Rakshasa Masks

Rakshasa mask

Unique to the Sinhalese culture, the rakshasa masks expresses Sri Lanka's rich and vibrant cultural heritage.

President Rajapaksa

President Rajapaksa on billboards and bank notes

Sri Lanka's current president, Mahindra Rajapaksa appears to be actively seeking popularity and improvement of his image among his fellow countrymen. His face appears a lot in billboards, posters and even in poorly designed bank notes. The new 1000 LKR note features the president on one side while a badly done copy of a famous WWII sculpture adorns the other side. This note is quite low in aesthetic value compared to all the other bank notes in circulation.

Travel Between Negombo & Colombo

There are a few options for traveling between Negombo and Colombo. One can travel by road, rail or boat.

Buses run between Negombo and Colombo

Tuk-Tuks of Lanka

Tuk-Tuks are an economic alternative of taxi cars in Sri Lanka. Similar vehicles can be found in neighboring India as auto-rikshaw, in Bangladesh as CNG. But there are a few differences setting them apart from the counterparts in neighboring countries.

Meal Packs in Sri Lanka

Meal packs are common street food in Sri Lanka. They are also sold in small restaurants sometimes. This is the most economic option for food known to me. These are not mouth watering food per say. More akin to modest home cooked meals in decent portions. That is precisely why I like them.

Landing in Sri Lanka

My apartment in Negombo

Sri Lanka is an island nation of South Asia. As such, the only ways to reach Sri Lanka is either by a boat or an air plane. There are quite a few countries connected to Sri Lanka through air plane routes. Regular flights are operated between Sri Lanka and neighboring countries of Maldives, India, Bangladesh etc. and also south east asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia etc.

My flight from Chennai landed in the Bandaranaike International Airport. Nearest town, Negombo is about 6 km away. A taxi from the airport to the hotel / beach resort neighbor hood (Lewis Place) was 1500 LKR.

It was 4:00AM in the morning and the manager of the hotel I walked in was sleeping. He was woken up with the help of the taxi driver. This hotel was full, so he took me to another one where I could get a room for 3000 LKR per night. Later that day, I found an apartment close to the beach with kitchen, bathroom and terrace for only 1500 LKR per night. Thinking that this could serve as a base to travel around in Sri Lanka and come back to rest, it was rented for a month. Thus I completed my landing in Sri Lanka.

Idly and Dosa

Idly or Dosa served with coconut chutney, sambhar (or sambol), vaadai etc. is a typical Tamil breakfast. Can be found in both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, India.

Dosa, (also spelled as Dosai, Thosa, or Thosai) is a pancake made of fermented rice flour mixed with coconut milk and spices according to taste. Idly (also spelled Ittly) is a steamed rice flour muffin of round shape. A similar muffin called Vapa is cooked in Bangladesh for winter breakfast. Vapa usually has a sweet core of coconut and jaggery which is missing in Idly.

Local restaurants in both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, India and serves these in breakfast. The chutney and sambar varies from one region to another, and from one restaurant to another. Curry dishes of vegetable, chiken, fish and mixed were found but not all at the same place.

In most places, Idly or Dosa breakfast was found to be quite cheap and filling. A filling Dosa breakfast can be no more than 150.00 LKR in Sri Lanka. This would also include a cup of fine Ceylon tea. Sri lankan grocery stores often sell break fast packs of Dosa. It contains three to four Dosa and a small serving of spicy sambol. A pack costs 40.00 LKR.

Kovil

A kovil in Negombo, this one has three increasingly smaller gates on top of the main gate

Tamil temples are called Kovil. The architectural style is different from North Indian mandirs.

Kovils are colorful and more ornate. Most of the work is focused on the entrance to the temple. Its built as a large gate with multiple levels stacked on top of each other. The ground level is the actual gate that people use to go inside. There are sculptures of two mythical guards, sporting more than one pair of hands and carrying big scary weapons, on either side of the door. The guards are sometimes accompanied by other mythical figures. Above the ground level gate is another smaller gate with its own set of guards, deities and mythical creatures. Above this is even smaller one and it goes on. Every single detail is painted to distinguish from the back ground and other neighboring elements. It's an work of art.

There probably is some kind of encoding in the architecture. By selection of mythical figures, their position and ordering etc. the architect may send out a message. Its beyond my abilities to interpret the message now, but I would like learn this language some day. For the time being, I'm admiring the kovils for their beauty.

Sri Lanka Visa

Visa on arrival at the Bandarnayeke International Airport

One can apply for a visit visa to Sri Lanka online from the website of the Department of Immigration and Emigration. Alternatively, a visa on arrival can easily be obtained from the Bandernayeke International Airport. A visit visa costs 30 USD. Citizens of SAARC countries are eligible for a discount, for them visit visa costs 15 USD.

The visa is valid for 30 days and can be extended for 15 or 30 days at the office of the Department of Immigration and Emigration in located at 41, Ananda Rajakaruna Mawatha, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka
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Language Barrier in Tamil Nadu

An unofficial flag of Tamil Nadu, in use since the early days of India when the dispute over official language started

Language barrier is a common challenge for traveling in many Asian countries and India is no different. But Tamil Nadu poses a greater challenge. The official state language and mostly spoken language is Tamil. It is one of the classical languages of India, belonging to the Dravidian family of languages. Which means its very different from the national language, Hindi which belongs to the Indo-Aryan family.

There is often a decent level of mutual intelligibility between Indo-Aryan langauges, for example between Hindi and Bihari and Bangla. But nothing like that between Tamil and the Indo-Aryan langauges.

On top of that a long standing notorious socio-political divide between north and south of India adds a political dimension to the communcation challenge. In the early days of India, the central government's attempt to promote Hindi as the official language was not received well by the Tamil speaking population. Incidents of violent uprising and revolts eventually lead to Tamil being given the official status and higher priority. As of today, many Tamils prefer English to Hindi as a lingua franca. But in the country side, English does not work with common people. Learning Tamil is therefore recommended for traveling in rural Tamil Nadu. At least a few basic words and phrases. Bellow is a list of useful words which I used in combination with sign language and English to communicate with local during my stay in Tamil Nadu.

Greetings : Vanakkam
Food : Sappadu
Watter : Tanni
Yes : Ya
No : Illa
Thank you : Nandri
I am not Tamil : Naan tamil illa

Somehow very basic phrases comprising of English and Tamil words made sense on a number of occasions. For example, to say that I don't have a scooter, "Scooter illa" works.