A lot has happened in four years. Apologies to my two blogspot followers who have been waiting impatiently for my next comunicado.
Here are some thoughts from Sri Lanka.
Today, I finally ventured out of Wattala over to Colombo. Technically, Wattala is the burbs of Colombo, but the madness just out the front door on Negombo Road is anything but the maddeningly peaceful suburbs of gringolandia. I walked to the post office, asked (in Sinhala!) how much to mail some letters, gave the right amount, and headed down station road, to the Wattala train station.
The traffic blasts by you, and since there are no sidewalks, you have to jump over the sewer ditch when a diesel guzzler charges right towards you. You walk for 5 minutes and you feel the grit already clinging to the sweat drops trickling down your face. Three-legged dogs wag their tail at you. Every single inch of possible land is taken up with shops, and people seem to come out of every single alley way and doorway. Even the coconut trees and the weeds refuse to back away from the madness. It's just seething with life.
I took a train to the Colombo Fort station, and blundered about for awhile trying to get out of the station, because the station manager at the Wattala station didn't sell me a ticket (guess he didn't understand what I wanted at the ticket-sales booth). Finally, after getting out, I went to go buy another ticket for the express train to Kandy. Waited 30 minutes to get to the vendor, and when the man in front of me was about to ask about his ticket, the salesman got up and said he was going to lunch. Be back in a half hour. So we all had to wait until he stumbled back in, sleepy after his mid-day rice feast.
So, nothing special about this post or the past few days. Except that I am using my meager Sinhala. The mosquitos are having a field day with my fresh blood. And we saw the beach at Galle. I was just asked by my uncle if I wanted to go to church. No thanks, I'll pass. Again. I'm hoping my lack of faith will not make my super religious family here despair and kick me out, as they've asked me a few times if I want to go with them to church. The food is delicious - I'm soooo excited that every single dish is super spicy!!!!
Today is also Nomination Day in Sri Lanka. That's when candidates are officially nominated to run for president. Elections are January 8th. The current president, Percy Mahendra ("Mahinda") Rajapaksa - but I want to emphasize the irony of his name Percy despite him claiming to be so nationalistic-, is running for a third term, much like another fascist tried to do in Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. He'll probably win. The newspaper showed a picture of a motorcycle rally by government officials in support of Rajapaksa. They had all been gifted the cycles by the government in return for their allegiance. Along the highway (Sri Lanka boasts some impressive new Chinese-built and -financed highways across the country, another way to control and divide territories) from the airport, there is a brand new apartment complex, and the only people who get to live there are those who support the president's party, the United People's Freedom Alliance.
Came across a good website today - Center for Policy Alternatives - http://www.cpalanka.org/. They have some good documents, including some about hate speech on Facebook. Since the war against the LTTE ended in a fiery, genocidal blaze in 2009 (upwards of 70,000 people killed in the final months), trouble continues in the North with accounts of forced sterilization (though this is still being investigated by the Permanent People's tribunal to see if it adds up to genocide), ongoing internment camps, attacks on and arrests of journalists and witnesses and a complete militarization of the Northern provinces (some 150,000 troops alone in the North). In addition to all that, CPA states that now anti-Muslim hatred is higher than anti-Tamil hatred was at the height of the war. And, of course, the politicians keep fanning those different hatreds in order to get into office.
Will keep you posted on the elections.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get my curry eating on. From Colombo to Ferguson, FTP!
Here are some thoughts from Sri Lanka.
Today, I finally ventured out of Wattala over to Colombo. Technically, Wattala is the burbs of Colombo, but the madness just out the front door on Negombo Road is anything but the maddeningly peaceful suburbs of gringolandia. I walked to the post office, asked (in Sinhala!) how much to mail some letters, gave the right amount, and headed down station road, to the Wattala train station.
The traffic blasts by you, and since there are no sidewalks, you have to jump over the sewer ditch when a diesel guzzler charges right towards you. You walk for 5 minutes and you feel the grit already clinging to the sweat drops trickling down your face. Three-legged dogs wag their tail at you. Every single inch of possible land is taken up with shops, and people seem to come out of every single alley way and doorway. Even the coconut trees and the weeds refuse to back away from the madness. It's just seething with life.
I took a train to the Colombo Fort station, and blundered about for awhile trying to get out of the station, because the station manager at the Wattala station didn't sell me a ticket (guess he didn't understand what I wanted at the ticket-sales booth). Finally, after getting out, I went to go buy another ticket for the express train to Kandy. Waited 30 minutes to get to the vendor, and when the man in front of me was about to ask about his ticket, the salesman got up and said he was going to lunch. Be back in a half hour. So we all had to wait until he stumbled back in, sleepy after his mid-day rice feast.
Bananeira in Galle - click to see more pics so far.
So, nothing special about this post or the past few days. Except that I am using my meager Sinhala. The mosquitos are having a field day with my fresh blood. And we saw the beach at Galle. I was just asked by my uncle if I wanted to go to church. No thanks, I'll pass. Again. I'm hoping my lack of faith will not make my super religious family here despair and kick me out, as they've asked me a few times if I want to go with them to church. The food is delicious - I'm soooo excited that every single dish is super spicy!!!!
Today is also Nomination Day in Sri Lanka. That's when candidates are officially nominated to run for president. Elections are January 8th. The current president, Percy Mahendra ("Mahinda") Rajapaksa - but I want to emphasize the irony of his name Percy despite him claiming to be so nationalistic-, is running for a third term, much like another fascist tried to do in Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. He'll probably win. The newspaper showed a picture of a motorcycle rally by government officials in support of Rajapaksa. They had all been gifted the cycles by the government in return for their allegiance. Along the highway (Sri Lanka boasts some impressive new Chinese-built and -financed highways across the country, another way to control and divide territories) from the airport, there is a brand new apartment complex, and the only people who get to live there are those who support the president's party, the United People's Freedom Alliance.
Came across a good website today - Center for Policy Alternatives - http://www.cpalanka.org/. They have some good documents, including some about hate speech on Facebook. Since the war against the LTTE ended in a fiery, genocidal blaze in 2009 (upwards of 70,000 people killed in the final months), trouble continues in the North with accounts of forced sterilization (though this is still being investigated by the Permanent People's tribunal to see if it adds up to genocide), ongoing internment camps, attacks on and arrests of journalists and witnesses and a complete militarization of the Northern provinces (some 150,000 troops alone in the North). In addition to all that, CPA states that now anti-Muslim hatred is higher than anti-Tamil hatred was at the height of the war. And, of course, the politicians keep fanning those different hatreds in order to get into office.
Will keep you posted on the elections.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get my curry eating on. From Colombo to Ferguson, FTP!
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