SAVE Lanka - Part 2

(I know that the time between my first post in this series and this one would be more than the time for the slowest ant in its journey from Colombo to Kandy itself – hats off to my laziness. But then am all pepped up now to complete my travelogue on Sri Lanka, so here goes…New Readers, please read the first part of this series titled SAVE LANKA written sometime in May this year to make sense of the above confession).

“One veggie combo please which includes two portions of garlic bread, one medium pizza with corn and pineapple topping and the ice cream dessert, and oh of course don’t forget to bring along the drinks as well”. Does this make your mouth water? Well ours did and that too after a day long ordeal in the hot summer sun filled with trekking, scouting, jumbo rides and most importantly sweat (lots of it). As we waited for our food to be served while we peacefully sipped the chilled fizz drink at the Pizza Hut in Kandy, my mind raced back 24 hours when it all started.

Welcome to Kandy – sped past a sign board as we looked out of our 6 seater car (or jeep). It was a Nissan mini truck converted into a family car. As Sang continued her siesta well through the four hours ride, my eyes frantically and curiously darted this way and that enjoying the first scenes of this foreign land. We could easily have mistaken this to be somewhere between Kerala and TamilNadu had it not been for those multi coloured Bajaj auto rickshaws (they are called tucks-tucks there). Yes, they came in multi colours alright – red, cream, green, blue, black even but never yellow (that is the trademark of India), I realised later from our cab driver that the colours dictated the travel fare that one would need to pay – don’t know if I got this correct but think the red ones are the most expensive. Oh and how can I forget our very own gaddis from Ashok Leyland – only that they were baptised as Lanka Ashok Leyland (what a shame – thank God the TATAs were spared of that prefix) and also the Indian Oil petrol bunks were advertised as Lanka Petroleum (man – so much for originality). I then and there decided that I would title my post as “Lanka – The Borrowed Land” but then as always Sang had the upper voice. Everything here appeared borrowed.

We finally arrived at Kandy tired and sleepy and hungry and all that we wanted was some good hot food. The food in the flight had been “so-so” and didn’t suffice in filling us up. After an hour long search for our guest house, partially due to the incomplete address that had been provided on the internet we finally arrived at the gates of “Sharon Inn” (www.hotelsharoninn.com). We had selected this lodging because it was more of a house than a guest house (its got a very residential atmosphere – I think its an old bungalow converted into a guesthouse) and it was located at the right distance from the town, but the main attraction which had won our decision was the fact that it was located on a hilltop and it provided a bird’s eye view of the town.

(View from our room window - the distant lights are from the Tooth temple)

The owner of this guesthouse (one Mr Faiesz Samad) turned out to be an elderly native who had completed his education and initial work life in Germany (incidentally his wife is also a German) and was in all hatred for India and its booming economy. At every instance when we would bump into him he would remind us how Sri Lanka was still a developing country and how everything was so expensive here and that we shouldn’t be hesitant to shell out a few extra rupees when required. Also much to our frustration the Cricket World cup 2007 was on and much to our disappointment we had been ousted even before reaching the Super 8 by a petty country such as Bangladesh, and he didn’t hesitate in reminding us of this every time. But then he was helpful in providing us with directions around Kandy and for our arrangements on the next day.

We checked into a room which I must say was awesome. The view from the window was just as we had been looking forward to. We could see the lake which is at the heart of Kandy and the adjoining Tooth Temple which houses the holy tooth relic of the Lord Buddha.

Without wasting much time, we quickly showered, changed and ordered for a butter toast (which was priced at a freaking 120 SLR) sitting in the common dining room of the guesthouse. We decided that we would walk down to the town and buy some bread, flavoured milk and biscuits to complete our breakfast for the next day (the rates are really quite exorbitant in the guesthouse and we didn’t feel justified in spending so much). After our light snack we walked down the hill and along the lake to reach the town.

We found a departmental store (much like our Food World) and shopped for all that we wanted for the next day. To be quite honest we found that although the currency exchange rate is twice that of our home currency we found that every item was priced almost four times than what it would be in India (this we found out is mainly due to the fact that most of the packed branded food items are imported), to give you an example - a medium loaf of white bread which would cost us about 11 INR back home costs here about 40 SLR, similarly a 300ml bottle of coke which would cost us about 15 INR costs here 70 SLR.

After a brief shopping spree we next started thinking of dinner plans, one option would be to manage with biscuits and chips but then surely it wouldn’t suffice or we could order from the guest house but that would get expensive. We were really not sure if we should be trying out any restaurants as everywhere the sign boards displayed ‘non-veg’ only. We tried looking out for a Pizza Hut sign but in vain. Finally when we had almost given up and had decided to start walking back we noticed a mini-van in the middle of a street with a lot of people crowded around it. We walked closer and much to our delight found that it was a mobile dosa outlet where an elderly gentleman was selling hot home made dosas and idlies. This person recognized our origin and started speaking in Tamil to us and mentioned that he opened his shop everyday at 7 in the evening and that we should come back the next day as well. We immediately delighted his cash box by supplementing his earnings with 150 SLR for about 4 dosas and 4 idlies along with sambhar and chutney. With our dinner secured, we decided to wander around the lake for some time, took a couple of snaps and when the sky lights started to dim decided to make a hasty retreat to our room (the path to the guesthouse is quite spooky and dark).

Before we retired for the day I made a quick dash downstairs to the caretaker and requested him to arrange for a car for the next day’s travel. We planned to visit Dambulla, Sigiriya and Habarana and return back to Kandy by the evening. He agreed to make the arrangements for 5000 SLR. We wolfed down our dinner and after a quick wash I kissed Sangz “good night” and peeped outside into the distant eerie starry night with the temple bells lending a haunting effect dreaming of what to expect the next day.

(Complete address and contact numbers of Sharon Inn – Sharon Inn, c/o Mr Faiesz Samad, 59 – Saranankara Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Landmark – Around Kandy Lake, road adjoining Malwatta Temple.
Contact nos – 081 2222416/446, 081 2201400/401, 0777 804900/806690)

OOF...My Thoughts !!!

I am so lost and confused – don’t know why? There are a million things that are running through my mind now. As I sit here on the banks of the river Thames watching ferry boats scuttle by, I can’t help but let my thoughts race with them and perhaps outdo them.

I don’t know why I am writing all this? I just feel like doing so. The page 1 of this notepad has already got my thoughts sprayed on them – thoughts about what I would like to do for a career. I wonder what is stopping me from going ahead and achieving them et al.

I am convinced that you only have one life to live (human life that is) and definitely one must get around doing all that one likes and wants to do, not specifically to only a career though.

But upon introspection I realise that I am a loser without the guts or the stamina to venture out from my dreamland. I used to reason out this way – what happens on the financial security front? Pursuing all this would definitely imply a time stop to my current job and end my ridiculous career as a Business Analyst. I would feel dead guilty of having to see Sangz slog it out while I just blow up all our (her) hard earned money, what a shame?

Sometimes I am tempted to say that I should have married after having pursued all this and proving a successful career graph with my dream games. But then I believe, I couldn’t have lived without possessing Sangz and besides marriage is not a burden but an enrichment process to one’s journey of evolution. – As they say "The more, the merrier". So why blame it on my marriage? Sangz has already given me the "GO Ahead" in my venture, but then what is stopping me?

Am I lazy? Am I scared? Am I only fit to be a dreamer? What a puzzle? I always keep telling myself that I want to break free, wonder from what? One must savour his dreams, no doubt but then wake up and decide to make his dreams come true – only if he wants to? I feel I am still asleep (or atleast am pretending to be) and dreaming and that I am scared to wake up, scared that I would have to make them come true.

Every time there is an intensity such as this I firm up saying that "I want to" and that "I am going to" but then it doesn’t last and I love to push and postpone my thoughts away. I think I am contradicting the idea that "one must not dream if he doesn’t have the will to make them come true". As they say, one must "dare to dream", but what is wrong if one dreams for the heck of dreaming. Everyone does it, well atleast I do and am still doing it.

I want someone to wake me up and kick me awake with the idea of working towards the transformation, like the alchemist who could transform plain metal to gold, like Midas whose touch could transform (disastrously!) anything to gold, but then who could that someone be? I sometimes think and dream that that someone is ME. If that is true then voila! I just made one dream of mine come true, the first step towards the process of the transformation.

"I still want to" and still think "I am going to" – atleast I hope so…

SAVE Lanka

Sangz came up with this unique title. Originally I had "Sri Lanka - the Borrowed Land" or "Go-Lanka" or some such heading inorder to ensure that bloggers succeed in finding this post while running a search, but these titles were turned down by my better half saying that they were either too bland or maybe flicked from some other website heading. The heading is supposed to be interpreted as either "Save the tourism of Lanka" or "Sangeetha (SA) & Venkat (VE) in Lanka" - Quite a bore I know but nonetheless.

It all started in January 2007. I had just returned from London after a 2 weeks system training session. The only plus point out of that travel was that I got to travel by Lufthansa, not that I am a big fan of that airline. There was a different underlying reason behind it – I had enrolled into the Frequent Flier program of Jet Airways (called Jet Privilege). You get to earn points out of every travel done either on Jet Airways directly or through some partner airline – Lufthansa being one of them. My onward and return trip via Frankfurt saw me earn a good 14000 points into my kitty bag.

After I returned we decided to use those points straightaway in redeeming them for free air tickets. After browsing through their website, came to the conclusion that a trip to SL would be affordable, of course we arrived at that conclusion after comparing prices on other airlines as well. Would like to recommend here that if you are looking for the cheapest air travel to SL then you ought to take Air Sahara – it costs approximately 8000 INR inclusive of taxes for one person both ways. The only flip side to it is that the flight starts and lands (both ways) somewhere around midnight. Although we were successful in getting air tickets out of those points earned we still had to spend around 15000 INR to pay out the air tax as the points are only helpful in substituting for the basic air fare payment.

Once that was settled we next decided to do a bit of homework around SL as we were traveling to a foreign land. Although we had heard that it was like a second Tamil Nadu there was the underlying fear from the LTTE. Incidentally there were news reports of the LTTE having bombed one of the air stations situated close to the International airport in Colombo. This naturally alerted us including our immediate kith and kin, meaning our parents. After a strong undying battle we succeeded in convincing them that nothing would happen (which we sincerely hoped) to us whilst there. Sangz decided to use her net browsing capabilities (I must say she is very good at this) to find out all the information required about SL – places to visit, list of economical hotels, travel, food, etc. After a one month long debate, argument and discussions we finally decided to shake hands and agree on the following itinerary –

Apr 2nd – Arrive at Colombo and proceed to Kandy.
Apr 3rd – Visit Sigiriya, Dambulla and Habarana and return to Kandy.
Apr 4th – Proceed to Dalhousie from Kandy.
Apr 5th – Trek to Adam’s peak and return to base. Then proceed to Nuwara Elliya.
Apr 6th – Sight seeing in Nuwara Elliya.
Apr 7th – Some more sight seeing in Nuwara Elliya.
Apr 8th – Proceed to Colombo.
Apr 9th – Departure from Colombo.

One look at the plan and I am sure that you must be thinking that we are more of the inland type. None of the places mentioned are next to the coastline along a beach. Not that we don’t like the beach but then we have been to so many beaches (including our very own Marina and Eliot’s beach) that we decided to skip the pleasantries of staying next to some sand, surf and sea (I would also have mentioned swimsuits but then my wife is reading).

Well the plan was laid out and the next steps were to finalize on the accommodation and other arrangements like transport. One of the travel experiences that we had in mind was to travel by the SL Railway service on our return journey to Colombo from Nuwara Elliya. The highlight of the rail journey is that it takes a mountainous path through bridges and tunnels enabling one to see the landscape and virgin beauty of SL, through a first class observatory car attached at the end of the train which is more like a compartment with glass walls which enables you to see the entire scenery without any interruptions from the back of the train. The added advantage of traveling by a train in SL is that it is dead cheap when compared to other modes of transport there. But then all good things come with a price, at least this one did. The bookings weren’t open until ten days before the travel date and you really had to use your influence in getting those coveted seats. We understood later that most of the railway officials used their influence in getting seats as a treat for their families and despite our efforts in using some inside help we couldn’t get the tickets. But then we were thankful that it didn’t come through for reasons stated later.

Finally the D-Day arrived. April 2nd (incidentally my bro’s birthday) saw us all excited. Imagine Sangz getting up at 6am – that should explain everything. We had to arrive at the airport at 9:30am exact (3 hours before departure time). Meeting that time did reap us rich rewards. By a stroke of luck our seats were upgraded from Economy (hey don’t think we are poor, just that Jet Airways didn’t have any Business Class seats to offer under that scheme) to Business Class. I nearly did a back flip excited at the experience awaiting us. But as they say – “Pleasure is only an interval between two pains”, our pleasure was only to be short lived. I mean the Business Class travel was superb (but it got over very soon – the flight takes only around 1.5 hrs to reach Colombo) but what was in store for us at Colombo was something that we could have never imagined.

We were carrying with us currency notes in INR expecting to have them changed for LKR (Lanka Rupees). The Thomas & Cook Exchange counterman at Chennai airport said that we could exchange our money at Colombo but then when we arrived at Colombo we realized that INR was simply not the accepted currency anywhere in SL. What a disaster! They only accepted premium currencies like GBP, USD, EUR, CHF, etc for exchange. We almost fell over. We were left penniless in that instant and that too in a foreign land.

We then made hasty inquiries at the exchange counter for any place where they would accept INR. One of the guys seeing our helpless situation said that he knew someone in Colombo who illegally accepted INR. He was in fact even kind enough to write down the address and also gave us directions to reach that place. By stroke of luck I had exactly 19USD with me. Incidentally my Dad who had just returned from his project in Mauritius (another factor which proves that we are not poor) had some USD notes for which he had no use. He had given them to me for my use. Well it did come in use and we happily pocketed the equivalent LKR 1900.00 (the exchange rate then was IUSD = 100LKR) which would help us in affording a bus ride to Colombo and then trying to find for the particular place which at that time appeared as the last hope for our survival in SL for the next 8 days.

We started walking out of the airport and we had to go through a corridor lined up with shops advertising for taxi and hotel service. We decided to make one last frantic attempt and entered the last shop down the corridor. We were greeted by an old man whose face was consoling enough for us to pour out our grievances. He heard us out and his face brightened. He asked us to sit down and walked out of his shop. In a minute he was back with another man by his side. He explained that this man was a business man who used to travel to India and who was in use of INR. God bless him. The businessman asked us how much INR we had and said that he would gladly exchange for twice that sum of LKR (the exchange rate then was 1INR = 2LKR). And that was it – it was rags to riches all in a matter of five minutes, the quickest story ever. What a relief!

We then left the airport and walked towards the coach station to take a bus to Colombo from where we were to change buses to proceed to Kandy. Colombo is around a 45minutes bus ride from the airport and Kandy is around 4hrs from Colombo. This was the route that had been recommended to us but then it was later that we realized that the bus road from Colombo to Kandy passes through the airport which would mean traveling to Colombo was only a waste of time. We did not realize this until our cab driver mentioned it to us. When we reached the coach station, we were the first ones to board the minibus. The minibus wouldn’t start until filled to capacity which would mean another half hour to start. We then decided to splurge and take a taxi.

We returned back to the airport entrance and got ourselves booked into a cab for around 3500LKR. And then in the next 5 minutes we were both neatly tucked in the backseat of a cozy air conditioned cab zooming towards our first destination – Kandy. And before I could put my thoughts together at all that had transpired in the last one hour, I looked sideways only to realize that Sangz had fallen into a deep slumber with her head falling on my shoulders (well Sangz wanted me to mention here that it was I who slept in the car and not she but we all know better !!!). I gladly offered her my shoulder with my thoughts filled with anticipation and excitement about what Kandy had in store for us.

(…to be continued)