ME SRILANKA AND THE BOREDOM THEREAFTER

It started with a phone call from one of my least favorite person in the world. Will you go to Srilanka ?? HUH!!  . For someone like me it was an opportunity to get away from the life of Chatting, Browsing, Emailing, Googling and Facebookling. Sure! I said Jumping of my broken chair which made a cracking sound as I got up. The following day went in ticket booking, understanding the work and packing.  The late night flight out of Mumbai meant I wouldn’t get any sleep. At 1030 in the night I found myself sitting in a MERU cab and driving towards the airport. Going to Lanka.

As a child in India everyone hears about ram, laxmana and hanuman and of course RAVAN and his LANKA. As a child I hated Ravan the most dangerous don of television in those days. Every Sunday morning there he was challenging the most favored hero of all time RAAM. On a 14” B & W television the one at my home at that time, he appeared even worse.  We all enjoyed and partied when ravan was killed with 10 heads on his shoulders. As I grew up I realized that ravan and ram were not too different, both were killers after all.

There I was with boarding pass in my hand on a bus which will take me to the aircraft. We reached in front of the aircraft but the bus door remained closed.  Questions on everyone’s face were clearly visible in the bus. The flight attendant came after 15 min, there is a problem with the flight and we won’t be able to take off. All my Lankan hopes were going down the drain. The clock was ticking slower then 1sec/sec.  30 min later we were informed that there is different flight which will go and we will be taken there shortly. Finally a sigh of relief! With more than 60 min on the clock in the bus we finally reached the aircraft. Completely exhausted with the wait and sleepy eyes I was fast asleep even before the take off. When I woke up I was in Colombo.

Hotel Renuka, the only reason I checked into this hotel is to find out who is this renuka as the name sounded Indian it made me comfortable.  The first thing wrong about this hotel was no free internet.
The dream to see lanka was alive I am in Colombo. I started searching for places to see in and near Colombo couldn’t get much on internet. Though there were few good tips and tricks about the city and the places nearby. As I always do I start by walking in and near the hotel. The evening walk of few kilometers along the beach on day one was the most soothing experience. The walk back I could find few continental and Indian restaurants along with “MacDonald’s” why is it everywhere that you find mac. The whole of day 2 I was awaiting for the work and skyping with a friend online which was the high point of my day. I watched Hindi movies alone on my laptop and when I got bored turned to NDTV news which had only Mr. Anna on it.

With no work on its way on Saturday and Sunday I started planning for a trip out of the city. My morning went by skyping with my sis as it was RAKSHABANDHAN back home I tied my knot of rakhi took picture and some sweets. I left from there by afternoon. I took the train to Galle with few stops on the way. The first one was at the temple; with so many seen already this one did not bring out something extra ordinary in its expanse. The Dutch fort at Galle was a beautiful thing to watch and made me feel more lonely as it was standing there I was standing on top of it both alone.  If you are a srilankan you know this but on a full moon day everything is closed here no alchol no night clubs no cinema no pubs no entertainment. Tired with the day’s activity I was fast asleep. The Sunday began nicely with good heavy breakfast. Let’s take a city tour I thought. Started enquiring about the city tour of Colombo didn’t get that many options only one tour service available and that too was not on Sunday. For a country where tourism is the main source of income this is mismanagement of the tourism department. As I was committed to my goal. I went out and took a rickshaw (locally known as tuktuk – because of the sound it makes). If you are Indian bargaining comes to you naturally. I bargained my way through few rickshaws and was ready to rock and roll. Colombo doesn’t have much to offer you are what I realized in the end. Couple of beaches near the Galle road. The beach at mount lavina is picturesque and should be visited. People in Srilanka are enjoying the life to fullest kind that’s why nobody works on Sundays. So if you are taking the city tour make sure you carry sufficient water and some quick bite with you. Few more stop at temples and back to the hotel.

If you are night life kind of person Colombo has very good night life. I for that matter am not that kind of person so on Sunday night when I went to the club alone and was sitting there waiting to order drink with very loud Rihanna banging on my ear drums I felt bored to the core and even more alone. So there I was sitting alone with fresh lime in my hands (As I am non-alcoholic) and my ear drums exploding. If you want, visit Cleopatra night club in Colombo it is one of the nice ones. After getting my eyes warmed (guys you know what I am talking about) sufficiently I went back to the hotel.

Monday came and I thought wow there will be something to do today….. But I was disappointed no work on Monday as well, now boredom was taking its toll on me. I was bored to the point of writing this blog. ………….  Hopefully tomorrow I will finish my work and go home.