galle, built by the Portugese in 1589. The Portugese-built fort was destroyed by the Dutch and rebuilt, surrounding it with massive walls that succeeded in keeping away the 2004 tsunami. In this enclosed city many of the buildings that the Dutch built still survive and continue to serve the community.

Bentota

On our way back and 64 Km from Colombo is the town of Bentota. Its special attraction for us was the Lighthouse Hotel, and the Bentota Beach Hotel both designed by the distinguished Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. Here we stopped for lunch on the open terrace, facing a magnificent beach. And here finally I remembered to use my very neglected camera.

Not too far away is ‘Lunuganga’, Bawa’s home and garden, a retreat away from Colombo. The garden, lovingly created over a period for almost fifty years, transformed an ancient rubber estate into a green landscape of gentle slopes and valleys.

Water is an ever-present feature in his buildings either in the inner courtyards, or out in the open landscape. We wondered around the garden and the adjacent buildings, each a carefully balanced space of light and expansiveness which blends naturally into the landscape that surrounds it. The vast landscape and the lake and the islands beyond invites one to linger – which we did while we had afternoon tea on the veranda.

His town house, in contrast, (as it is described online) is an introspective assemblage of courtyards, verandas and loggias, created by knocking together four tiny bungalows. It is a haven of peace, in the middle of the city and now houses a boutique and a café. I, who am more used to the orderliness of Singapore, found a haven of peace and tranquility in this house and café. Lunuganga photo gallery

A Moonstone Mine

The taxi driver, who drove us to Galle, persuaded us to stop at a mine – a moon stone mine at Meetiyagoda and there I missed a photo opportunity which I now very much regret as I write this blog. For the mine turned out to be a hole, the size of a well, from which a man dug out earth and send it up in a bucket, winched up by two men. The earth was then washed and sieved of the fine soil and the rough gem hand picked- all very basic and primitive. Just five men in loin cloth operated the whole mine. The stones are then sent to a building nearby where it is cut, polished and set and transformed into jewelry. My souvenir of that visit is a pair of earrings! A photograph of the men at work would have told the story much better and would most certainly have been cheaper!

There were other highlights during my stay, which were unexpected. Stars, Salman Khan from Bollywood, staying in the same hotel and making the movie “Ready”, offered me the opportunity to witness a movie-making session.

After five days in Colombo I flew back to Chennai. In the flight I was surrounded by a group of young men who I took to be football players. They were young (everybody these days look young to me from my vantage), looked badly in need of a shave and sleep, nothing like the dashing, handsome men I see on TV. Because I discovered to my embarrassment that they were the triumphant Indian Cricket team returning to India from a successful tour.

But not being a fan of either movie stars or cricket the encounter didn’t excite me. Or could it be that youth and glamour no longer glitters nor excites?!