T&T Guardian sports journalist VINODE MAMCHAN is in Sri Lanka covering the West Indies Test series. He wrote this piece describing the sights and sounds of a country that remind him very much of T&T.
Are you from India? This was the first question I got as I walked out of the Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka. I was taken aback because the guy who asked the question looked similar to me.
According to my bearded friend, I apparently look like an “Indian.”
That question signalled that this was going to be an interesting journey on the other side of the world.
As we drove off to Colombo, I asked the driver about his country and the first thing he said was: “It is cleaner than India.” Further along, he told me there were some important things I needed to know while in the country. He proceeded to give me a crash course in Sinhali—the official language of Sri Lanka. All I took away from his class was “isthuti,” which means thank you, and “aubowan,” which means welcome.
He said the national dish was rice and curry but I should be careful with the spices. As we drove into Colombo One, he said, “you will pass this rough area before you enter where you are going.” The area resembled Beetham Gardens in Trinidad. He said Colombo One was the area where all the deals for metal and car parts take place. The guys in the area were rough, he said, and I must not come this way, all the while still asking whether I was from south India.
He gave an example of the kind of thing that happens there. If a driver lost a hubcap he would drive into the area to buy one and guys will rush to try and sell to him. Once they realise what he is looking for, they will tell him sit in the car and don’t worry to come out in the heat. While one guy engages him in conversation, another one will go to his back wheel, take out the hubcap and sell it back to him. Of course, the driver thinks he’s got a deal when he has actually bought his own hubcap.
As we reached Colombo Three, I saw high-rise buildings and two like the Twin Towers in Port-of-Spain though much higher. It is called the World Trade Centre and much of the country’s trade takes place here.
I spent one night in Colombo and then it was down to Galle for the first Test. A tuk-tuk ride took me to the nearby train station which was south along the coast. This ride was reminiscent of of the drive along Manzanilla Road. It was breathtaking to see the sights of waves crashing in on the shore and small houses built alongside. There was also brisk trade in the small towns we passed through. I arrived in Galle around lunchtime and a tuk-tuk driver took me to my hotel. The hotel was about five minutes from the train station but this driver—playing smart—charged me 450 Sri Lankan rupees (TT$22). He drove through a village and brought me back out onto the main road and to the hotel.
Every day I walked to the cricket ground which was opposite the train station and it took me around ten minutes. He pulled a fast one on me, it’s a good thing I did not take his advice and book into a “wonderful” hotel in the Fort. After he realised I was a journalist covering the Test series, he said he had a nice place to show me because I needed peace and quiet to focus. Little did he know that I worked at the T&T Guardian with loquacious assistant sports editor Keith Clement making noise all day.
As I stepped out to get to the hotel he recommended, I had to jump over water on the premises and when I went to the room it was old, dingy and there was a mosquito net over the bed. I would have rather slept at the train station than stayed there.
Galle was very hot but the people were so warm and friendly, they reminded me a lot of the people at home. There were shops along the main road and people selling on the pavements, all the while keeping an eye out for the law—reminds you of somewhere?
In Galle, I had an opportunity to speak to people who had survived the dreadful tsunami which struck in 2004. Some said the wave came in at around 20 feet, some said as high as some very tall coconut trees. One thing about the people here, they seem to be extremely resilient. They built up their city and were going about their business like it never happened.
The cricket was depressing, so during the lunch break I went into the Fort to look for the Villa owned by the cricket icon Mahela Jayawardene. It was a lovely place that was on the market for rent. Further down the road, the authorities have converted the old Dutch Hospital into a business centre and the other cricketing legend, Kumar Sangakkara, had a restaurant called The Crab and Tuna. He and Jayawardene also own another restaurant in Colombo called the Ministry of Crab. It’s a trendy place that attracted a lot of people because of the star’s pulling power.
After the match, it was back up to Colombo and a three-hour ride in an air-conditioned bus that cost 270 Sri Lankan Rupees (TT$13).
When I paid the fare I shook my head in disbelief as I remembered how I was overcharged by the tuk-tuk driver.
In Colombo, the sites and sounds were similar to Port-of-Spain. Going to Galle was like taking a drive to Toco but now I was back in the capital and getting a chance to have a good look at the city that was voted the fasting growing in the world.
Colombo has been placed on top of the list of fastest growing cities in the world by an annual travel study by the MasterCard. Of the ten fastest growing cities in the world—based on data gathered over the last six years—seven are in Asia. Colombo is first in growth with a staggering 21 per cent surge, with Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, following in second.
As I moved around the city I had to agree with MasterCard, because there is massive development taking place. The people seem very educated and the environment for business seems very inviting. I believe that one of the things that makes this city stand out in Asia is the fact that it is very clean, almost spotless.
I have travelled all over the world to cover cricket but Sri Lanka is the place that comes the closest to home.
(Trinidad & Tobago Guardian)
