Serendipity in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has lately been much in the news – and again for the wrong reasons. The ongoing conflict and civil war between the government and the Tamil separatist organisation has over the years given the country a very negative image and has all but prevented the country from attracting tourists and developing its tourism industry. Which is a pity as Sri Lanka is one very interesting country with so much to offer all within the confine of a small island.

In 1978 I spent an 8-day holiday in Sri Lanka with a friend, travelling through many parts of the island. It is one of my most memorable holidays.

We arrived in Colombo and checked into the Galleface Hotel which was a sort of ‘heritage’ hotel in the same light as the Raffles in Singapore, except it had not been properly refurbished then. By tradition we were not given a key to the room and there was always a dhoti-clad attendant outside our room, waiting to open or close our door as we come in or go out, and just be there as some sort of sentinel. I found it strange and a bit unnerving at the time.

The next day we decided to go to Kandy, the cultural and spiritual capital of Sri Lanka . It was a few hours train ride away. But for some reason the train was so full of people your could hardly move in it. People were on the floor and at every available space, even on the roof. An eager-beaver of a young man approached us and explained that Kandy was hosting a grand Perihara (parade) that evening for the inauguration of Sri Lanka’s Second President Julius Richard Jeyawardene. He offered me to be our guide and warned us we would never find our way in all that enormous crowd, what more an accommodation.

We declined but the young man kept himself stuck us. And he as right! When we arrived in Kandy, there was an endless sea of people and it was almost impossible to move around, what more to find our directions. So the young man Hassan, a Sri Lankan Muslim, became our guide.

I had never seen so many people crammed in one place as on that day in Kandy. Of course all the hotels were full but Hassan found us a room in one Mrs. De Silva’s Guest House at a very central location. What a relief. We were warmly welcomed by a most eager (must be a Sri Lankan character) Mrs. De Silva who promptly served us tea and went to great length to explain how Sri Lankan tea should be properly brewed etc. She sadly lamented that in the whole of Kandy she could not find the nail polish Cutex and wished we had brought her some! We were quite amused but entertained by the kindly Mrs. De Silva, who could hardly stop talking.

That evening, Kandy had it’s biggest Perihara ever with some 100 constituencies represented at the parade. An endless precession of decorated elephants, dancers, musicians and acrobats, fire eaters, you name it! It was quite an unforgettable spectacle of colours and sounds. Hassan sneaked us into the VIP stand and being foreigners, no one asked us anything! The parade went on till late into the night and as we went back to the Guest House, what remained on the street were endless miles of elephant’s droppings!

The next day we moved into the elegant Queen’s Hotel, another heritage sort of hotel. It was adorned everywhere with generous bouquets of anturium, a flower I like very much. We stayed on in Kandy for a few days and visited many places and saw many interesting things. Buddhism supposedly originated in Sri Lanka so there were many things to see related to the history of Buddha, including his relic (a tooth) at one of the temples.

Hassan got us a car and a pleasant young driver and thereafter accompanied us to various other important places in Sri Lanka – Sigiriya with its enormous rock with the ancient city atop it, Anaradhapura, Poolonarowa and others. And finally to Galle from which we took an interesting train ride back to Colombo, the train running along the coast, the railway tracks practically suspended above the Indian Ocean. At every stop young boys or girls would get into the coach and sing a very hurried song with an outstretched palm for alms, and quickly jump out as the train moved on. It was hilarious (the way they sang through the song) but sad at the same time. In fact most everywhere we went, children would follow us asking for alms.
On our last evening at the Mount Lavinia Hotel on the beach, I watched a spectacular sunset befitting all the other spectacular sights I saw earlier during my journey through Sri Lanka. At dinner the waiter asked me where I was from and when I told him Malaysia he excitedly pointed to us the dessert menu which offered a specialty, 'Malay Delight'!

It was indeed one of the most interesting and memorable holidays I have ever had. There were hardly any tourists yet despite what the country had to offer. I love the easy pace of our visits and the quaint places we stayed at. But the heat was something else. At every temple we visited, we had to take our shoes off and it was then like walking on a hot plate or a frying pan!

The word “serendipity” meaning 'the faculty of making happy and unexpected discovery by accident' coined by Horace Walpole originated from the original name of Sri Lanka, 'Serendip’ and it described the country aptly. It really has so much to offer and yet the country does not attract visitors as it should with all the problems it has been going through since the civil war started in 1983. I feel lucky to have seen the country before the trouble began.

Even back then, people asked me why I chose Sri Lanka for a holiday. My own family suspected I went there as an extension of pursuing my courses in yoga and meditation! Well it was really my friend’s idea, and what a great experience it was. Thank you dear.

I hope one day Sri Lanka will finally be able to open its door wide and free for the world to see all the beauty and wonders it has to offer.

Note : Where I am here today, thee are some forty thousands Sri Lankan Tamils who came as asylum seekers and have been granted resident status. They have integrated well in the country and are employed in many fields and seem to have gained the trust and confidence of the local people and authority. Their number may be growing with more family reunions and marriages with partners from Sri Lanka taking place .