Settling into Sri Lanka

With two weeks under my sarong here in Sri Lanka, I am settling in quite nicely. Well enough, apparently, to have absorbed the sluggish nature resulting from the potent heat of Colombo. It's about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but with the sun and the humid beach air, the heat feels like I am sporting a dewy, wool sweater in a sauna. And to think it's gonna get worse in my three months here, with April being the hottest month of the year! The climate of Sri Lanka is definitely one of the first senses to be overwhelmed...others to come shortly thereafter.

Before I post photos directly on the blog, you can visit this website and view my Facebook photos without signing in as a member, I hope.

Since landing, my Sri Lanka home base has been at the Majeed home in the Colombo suburb of Ratmalana, just south of the city proper and a bit inland from the beachfront. Imaad and his younger brother Sharkir are my most gracious hosts here, having welcomed me into their family's home as a "machung" or good friend. I met Imaad through Susantha, or "Susa", a dear friend of mine from my last trip to Sri Lanka in 2009. Susa arranged for me to stay here in the Majeed household, providing me a true and ideal set-up for my time here.

The Majeed family is pretty open to the West; the family has been involved in politics for two generations and they speak mostly English at home (much like many of my friends here), and many of the four kids were educated in Western schools. Imaad's father is a district politician in the family's hometown of Samanthurai, located on the other side of the country in the largely Tamil-dominated Eastern province. As such, his family, including his maternal grandfather who was himself a successful politician, is primarily located out east, leaving this spacious home unoccupied for most of the year. The home has gardens in the front and back, and provides a relaxing home base and kitchen from which to explore Colombo, the rest of the country, and Sri Lankan cooking. We even have a cat, a tiny black stray that the brothers adopted last year. His name, "!xchte", is more a click language sound than a word.

I have enjoyed reading some of the Majeed family's household literature, covering topics like "Performing the Hajj" (the Muslim pilgrimage) and "An Introduction to Sri Lankan Parliament", as well as the novels, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai, and Colombo by Carl Muller. I have sought out more novels written by the latter authors from a local used book store, as I have consumed their works voraciously since arriving and would highly recommend them to anyone interested in Colombo or Sri Lankan culture. This great reading material, combined with regular outings by bus and three-wheeler (or tri-shaw) to the shops, the market, the beach, temples of all sorts, and various Colombo sights and attractions, have allowed me to better absorb the pace of actually living here versus visiting here.

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka and home to about 650,000 people. Colombo itself is divided into 15 neighborhoods, all of which I am exploring with great distinction. They really showcase the diversity of this city and this country. Sri Lanka was occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British, finally gaining independence in 1948. Sri Lankans are mostly Buddhist, with a large percentage of the remaining population being Hindu Tamils and Muslims, followed in numbers by a small community of Christians. The scene in Colombo is quite typical of a South Asian capital city, full of class differences and the inequalities that brings in housing, education, transportation, food choices, health care access, job opportunities, etc., with extremes of modern and ancient, opulent and destitute, sacred and vilified often next door to one another. There is always something to witness and learn in such places where the mundane can be both inspiring and completely inhumane.

Some of the most notable sights and experiences in Colombo have been:

1. Gangaramaya Perahera, two nights of traditional dancing, music, and elephant parading through the Fort district of Colombo to the Gangaramaya Buddhist Temple. Imagine a Buddhist Mummers Parade with sari-clad ladies playing sticks to the rhythm of fire dancers and sequined elephants--as opposed to tipsy Philadelphians in feathers trying to be animals while playing instruments. We lined up along the roads and watched the procession for hours. I even got to try Sri Lanka cotton candy, called bombay muttai.

2. Talking politics with Naoshaad Majeed, the father and very part time resident of the household where I live. A former Member of Parliament with the United National Party, Naoshaad has traveled around the world, studying past conflicts to help him better understand Sri Lanka's own civil war, a war that gripped the nation for nearly 30 years, claiming the lives of ~70,000 people. Naoshaad eventually came to realize that every local problem needs a local solution, so began cultivating Sri Lanka's 'peace process' domestically. He is a very interesting and approachable man, much like his sons, and I look forward to speaking with him at greater length when we visit him in his home district, out east, in a week or so.

3. Listening to Imaad and his friends play original and cover music, harmonizing together with their guitars and percussive beats. Imaad is also a poet and blogger. Click HERE to learn more about Imaad and his recent music. I think you can also look him up on Wordpress blog site under St. Fallen.

4. Running errands, hanging with locals, and becoming better acquainted with people, places, and neighborhoods. Learning a couple more Sinhalese phrases to illicit more smiles from locals, impressing them beyond belief that I am trying to speak their primary language (Sri Lanka has three official languages, Sinhalese, aka Sinhala, Tamil and English).

5. Trying to understand the game of cricket by watching match after bloody match of the 2011 World Cup, which is presently hosted here in Sri Lanka and across the way in India. Let's just say arrack, a local coconut spirit, mixed with Elephant Ginger Beer, makes Holly a much more willing student.

6. Buying fresh, local ingredients to prepare curries, curd fruit smoothies, fried rice dishes, and the perfect cup of Ceylon tea (often with ginger and a ton of sugar). Just like we have many kinds of apples and mushrooms in Pennsylvania, so do Sri Lankans have a variety of their own homegrown specialties, including coconuts, bananas, curry spices, and cookies, of course. My home here is right down the road from one of Sri Lanka's most famous cookie and biscuit companies, called Maliban. I originally pronounced it like it rhymed with Taliban, and now everyone here makes fun of me and calls it the Taliban cookie factory. Mmmm, it smells so good here somedays when the wind is just right and the baking is on!


I really enjoy making simple observations through daily living in Ratmalana. Ratmalana is a middle class suburb of Colombo and is about a forty-five minutes' bus ride from the big city. The Colombo domestic airport is located a couple miles away and the Air Force headquarters is even closer. We hear the helicopters, stunt and fighter planes fly by from time to time, as the Air Force is about to celebrate their 60th Anniversary with a giant week-long spectacle for the public. The local streets are decorated in colorful flags for the event, with Christmas-like lights hung along the fortified cinder block compound, lights adorning barbed wire walls, and a banner across the thoroughfare, occasionally bringing all traffic to a stop given its low clearance.

This amusing traffic hold up has made me stop and stare on multiple occasions in the last week, as all forms of transport clamor to escape the burgeoning tide of exhaust fumes, the cacophony of horns, and the flaring impatience at the Air Force's oversight of this poorly situated banner. Perhaps they are so accustomed to being in the air, that they forget the clearance height required by land travel. However civilized a society, all rules of good conduct break away when it comes to driving...especially in Asia, where traffic rules are far more suggested and organic, with each bus, three-wheeler, motorcycle, pedestrian and meandering cow left to its own devices and laws of gravity, producing one of the most miraculous, and largely accident-free, ebb and flow dynamics of modern times. It truly is a lesson in cultivating awareness, because otherwise you're as flat as roti on the road.

I have lots more to share about the daily observations on life here in Sri Lanka, but in this moment, a fresh juice smoothie of avocado, papaya, banana, lime, sugar, and just-delivered-by-bicycle curd calls... thankfully without the sonic boom entrails of the jet that just underlined the haze above our heads.

Next week, I'll tell you about my recent trip to the Hill Country, where the famous Ceylon tea is grown. In the meantime, my thoughts go out to those insisting on justice throughout the Middle East. Inshallah, they will get it peacefully and genuinely.

Egypt's Revolution will be Televised

Ayubowan and Salaam Alykum, friends!

I am writing from hot and sunny Colombo, Sri Lanka, on a Poya Day, the full moon holiday that Sri Lankans observe 13 times a year. May God/Allah, Lord Buddha, Shiva, Krishna and Ganesh...all bless this nation that celebrates more holidays than any other country on Earth. Yesterday, we observed the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, so that's two holidays back to back, shortly before a weekend. Not bad.

Just to update you on my previous trip to Egypt, it was oddly uneventful considering my family and I were in the midst of a nation's social uprising. My mother, brother and I left for Egypt on January 27, just two days after the protests began in Cairo. Once we arrived in Hurghada, a resort town on the Red Sea known as the Red Sea Riviera, our factual and feisty Egyptian tour director, Karima, began to get nervous about the likelihood of us moving forward, meaning northwards, to the big sights we were in Egypt to see. We had originally been scheduled to stay at the resort for two nights, but that figure turned into 5 nights, as all historic sites began closing and a cessation of normal life had eclipsed the country. Karima said she was working on securing our group on the next flight out of Hurghada, and subsequently, the next flight out of Cairo. Through her tireless logistical nightmares, she confessed to us: "Though I love my job and wished to have shared with you the sites of Egypt that I love, my desire is to be counted among my people in Tahrir Square and have my voice be heard."

So, we certainly made the best of it, relaxing on the beach, snorkeling, and enjoying the view of the Red Sea and the desert mountains just to the south. We watched BBC and CNN like junkies from our hotel rooms; even though we were in Egypt, we had no real way of getting information except the television. I would ask the waiters, the gift shop employees, and especially our outspoken tour guide and Egyptologist--what is your take on the masses gathered in Tahrir Square and the message of reform that they carry? Overwhelmingly, people echoed the sentiments of those in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria, demanding that Mubarak must go.

By the time Karima could swindle any tentative seats on any outgoing flights available, we spent an entire day getting to Cairo through several domestic flights, and left for New York the next morning. The Cairo International Airport was a zoo: frantic Egyptian families with many belongings waiting in long lines alongside frusterated tourists with almost the same amount of luggage. We left on the last day of the evacuation of foreigners, February 2, with Katie Couric leading the charge home from her 1st Class seat on our flight.

I am happy to report that as of February 11, this is history in the making and the calls of the people have been heard. President Mubarak has resigned and thus a new era has begun! I just hope that Egypt's people will elect someone who can fulfill their needs--the human needs we all have.