Sri Lanka of yore held unalloyed charm
Betty Kuriyan
AFP(FILES) In this photograph taken on September 8, 2007 Sri Lankan tea pickers work on a plantation in Kandy, some 150 kms north-east of Colombo. The world's biggest tea producers have agreed to bind together in a new organisation designed to raise prices which could hike the cost of a cuppa for consumers, a Sri Lankan minister announced January 23, 2013. AFP PHOTO/Lakruwan WANNIARACHCHI
Sri Lanka, the Emerald Isle of yore, has made multiple transitions in recent decades. But the collage of memories about it from my childhood remains happy and unsullied by time and age.
The island then was a gentle, sun-filled land of upcountry rolling hills and meandering roads of white-washed stupas and incense-filled air; of temples, temple flowers, and lanterns swaying in the balmy air; and of houses in pristine surroundings even if they had only a room or two. The haunting throb of the drums at the Perahara in Kandy fills my ears even now. Memories of Kandy, Colombo, Gampola and Negambo cannot be erased at any time, though grim murder stalked the land in the past few decades.
Gampola, nestling amid hills, where I grew up, was a tranquil little town with steep, sleepy roads and old houses. The pains of growing up were tempered with the untroubled air among the peace-loving Gunawardenes, Fernandos, Alwises, Pelpolas, Kumaraswamys, Selwanyagams, Muthunayagams and Annarajas.
