Ampara was a non family station - it was rather far from the political and commercial centre of Colombo. On a good day, with good weather and little traffic on roads, ie, if you depart from Colombo before the morning rush hour, it would take around seven driving hours to reach there. This excludes time for bathroon breaks, rest and breakfast, lunch and tea breaks.
It was more of an adventure than a journey and you had to prepare for it. A late night prior to the journey could be difficult especially if you had a heavy dinner. Bathroom breaks always came after an hours drive at the least. So queasy stomachs and bowels could be very irritating. The UN security appartus tracked the vehicle movement every hour - so inordinate delays and late night travel was frowned upon. The drivers were also under stress - reach home destination before sunset without any overt risks taken. If the vehicle was caught for overspeeding or traffic violation of any kind the UN security apparatus seemed to get a wind of the same immediately. The driver and possibly the passenger was censured making their next journey more complicated with more strictures laid and "dos" and "donts".
So, to take the journey one had to be prepared and observant. There were three routes to Ampara city. The first was a beautiful highland route via Kandy. The route after Kandy - Victoria Falls, Randanigella was beautiful. However, this was a longer route and the rains made the hilly roads slick and difficult to navigate. This was the second best route to take but it had the best views.
The third best route was the Colombo - Dambulla - Ampara route. The traffic between Colombo to Dambulla especially upto Kurunegala was very tight. The two-laned highway did not match the requirements of the traffic and made movement slow. This route was taken by those who could afford the luxury of an overnight halt. Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and Minneriya were the tourist hotspots and there were plenty of hotels, guesthouses.
From an overall perspective, the best route was Colombo-Ratnapura-Ampara route. It was not the shortest but the fastest on account of thin traffic. We passed the City of Gems - "Ratnapura" that are famous for emeralds and sapphires. The famous Sri Lankan Blue Sapphire is from Ratnapura. Ratnapura was the lunch stop if one leaves Colombo early morning. Two famous joints, the first a Muslim one Al Kabeer and the other serving typical Sri Lankan fare curry rice, vegetables, salads and sweets. It was an extensive fare and at around SL 600 a buffet plate was cheap. However, the best was yet to come as we approached the Udawalawe Sanctuary passing over the Udawalawe Lake. As the two lane highway crossed the sanctuary, you could spot elephants on the edge of the sanctuary. The sanctuary edge facing the highway was electrified to prevent the pachyderms to cross over. There were always a group of elephants at the edge just prior to the electric fencing looking for food such as bananas, coconuts, mangoes and corn from passing cars or gawking tourists. Though these elephants were wild, this feeding habit made them amenable to humans. They never breached the electric fencing and we heard no incident of aggressive elephant intent over food passed over.
The overall journey from Colombo was tiring and the long journey with only a single possible over lunch took a toll on our bodies. A seven to eight hour drive even in a Toyota Land Cruiser is not easy. We had however very efficient drivers who seemed to cover these distances nonchantly. Highway driving in Sri Lanka is very different from India. We have real highways covering large distances interspersed with two lanes of district kinds (if not poorer) roads. There are no highways in Sri Lanka just broad two lanes without any medians. The traffic cops are vigilant at places. The upper limit driving speeds on the highway are at a ridiculous 72 km/hr. So if you did cross the speed barrier of 72 km/ hr (which most drivers invariably did) and the traffic cops did their checks using their "speed guns" you would ticketed instantaneously. Two consecutive tickets over a period could haul you in court and have your licence given back only after appearance before the Judge. The whole process worked well and they had designated court time appearances for traffic violations. The whole experience, I believe, like all things Sri Lankan was pleasant with smiling cops and judges at all times. Fines were to be deposited at the nearest post office.
So it took something to work in Ampara. Ampara is a small town with two highly visible clock towers like most Sri Lankan cities. The only claim to fame in Ampara was a garment industry owned by one Mr Daya Gamage. Mr Gamage was the leader of the Opposition from the Eastern Province respresenting UNP. Ranil Wickramasinghe the erstwhile President of Sri Lanka now leads UNP. Apart from being in politics the Gamages - Anoma and Daya were have big business in the Eastern district from garment export, agriculture seeds, sugar mills etc. Their writ ran in Ampara with their influence covering every event in the town. Ampara is a Singhalese town that borders the other Tamil towns in the district and region. As Ampara town in Ampara district was more towards the mainland than the coast. The Singhalese influence was predominant in the western, southern and partially eastern regions of Sri Lanka. Tamil speaking people, both Hindus and Muslims, were located predominantly all through the East Coast up to Jaffna in the North. You could see Ampara was predominantly Singhalese with Buddhist Padogas and the festival of Poson being celebrated in full gusto. Poson marked the day when Buddhism was introduced in Sri Lanka at the 3rd century BC by Mahindra the son of the Indian emperor Ashoka. However, there were strong Muslim and Tamil influences in Ampara. A largish mosque was close to the second clock tower along with a ancient looking Hindu temple facing the Ampara lake. Both these edifices thronged with people at occasions showing that both communities existed close at hand.
When I arrived in Sri Lanka, all UN internationals were put up at a guest house deep in Ampara just by the beach. The place was called Thirukovil. In Tamil Thirukovil literally means "turning temple". Thirukovil is at the heart of the Tamil country of Ampara. It is a small fishing town, that was devastated by the Tsunami. The picture of devastation even exists today with houses that have fallen apart during the Tsunami period. The UN Guest House was rebuilt by the UN internationals. It too was devastated by the Tsunami. It was an erstwhile orphanage and it is believed that most of the kids resident there perished under sea water. The famous Thirukovil temple stood at the edge of the beach. It was supposed to be an ancient Hindu temple but it withstood the damage of the Tsunami rather remarkably. It showed no signe of collapse or effect, but the idols were swept away. The Temple, the beach, the coconut tress and the hymns emanating every morning created a surreal atmosphere. To me this was truly paradise, something one can only dream about. Thirukovil was truly a fishing village, with boats lying carelessly around the beach area. The beach was long and curving and the the waves truly strong. UN had forbidden internationals from swimming in the sea, but the more intrepid especially the Brazilians did not quite follow the order. You could local children and menfolk swimming carelessly but mose women were conservative keeping their sea forays only ankle length.
This is how we lived. A large guesthouse bank at the edge of the beach, surrounded by coconut trees. The rooms were spartan so was the attached bathrooms. A large dining cum TV room cum lounge was at the heart of the guest house. Eight bedrooms all opening to this main dining room. Rooms were allocated on a first cum first basis. I was luckly to get a room at the beginning of the guest house where there was paasage way that led to the kitchen. There was on smaller bungalow not attached but at right angles to the main guesthouse. There were two rooms with attached bathrooms. This was a motley group of people at the UN Project. One Indian (myself), two Afghans - Baz the software developer and Farooqui the project procurement cum co-ordinator. There was a single family - a Brazilian couple who were supposedly married once. Roberto was really a hands on character and very adept at cooking pizzas, pastas and wild boar. His partner Marsha seemed highly energetic strutting purposefully around the guest house during meal times. She loved to bake and cakes were always in the dessert menu in the guest house. However, the centre of her attention was her partner Roberto who she seemed to fuss over quite a lot and also demand equal attention from him. Then came the Philipino crowd - highly verbal given to bouts of laughter at the drop of a penny. They had their idiosyncracities - Marivic the virtual mother hen of the group - garrulous, energetic and given to have strong opinion on certain matters. She virtually took command of the Guest House but was at loggerheads with Marsha who seemed more adept in her management. Her frequent run-ins with the staff especially Thomas the head cook became quite tiring at times. The other two ladies - Ana and Celia were more conservative in their dealings. However, both supported Marivic to the tee (keeping the Philipino sisterhood alive). The two Philipino males were a contrast to the females - Bong and Nonoy. Bong was shy and reclusive and given only to talk having consumed a couple of beers. Nonoy was more loquacious but also guarded at times. Nonoy being slightly polished used Bong as his butt for jokes - especially Bong's several amorous liasions in Philippines and elsewhere. However, both supported Marivic to the hilt especially her run-ins with the Brazilians. Then there was Ali Forohuar. He was of Iranian descent but from the US. Ali seemed to be confused as to where he belonged - he potrayed himself as a liberal Muslim distancing himself fro Baz and Farooqui who demostrated their Afghan identity and customs very strongly. They eschewed any Pork and only had Halal meat brought in from Muslim stores in Ampara. They ensured that the daily five times prayer was judiciously maintained. Whilst both smoked and drank occasionally - Farooqui the senior Afghan regularly admonished Baz on his bad habits. Ali practically laughed at them and held their religious orthodoxy in disdain. As an Iranian American, he believed he was above the other Muslims and regularly taunted and mocked Baz and Farooqui for their old fashioned beliefs. Ali never prayed, smoked and drank and ate pork and wild boar with relish. Non Halal meat never bothered him. Whilst Ali potrayed his modern muslim identity, he also never considered himself a true blue American. His comments on white people were not in good taste even though he was a US citizen. However, Baz and Farooqui never tried to spar with him on his beliefs knowing fully well that they were a minority in their attitude from amongst the whole group of internationals. There was another quaint character there - a hindu from Nepal - Guna Niraula. Guna was regularly the butt of jokes of the guest house. A short wheatish complexioned Nepali was also given to make rather bizzare comments on others. He tried to pursue Marivic only to his deep embarrasment - she questioned his 'size' and 'strength'. This wasn't something she reserved for Niraula's ears only but bellowed out the same at dinner once to roars of laughter from all. Niraula realised his folly only too late. His size and strength thus became a curious if not a topic discussed by all to Niraula's chagrin. Finally, the last character that was part of the motley group was a New Zealander named Frazer. Frazer was large and spoke very quickly in his Kiwi accent. He wasn't understood by anyone. Whilst we did get the context on which he spoke the local staff at the office and guest house were at their wits end. I would regularly get quizzical looking Sri Lankan staff especially drivers requesting me to retranslate what Frazer has spoken of. They did not have the guts to approach him again - he would merely repeat the same instruction with an irritated tone. This would further confuse them. Frazer kept his distance from the rest of the Asians - his food and dress habits were different he would care too hoots to try and change them. He regularly wore a t-shirt and beach shorts with rubber slippers to work. It seems Sri Lanka was more of a holiday destination to him.
This was the composition of motley crowd at the Guest House in Thirukovil. The beach faced our guest house and also we were surrounded by coconut and palm trees. The air was pure and the smell of incense buring from nearby small temples around the guesthouse created a surreal atmosphere. We had a well stocked kitchen with at least two cooks and a cleaner whole time. The office was about half a kilometre away accessed by a sandy beach road skirting the beach. Vehicles were plenty and so were drivers. Therefore commuting from work to home was easy and efficient. East coast of Sri Lanka has essentially two weathers - hot - humid and rainy - humid. There isn't any seasons as seen elsewhere. Nights and early morning was cool owing to the wonderful sea breeze that hit the guest house. We were living at the edge of Thirukovil fishing village. The markets were rudimentary and all provisions necessary for running the guest house came from 40 km away in Ampara city or 10 km away in Kalmunai. The cars were despatched daily for provisions even though it was not necessary. We lived well - all comforts were taken care off within the possible and permissible availabilities in Ampara. Work in office was challenging without being strenuous or tense. However, the most difficult part was adjusting to each other. People came from far-flung corners of the world and thrown in an idyllic background having different cultures, value systems, thoughts, eating habits and religious beliefs. This required extraordinary strength of acceptance and co-operation. Frazer hated Sri Lankan and Indian food but started loving it as time passed. The Afghans realized that all muslims were not orthodox or fundamentalists. They had to tone down their rhetoric. Ali realized that being overly critical on others distanced him from the group. He decided to temper his comments. Niraula realized that he needed to be more circumspect about what he said or felt. His inane quotes held him in poor light. The ones who got away were the Philipinoes - they were a bunch of five and spoke in Tagalog intermingled with pidgin english. It was hard to counter the bunch especially when they were together. However, they were an amiable lot and to get on with them individually was easier than as a group.
The overall journey from Colombo was tiring and the long journey with only a single possible over lunch took a toll on our bodies. A seven to eight hour drive even in a Toyota Land Cruiser is not easy. We had however very efficient drivers who seemed to cover these distances nonchantly. Highway driving in Sri Lanka is very different from India. We have real highways covering large distances interspersed with two lanes of district kinds (if not poorer) roads. There are no highways in Sri Lanka just broad two lanes without any medians. The traffic cops are vigilant at places. The upper limit driving speeds on the highway are at a ridiculous 72 km/hr. So if you did cross the speed barrier of 72 km/ hr (which most drivers invariably did) and the traffic cops did their checks using their "speed guns" you would ticketed instantaneously. Two consecutive tickets over a period could haul you in court and have your licence given back only after appearance before the Judge. The whole process worked well and they had designated court time appearances for traffic violations. The whole experience, I believe, like all things Sri Lankan was pleasant with smiling cops and judges at all times. Fines were to be deposited at the nearest post office.
So it took something to work in Ampara. Ampara is a small town with two highly visible clock towers like most Sri Lankan cities. The only claim to fame in Ampara was a garment industry owned by one Mr Daya Gamage. Mr Gamage was the leader of the Opposition from the Eastern Province respresenting UNP. Ranil Wickramasinghe the erstwhile President of Sri Lanka now leads UNP. Apart from being in politics the Gamages - Anoma and Daya were have big business in the Eastern district from garment export, agriculture seeds, sugar mills etc. Their writ ran in Ampara with their influence covering every event in the town. Ampara is a Singhalese town that borders the other Tamil towns in the district and region. As Ampara town in Ampara district was more towards the mainland than the coast. The Singhalese influence was predominant in the western, southern and partially eastern regions of Sri Lanka. Tamil speaking people, both Hindus and Muslims, were located predominantly all through the East Coast up to Jaffna in the North. You could see Ampara was predominantly Singhalese with Buddhist Padogas and the festival of Poson being celebrated in full gusto. Poson marked the day when Buddhism was introduced in Sri Lanka at the 3rd century BC by Mahindra the son of the Indian emperor Ashoka. However, there were strong Muslim and Tamil influences in Ampara. A largish mosque was close to the second clock tower along with a ancient looking Hindu temple facing the Ampara lake. Both these edifices thronged with people at occasions showing that both communities existed close at hand.
When I arrived in Sri Lanka, all UN internationals were put up at a guest house deep in Ampara just by the beach. The place was called Thirukovil. In Tamil Thirukovil literally means "turning temple". Thirukovil is at the heart of the Tamil country of Ampara. It is a small fishing town, that was devastated by the Tsunami. The picture of devastation even exists today with houses that have fallen apart during the Tsunami period. The UN Guest House was rebuilt by the UN internationals. It too was devastated by the Tsunami. It was an erstwhile orphanage and it is believed that most of the kids resident there perished under sea water. The famous Thirukovil temple stood at the edge of the beach. It was supposed to be an ancient Hindu temple but it withstood the damage of the Tsunami rather remarkably. It showed no signe of collapse or effect, but the idols were swept away. The Temple, the beach, the coconut tress and the hymns emanating every morning created a surreal atmosphere. To me this was truly paradise, something one can only dream about. Thirukovil was truly a fishing village, with boats lying carelessly around the beach area. The beach was long and curving and the the waves truly strong. UN had forbidden internationals from swimming in the sea, but the more intrepid especially the Brazilians did not quite follow the order. You could local children and menfolk swimming carelessly but mose women were conservative keeping their sea forays only ankle length.
This is how we lived. A large guesthouse bank at the edge of the beach, surrounded by coconut trees. The rooms were spartan so was the attached bathrooms. A large dining cum TV room cum lounge was at the heart of the guest house. Eight bedrooms all opening to this main dining room. Rooms were allocated on a first cum first basis. I was luckly to get a room at the beginning of the guest house where there was paasage way that led to the kitchen. There was on smaller bungalow not attached but at right angles to the main guesthouse. There were two rooms with attached bathrooms. This was a motley group of people at the UN Project. One Indian (myself), two Afghans - Baz the software developer and Farooqui the project procurement cum co-ordinator. There was a single family - a Brazilian couple who were supposedly married once. Roberto was really a hands on character and very adept at cooking pizzas, pastas and wild boar. His partner Marsha seemed highly energetic strutting purposefully around the guest house during meal times. She loved to bake and cakes were always in the dessert menu in the guest house. However, the centre of her attention was her partner Roberto who she seemed to fuss over quite a lot and also demand equal attention from him. Then came the Philipino crowd - highly verbal given to bouts of laughter at the drop of a penny. They had their idiosyncracities - Marivic the virtual mother hen of the group - garrulous, energetic and given to have strong opinion on certain matters. She virtually took command of the Guest House but was at loggerheads with Marsha who seemed more adept in her management. Her frequent run-ins with the staff especially Thomas the head cook became quite tiring at times. The other two ladies - Ana and Celia were more conservative in their dealings. However, both supported Marivic to the tee (keeping the Philipino sisterhood alive). The two Philipino males were a contrast to the females - Bong and Nonoy. Bong was shy and reclusive and given only to talk having consumed a couple of beers. Nonoy was more loquacious but also guarded at times. Nonoy being slightly polished used Bong as his butt for jokes - especially Bong's several amorous liasions in Philippines and elsewhere. However, both supported Marivic to the hilt especially her run-ins with the Brazilians. Then there was Ali Forohuar. He was of Iranian descent but from the US. Ali seemed to be confused as to where he belonged - he potrayed himself as a liberal Muslim distancing himself fro Baz and Farooqui who demostrated their Afghan identity and customs very strongly. They eschewed any Pork and only had Halal meat brought in from Muslim stores in Ampara. They ensured that the daily five times prayer was judiciously maintained. Whilst both smoked and drank occasionally - Farooqui the senior Afghan regularly admonished Baz on his bad habits. Ali practically laughed at them and held their religious orthodoxy in disdain. As an Iranian American, he believed he was above the other Muslims and regularly taunted and mocked Baz and Farooqui for their old fashioned beliefs. Ali never prayed, smoked and drank and ate pork and wild boar with relish. Non Halal meat never bothered him. Whilst Ali potrayed his modern muslim identity, he also never considered himself a true blue American. His comments on white people were not in good taste even though he was a US citizen. However, Baz and Farooqui never tried to spar with him on his beliefs knowing fully well that they were a minority in their attitude from amongst the whole group of internationals. There was another quaint character there - a hindu from Nepal - Guna Niraula. Guna was regularly the butt of jokes of the guest house. A short wheatish complexioned Nepali was also given to make rather bizzare comments on others. He tried to pursue Marivic only to his deep embarrasment - she questioned his 'size' and 'strength'. This wasn't something she reserved for Niraula's ears only but bellowed out the same at dinner once to roars of laughter from all. Niraula realised his folly only too late. His size and strength thus became a curious if not a topic discussed by all to Niraula's chagrin. Finally, the last character that was part of the motley group was a New Zealander named Frazer. Frazer was large and spoke very quickly in his Kiwi accent. He wasn't understood by anyone. Whilst we did get the context on which he spoke the local staff at the office and guest house were at their wits end. I would regularly get quizzical looking Sri Lankan staff especially drivers requesting me to retranslate what Frazer has spoken of. They did not have the guts to approach him again - he would merely repeat the same instruction with an irritated tone. This would further confuse them. Frazer kept his distance from the rest of the Asians - his food and dress habits were different he would care too hoots to try and change them. He regularly wore a t-shirt and beach shorts with rubber slippers to work. It seems Sri Lanka was more of a holiday destination to him.
This was the composition of motley crowd at the Guest House in Thirukovil. The beach faced our guest house and also we were surrounded by coconut and palm trees. The air was pure and the smell of incense buring from nearby small temples around the guesthouse created a surreal atmosphere. We had a well stocked kitchen with at least two cooks and a cleaner whole time. The office was about half a kilometre away accessed by a sandy beach road skirting the beach. Vehicles were plenty and so were drivers. Therefore commuting from work to home was easy and efficient. East coast of Sri Lanka has essentially two weathers - hot - humid and rainy - humid. There isn't any seasons as seen elsewhere. Nights and early morning was cool owing to the wonderful sea breeze that hit the guest house. We were living at the edge of Thirukovil fishing village. The markets were rudimentary and all provisions necessary for running the guest house came from 40 km away in Ampara city or 10 km away in Kalmunai. The cars were despatched daily for provisions even though it was not necessary. We lived well - all comforts were taken care off within the possible and permissible availabilities in Ampara. Work in office was challenging without being strenuous or tense. However, the most difficult part was adjusting to each other. People came from far-flung corners of the world and thrown in an idyllic background having different cultures, value systems, thoughts, eating habits and religious beliefs. This required extraordinary strength of acceptance and co-operation. Frazer hated Sri Lankan and Indian food but started loving it as time passed. The Afghans realized that all muslims were not orthodox or fundamentalists. They had to tone down their rhetoric. Ali realized that being overly critical on others distanced him from the group. He decided to temper his comments. Niraula realized that he needed to be more circumspect about what he said or felt. His inane quotes held him in poor light. The ones who got away were the Philipinoes - they were a bunch of five and spoke in Tagalog intermingled with pidgin english. It was hard to counter the bunch especially when they were together. However, they were an amiable lot and to get on with them individually was easier than as a group.
