Serendipity 1 1 by Serendipity Magazine

October 2005 issue 1

4 Challenge 2005

Sri Lanka

Aspirational. Inspirational. Sri Lankan.

eagerly awaited event for the 4WD community!

e de la creme of 4x4 driving machines and their crews. Three trails. And a whole bunch of thrills and spills!

ber/December 2005

4WD Hotline at Travel Warehouse

1923 447 826

nihal

Taking over Radio One

Amangalla Inside Galleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s superluxury hotel

Stringhoppers by Romesh Gunasekera

“through cheesy and relentless networking I got to where I am”.

editor’s letter

18 48

pure chemistry

42 34

24 children of the sea

contents 9

Kothu What’s hot and spicy this month

10 Sri Lankan party After the show comes the afterparty 12 Nihal Our new editor at large talks about himself and drinks a nice fruit smoothie or two 18 Pure Chemistry Cool design from husband and wife team Anjeli and Adam Placzek

24 Amangalla Galle Inside Sri Lanka’s hippest hotels 30 Stringhoppers Romesh Gunasekara unravells the origins of this popular dish 34 The beautiful game Cricket - God’s gift to Sri Lanka 42 The gathering A spectacular gathering of elephants in the wild

48 Children of the sea Enchanting tsunami drama from the Edinburgh Festival 55 Dumb and Dumberer… Why IQ tests for tourists should be mandatory

Hi and welcome to the first issue of Serendipity. thanks This magazine has gone from being a con chat in a pub to reality in about seven weeks flat. We couldn’t have done it without these guys: Geoff ‘Tolstoy Coomaraswamy’ Cowan for the wonderful art direction and design Deshan at Leisure Times for sarcastic editorial feedback and telling us what ‘kerning’ means Nimmi and Mino at Adoh (good luck with Machang, machang!) Leigh for making all the legal stuff painless Romesh for graciously agreeing to let us use ‘’Stringhoppers’ Gehan De Silva Wijeyratne for the amazing pictures and support Prem at SriLankanparties.com for letting us in free Priyath Liyanage at the BBC World Service for buying us lunch

Whether you’re reading this in London or Melbourne, New York or Wellington, Toronto or Colombo, if you’re of Sri Lankan origin - or just love Sri Lanka - then this magazine is for you. We are the first magazine for the global Sri Lankan community. Since it’s our inaugural issue, we thought it might be good to outline what we’re about – and what we’re not about. We’re a magazine for a generation that refuses to be defined by race or religion or political affiliation. This is an independent magazine for independent people who are smart, cultured, warm and funny. We’re a magazine for a generation that also refuses to be defined by the ethnic conflict - or even the tsunami. While tragic, they are just parts of our history. And while we acknowledge our past, we believe that there are more important things to be defined by – our aspirations, for one. There are so many Sri Lankans doing amazing things around the world – we want to celebrate their success stories out there. And we want to inspire you with the best in arts and culture; whether it’s features on travel, food, design and architecture or the best in contemporary fiction and poetry. And remember, this is your magazine, and we want to hear from you. Tell us what you like, tell us what you want to see by emailing us at editor@serendipitymag.com - or you can tell us in person by coming down to our launch party at Apt Bar in London on November 12th (see page 55 for more details). It should be a good one.

Sanj Silva for bringing everyone to the party

Bloody hell. We’re exhausted. Does someone want to buy us a drink?

Everyone else for their support and encouragement- you know who you are.

Afdhel & the Serendipity Team editor@serendipitymag.net

october 2005

Published by Diasporic Media Ltd.

Editor: Afdhel Aziz

Mailing address: Flat 1, 36 Craven Hill Gardens London W23EA

Sales Director: Gaddafi Ismail

Email: letters@serendipitymag.net

www.serendipitymag.net

Sales and Marketing Queries Phone: + 44 871 4747 4352 Fax: +44 871 994 2634

Art Director: Geoff Cowan Associate Editor: Leah Marikkar Editor-At-Large: Nihal Arthanayake Digital Marketing Manager: Ravin Fernando Copy Editor: Danielle Atkins Print: www.coloursetdisplay.com

Next Issue: M.I.A When does politics become art? When does wearing your affiliations on your sleeve become cheap marketing propaganda ? When do you cross the line from musician to activist? Like no other Sri Lankan artist before, M.I.A is someone who seems to exist proudly in the middle of these contradictions. Her real name is Maya Arulpragasam, she’s 27 years old and she was born in England, moved to Sri Lanka and came back when she was 11. Her debut album ‘Arular’ (named after her Eros Activist father) was nominated for a prestigious Mercury Music Prize alongside Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. In the UK she’s signed to XL, home to Basement Jaxx, the Prodigy and the White Stripes. In the US, she’s signed to Interscope Records, home to Eminem, 50 Cent and Marilyn Manson. She’s been called ‘the Asian Missy Elliott’, rapping breezily over a mix of dancehall reggae, electro and hip-hop. Her lyrics manage to simultaneously be incendiary and infantile (‘like PLO/We don’t surrend-o’). Her videos display the same free-wheeling approach (she used to study Art at Central St Martins), using brightly coloured building blocks of planes, tanks, guns and bombs; appropriating the vocabulary of war with abandon. All this might make you uneasy, proud, confused, dismissive or angry. But whatever the reaction, you can’t ignore her.

Photograph - Mike Schreiber

So, here’s the big question: if you could ask M.I.A anything, what would it be?

Email us at: feedback@serendipitymag.net

serendipity

kothu

Hot and spicy this month…

Aspirational. Inspirational. Sri Lankan.

Like what you see? Then why not subscribe? The first magazine for the global Sri Lankan community – celebrating success and inspiring you with the best in arts and culture; whether it’s features on travel, food, design and architecture or the best in contemporary fiction and poetry.

Subscribe now

The Monkbag - Something positive out of the tsunami. A group of seamstresses in Sri Lanka have made the Monkbag. Launched in London, Monaco and Los Angeles with a party at the Standard Hotel, where no less than Dr.Dre turned up to support the cause. For more information, check out the Suba Udasenak website at: http://subaud.blogspot.com/

Russell Peters - One of the funniest new Asian comics around, coming out of Canada. Even takes the piss out of Sri Lankans! Though mostly playing in San Francisco, LA and Ontario, he will be touring Sri Lanka and Singapore in October. For more dates and some hilarious video check out www.russellpeters.com. Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!!

Distant Warriors - A new book from Channa Wickremesinghe which takes a satirical and perceptive look at the friction between Singhalese and Tamil communities in Melbourne.

Kottu.Org - The best Sri Lankan blogspot around (and which we’ve shamelessly stolen the name of this section from). Syndicates over 50 Sri Lankan blogs and photoblogs. http://kottu.org/

The Brass Monkey Band - Monsoon Sunday – Fantastic debut album from a Sri Lankan band that only play originals (no covers), sounding like a bizarre mixture of Counting Crowes, Scissor Sisters and Jamie Cullum. (Nepotism alert: The lead singer is the editor’s brother. You have been warned!) http://www.thebrassmonkeyband.com/

Tell us what’s making your senses tingle, email us at: letters@serendipitymag.net

For more information, visit: http://www.ph-books.com/

visit www.serendipitymag.net/subs serendipity

party people

London rocks!

If there’s one thing that Sri Lankans are world champions at (aside from cricket), it’s partying. So after rocking in the sunshine with Norman Jay and the Good Times soundsystem at the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday 28th August, Serendipity headed down to the stylish Sirocco club on Shaftsbury Avenue for ‘Plush’, the first ever Sri Lankan Carnival After-Party. Organised by the good people at srilankanparty. com the event featured a sexy, chic crowd, partying until 3 AM to the sounds of DJ’s dropping the freshest hip-hop, R’n’b and dancehall cuts. In fact, we had such a good time, we asked srilankanparty.com to organise our launch party – check out page 55 for more details. See you down there…

Send us your pics Show us what you look like when you are partying, wherever you are in the world. Email us at; feedback@serendiptymag.net

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people

native son:

Words Afdhel Aziz. Pictures Someone Else

nihal

Meet Serendipity magazine’s new Editor-At Large, Sri Lankan Radio One DJ Nihal Arthanayake (or just Nihal). When he’s not blowing up the airwaves with his partner Bobby Friction, he’s hosting the rammed Bombay Bronx nights at the Notting Hill Arts Club. If that wasn’t enough, he’s getting married at Galle Face Hotel soon - so we caught up with him in Camden for a relaxed chat and some nice fruit smoothies.

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people Tell me about your first experiences of Sri Lanka Born in Essex, first went to Sri Lanka when I was seven. Hated it, stayed on my uncle’s plantation for a while, we moved around a bit, in Seyambalape. No electricity at that time, twenty-five years ago, just a generator, cockroaches, trips to the toilet at the three o’clock in the morning with my Mum shining a torch. All these smells that I found horrible…. I wanted hamburgers, I wanted cherry-ade, I wanted Mr Kipling’s cakes – I didn’t want guavas and mangoes. Then this realisation came that all these people looked like me – fantastic. I had never seen this before, because I grew up in a mainly white area in Essex. Bless my mom and dad, they made sure I went to Sri Lanka every three years when we were growing up, which was an amazing thing – we got to see the whole country. My first ever trip we went to Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Batticoloa, Kandy….we got this amazing tour.

“I think no one in the world can hang out like Asians, and particularly Sri Lankans.” 14

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Then the second time I went back, I was about eleven, I remember coming back to England and then just crying for two weeks. Couldn’t for the life of me imagine what I was doing back in London, and how much I missed Sri Lanka. And since 1999, I’ve been back every year and that will now be the case for the rest of my life. I have to go every year, it’s for my soul. And to this day, every time I go to Sri Lanka I feel like I’m home, which is a really weird feeling for someone who is born and brought up in the UK. My soul is in Sri Lanka I think, and half of my heart is in Sri Lanka. I wear the cricket shirt whenever I can, I tell people about it and where to go. But at the same time, I love the UK, especially London, I’m passionate about London Where do you like to stay when you are in Sri Lanka? I always used to stay in Colombo 10, in Maradana, just around the corner from my dad’s school Ananda College. That was the house my father was born in, that my ‘seeya’ (grandfather) designed and had built. My seeya educated himself, moved out of the village and became a

surveyor. And now we have a house in Rajagiriya by the river, beautiful, which my father designed - he’s passed away now. And that house is my birthright and my children’s birthright, which is great because I always have a base in Sri Lanka. But where I really like to stay ? I love the Galle Face Hotel – its just so charming, it’s just that old world glamour, that wooden ceiling fans, white walls, and looks out at the sea. Its where I’m getting married to Eesha (his fiancé) - it’s where our first date was. How did you two meet? The British Council actually brought me and my DJ partner Bobby Friction out to Sri Lanka to DJ while the English cricket team played Sri Lanka last November. And we gave a radio seminar, and Eesha Silva at the time was the breakfast DJ at TNL Radio in Colombo. So we met and she thought I was Indian, but when she found out I was Sri Lanka and Singhalese, we started talking, and flirting… You mentioned your parents earlier – what were they into musically? Oh God, everything…Ammi (Mum) was into C.T. Fernando, old school baila. Thaathi (Dad) was into Frank Sinatra and Classical music, and Lata Mangeshkar….so very diverse. Ammi listened to Radio Two all the time so I grew up on a diet of Barry Manilow and Dr Hooks, and Terry Wogan and Jimmy Young. Which was great – because unlike a lot of Western kids whose parents were into the Beatles or something, I was listening to music I couldn’t relate to at all – so I went into hip hop, the music that would annoy them the most. What are the things you miss when you leave Sri Lanka? I think no one in the world can hang out like Asians, and particularly Sri Lankans. I love everything, the most minute things… I love three-wheelers, I love seeing women in saris, the normal, everyday things that a Sri Lankan would take for granted. I love the food -egg godamba rottis (the unhealthiest thing in the whole world), kothu rotti from Pilawoos… I love the restaurants in Sri Lanka, the Gallery, Frangipani. >> serendipity

people “There’s something about being Sri Lankan… we’re a minority within a minority.”

I love the art, in fact in years to come when I’m earning more money I will start collecting Sri Lankan art. I like hanging out in Liberty Plaza, Odel, or maybe MC…

What’s the one thing you want to say to everyone? Give me a show on Sri Lankan Airlines radio! (Seriously…he really wants to do a show.) Just how much I love Sri Lanka and I love being Sri Lankan. There’s something about being Sri Lankan…we’re a minority within a minority. I’ve got the Sri Lankan flag tattooed on my arm, next year I’m thinking of getting the Sigiriya frescoes done as well. I’m really pro-Sri Lankan and telling everyone to go there and what a beautiful place it is. I don’t think I go anywhere without telling people that I’m Sri Lankan and it always starts off the most amazing conversations… when you serendipity

You can listen to Nihal’s show online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/

You’re such a local! How did you get into the music business? Through cheesy and relentless networking I got to where I am. One thing I do have is an amazing list of people I know…from Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar to Phil Jupitus and Elton John to Mos Def and Bally Sagoo. I’ve interviewed Snoop Dog, when I worked as a journalist for for Hip Hop Connection I did everyone from Chuck D to Outkast. I did six months of kids TV interviewing everyone from Blue to Westlife to Ashanti. There’s this huge mixture of people I’ve met over the years. I’ve been deep in it for a long time. What are you listening to at the moment? I love hearing great music made by Sri Lankan people. We’re playing this track on Radio One ‘Ahankara Nagare’ at the moment, by Ranidu Lankage. He is a Sri Lankan from Colombo, studying at Yale, he’s unbelievably talented, selftaught pianist, plays squash for Yale. Its brilliant, we’ve got non-Asian listeners saying ‘I love that song, what does it mean’. Its like Punjabi-Singahalese pop, bhangra-hip-hop but with Singhalese lyrics, and his album is genius. There’s a track on it called ‘Samsara’ which is probably going to be mine and Eesha’s first dance when we get married. Just the most beautiful record.

find another Sri Lankan its like spotting another Eskimo in the desert.

Stop Press: Nihal goes back to school Nihal is heading back to school in a new reality TV Show coming out this Autumn. He, along with newsman and writer John Humphrys, TV personalities Ulrika Jonsson and Clarissa Dickson- Wright and comedian Keith Allen will be put through their paces in an intensive two week course at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, in Art School, a new series for BBC Two presented by Claudia Winkleman. Under the guidance of the college’s renowned tutors, the students will explore all aspects of art

- from the basics of drawing, to installation and performance art - which will then culminate in an end of course show. The students’ work will also come under the constant scrutiny of Turner Prize judge and art critic Sacha Craddock. The series will also feature anecdotes from other household names who are practising artists - such as Vic Reeves, Jane Seymour and Uri Geller. The series on BBC Two will transmit in the Autumn.

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people

pure

chemistry Serendipity talks to husband and wife Anjeli and Adam Placzek, the creative minds behind Pure Chemistry, an up and coming design company with an eclectic and passionate approach.

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people Pure Chemistry is a design Company that specialises in unique art and accessories for the interior. With alternative approaches and distinctive styles of their own that naturally complement and define each other’s work, husband and wife, Adam and Anjeli Placzek, collaborate on a variety of design and exhibition projects. Adam’s background stems from Illustration while Anjeli’s is based in Interior and Production Design. Pure Chemistry’s philosophy is that if you’re passionate about anything in life you should be able to feel it.

So how did you guys meet? Adam and I met on foundation at Central Saint Martins in the late 90’s and got married three years ago. After foundation I went onto study BA Interior Design followed by an MA Design for Film & Television while Adam studied BA Illustration then specialised in traditional and 3D Animation. Adam was born in Cork to American parents he then moved to London as toddler where he has since lived. My parents met in London in the 70’s - my father is from Kerela and my mother is Malaysian Sri Lankan. We have always lived in London but visit Asia and the States frequently. Tell us about your business Last year we established our design company Pure Chemistry which produces art and accessories for interiors such as prints, wallpapers, textiles, embroidered canvases, sculptures and soft furnishing. Each year we produce a collection as well as customised works. >> Detail from one of Pure’s collections 20

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people You can also find their work at: 30th July - 22 October London Print Studio must-have..... exhibition ‘an irresistible collection of original art works for you and your home’ 425 Harrow Road, W10 4RE, tel: 020 8969 3247 23rd Nov - 16th Dec Clerkenwell Green Association Made for You exhibition commissioned works and pieces from the collection available Penny Bank Chambers, 3335 St. John’s Square EC1M 4DS, tel: 020 7251 0276

So where and how do you find your inspiration? The inspiration for our collections stems from everyday scenes and situations as well as our wonderful trips back home. We spent the beginning of this year in Malaysia and Kerela and our current collection has been inspired by this trip. This collection consists of printed and embroidered illustrations onto canvases derived from the Hindu legend of Rama and Sita. Our style, as always, is clean and crisp simplifying the subject matter while maintaining detail and character. Our work is a personal translation of what we have experienced both here and abroad so that each piece we produce has a history behind it, in this case it stems from famous childhood stories.

Where can people find out more about your products? Our work is available to buy directly from our web-site with selected pieces also at Lollipop London in Islington. We produce a collection each year and also specialise in bespoke custom-made works and prints for clients which include other designers, shops, bars and personal orders. Our new range of limited edition printed silk scarves will only be available at Lollipop London where we are launching our accessories this Autumn/Winter. Website: www.pure-chemistry.com

The interior of Adam and Anjeli’s apartment as featured recently in Elle Deco magazine

serendipity

Words Afdhel Aziz. Pictures Someone Else

places

hip hotels:

Amangalla Amanwella Where do rock-stars and ex-Presidents of the USA stay when they visit Sri Lanka? Afdhel Aziz gets an exclusive peek at the Amangalla and Amanwella hotels, the latest outposts of the ultra-chic Aman Resorts Group.

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places The Aman Resorts group are probably the best in the world at delivering this experience for their clientele. Compared to other chains, like Hilton or Sheraton, they only have 17 resorts, with an average of about 30-40 rooms per resort. In fact, the total number of rooms they have worldwide (around 550) would be about less than you’d find in one large five-star hotel. But with Aman it’s all about quality not quantity. What’s more, they don’t advertise – they don’t need to. In exotic locations like Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, French Polynesia, Morocco and Bhutan, the So it was with curiosity that I stepped up the stairs hotels elicit such passion and devotion that there to the newly refurbished and renovated premises exists a select group of affectionately-dubbed of the NOH – now called the Amangalla Hotel, ‘Aman Junkies’ – people who stay at Aman Hotels the first outpost of the sophisticated Aman Resorts around the world, traveling to a new one every chain to open in Sri Lanka. It’s a subtle but evocatime it opens. tive transformation: they have managed to retain the elegant spirit of the old NOH but transform it The genesis of Aman’s philosophy lies with its into a chic and contemporary hotel straight out of founder, Adrian Zecha who envisioned a collecthe pages of the Hip Hotels Guide. It’s no wonder tion of intimate retreats in beautiful surrounds with the unassuming, warm hospitality of a grathat it has been praised in the pages of ‘Wallpacious private residence. The Amangalla Hotel folper’ and ‘Conde Nast Traveller’ magazines. And lows this tradition beautifully. Amangalla derives while Aman are ultra-discrete about their guests its name from aman, or “peace” in Sanskrit, and and refuse to divulge details, my sources tell me that recent guests have included ex-President Bill galla, the Sinhalese name for the town of Galle. There certainly is an air of peace as I walk into Clinton and rock star Sting and his wife Trudie the Great Hall – or Zaal as it was known in Dutch Styler. times – where guests are sipping afternoon tea To understand how Aman is changing the face of under soaring ceilings with lazily whirring fans. Sri Lanka, you have to understand the metaThe highly polished dark wood floors gleam as morphosis that the Sri Lankan travel industry is discrete waiters glide back and forth. The broad undergoing. Where the choice of hotels used to be verandah outside is the ideal place to escape the luxurious but mass-market venues like the Blue heat of the day, enjoy a tall drink and watch the Water and the Lighthouses of the world, or faceworld pass by. less package-holiday resorts, the last four years have seen the development of another niche – the The hotel is located in an amalgamation of buildings dating back over 400 years which served as boutique hotel. headquarters for the Dutch commandeur and later They are aimed at a more discerning class of as a billet for British officers. In 1865, the structraveler (never a ‘tourist’) who are cash-rich, tures were combined to create the New Oriental style-conscious and wouldn’t be caught dead on Hotel, the name under which the property traded a standard two-week package holiday to Thailand for 140 years. The interiors of all the rooms have or Egypt. What they crave is the exoticism of a been re-designed to retain the feeling of a bygone new location in the comfort of what I call ‘stealth ‘period’ with polished jackwood floors, four-poster luxury’. It’s not about ostentation and lavishness, beds, original pettagama chests and other Sri it is about discrete good taste, amazing service Lankan artefacts. One simple but effective design and peaceful surroundings. choice was to halve the number of rooms and >> Driving into the peaceful streets of the Galle Fort, I remembered my past experiences with the New Oriental Hotel (NOH) in Galle. As a child I used to spend school holidays there with my parents, swimming in the pool overhung with bougainvillea. Gently decaying and redolent of a by-gone era, it was the base of operations for the adventures my brother and I would have in the Fort, playing cricket or flying kites on the ramparts, the slender pencil of the Galle lighthouse always within sight.

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places Gracious and welcoming, these twin additions to Sri Lanka’s hotels have become must-visit destinations for the discerning traveller.

turn the second room into a large and spacious bathroom with a beautiful free-standing tub – perfect for a long soak. Elegant planters chairs and writing desks are combined with contemporary touches for the discerning traveller. But if you’re really interested in splashing out, then the Garden House is probably for you. Situated within the resort gardens, this two-storey, 140sq m house, features a private terrace and balcony offering leafy, treetop views. The house’s original antique furniture has been restored, and guests will find a glorious chaise lounge, armchairs and coffee table as they enter into a sitting room. Double doors lead to the bedroom, furnished with a king-size four-poster bed, writing table and dressing cabinet. Adjoining this is a spacious bathroom, bathed in light from the pool garden outside. An internal stairway rises from the sitting room to the upper level, featuring a daybed and banquette. Other facilities include a pantry serviced by a private butler. The Aman Resorts are world-renowned for their amazing spas and Amangalla is no different. The Baths are the hub of the spa experience at the hotel and featuure a hydrotherapy and water massage pool, sauna, steam and cold plunge pool. There is also a beauty treatment area and a traditional barber’s shop. Adjacent to the Baths and positioned in a peaceful part of the resort gardens is a combined yoga and meditation pavilion. I didn’t try any Ashtanga positions but after an hour in the capable hands of their superblytrained masseur, I was in heaven and ready for my delicious rice-and-curry lunch served in the The Dining Room. The Dining Room is furnished with period chairs and tables, crisp white linen and antique silverware, with many of the original pieces being returned to their rightful place in the room.

to the village of Tangalle. All 30 suites of this contemporary beachfront resort feature their own private swimming pool and terrace. Linked by pathways, suites are interspersed along the hillside and offer sweeping views of the ocean and the beach. Contemporary in design, the suites blend in local materials and styles with the use of distinctive terracotta tiles and hand-hewn stone walls. All suites open on both sides to let in the cooling sea breezes. All suites open on both sides to let in the cooling sea breezes, with timber sliding doors and panels creating a sense of space, and an open plan bathroom featuring that signature freestanding bathtub. At Amanwella guests can enjoy a variety of features and services including: a 45m swimming pool, a Library, stocked with books about Sri Lanka and local lore; spa treatments; a Restaurant, serving Asian and Mediterranean cuisine with an emphasis on fresh local seafood; and, a Beach Club. They can also make excursions to such local sites as the Mulgirigala Rock Temple, home to one of the most important discoveries of the 19th century – the ola-leaf scripts which formed the key to the translation of Sri Lanka’s most informative ancient text – the ‘Mahavamsa’. Bundala National Park is also accessible, 75 minutes east of Tangalle, great for bird-watching, while Uda Walawe National Park provides excellent elephant-watching opportunities, often in herds of 100 or more. Gracious and welcoming, these twin additions to Sri Lanka’s hotels have become must-visit destinations for the traveller in search of a truly serendipitious experience.

In view of the tsunami disaster, the Aman Resorts has taken an unprecedented departure A couple of hours drive away is Amangalla’s sister from its no discount policy, and extended a resort, Amanwella, the first hotel to open in Sri 50% discount on the rates at both Amangalla Lanka after the tsunami. and Amanwella. Amanwella, which derives its name from aman, Please visit www.amanresorts.com or “peace” in Sanskrit, and wella, the Sinhalese for more details. name for beach, is situated in a mature coconut grove fronting a crescent- shaped beach close 28

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food

STRINGHOPPERS

by Romesh Gunesekera

In 1956 my father was 39 years old. He didn’t even know how to boil an egg. But within two years he was creating the kookiest dinners in Washington and had the World Bank eating out of his hand. When he got back everybody wanted to know how he had done it. ‘Easy,’ he would shrug his big, round shoulders. ‘Stringhoppers. I fed them stringhoppers.’ His friends were mystified. The stringhopper he invoked is now the centrepiece of Sri Lankan cuisine, but it is neither native nor foreign. Like the Indian buffalo’s mozarella in Italy, or the shifting shape of the English tongue, the stringhopper was born out of wanderlust and a confluence of culture. A saucer-sized pancake of vermicelli squeezed out of a perforated mould, each stringhopper is like a nest of stories; a perfect emblem for Asia’s hub of trade routes in the past. But nobody knows for sure how it came to be. ‘How did you know how to make them?’ his friends would ask. ‘I looked in the Daily News Cookery Book,’ he would say, beaming, ‘I had this pang, a real hunger, for stringhoppers. So I made them myself. What else to do? A whole crowd came over.’ But he had not simply produced stringhoppers, he had turned them into an atlas of entwined 30

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colours: red, yellow, green and blue. The colouring was his invention. The austere world of the Colombo Daily News Cookery Book did not admit to this kind of improvisation. Its starchy prose was always absolutely dead-pan. The word quickly spread: ‘He got them to eat bright blue stringhoppers! You know, blue is like poison, psychologically inedible. He must have a real knack for handling those World Bank fellows.’ His career as an international negotiator rocketed. ‘From Jericho to Bretton Woods!’ he would joke. Even today in Sri Lanka, blue stringhoppers are exotic; in Washington in 1956 they were mind-blowing. For my father getting strangers to eat strange food was at the heart of the human story, the point at which the old world slips into myth and a new world stumbles free. The meal was where we could begin to understand each other, even as we recognized the briefness of our encounter.

Tolstoy Coomaraswamy who, after my father, probably has eaten more stringhoppers than anybody else I know, claimed the stringhopper was inspired by Marco Polo’s visit seven hundred years ago. Tolstoy was the biggest talker of my father’s generation; a big beaky journalist who

had not strayed out of Colombo for forty-five years but who recounted the fabulous journey of Marco Polo as though it were his own. He leaned against the kitchen cupboard and watched my father show me how to mix the dough. ‘When Marco Polo touched down in Ceylon,’ Tolstoy’s voice jibbed as he fixed his compass points, ‘actually Jaffna, he found that his host had laid out a real beach feast. Marco Polo was feted, you know, even though later the bugger said we were all a bunch of lazy, drunk, mean-spirited layabouts. They put the works out: grilled seer fish, jakfruit, curried jungle fowl, heaps of pearly rice on plantain leaves like little temples in a velvet jungle, and small hot spots of Malay pickle. Spoons carved out of coconut and tortoiseshell dishes, a really mouth-watering table.’ A rivulet of his own dribbled out with his words. ‘Over lunch Marco told our King Sendernam about his travels in China and the noodles he had discovered: the prototype for pasta. He couldn’t get over them. He described them with his hands, you know. He told the king about Kublai Khan’s favourite concubine who had been wrapped up in them: thin gossamer strings that were unravelled at a midsummer banquet in the dance of the seventeen noodles with everybody shouting ‘Gambay!’, knocking back the rice-wine and ogling like mad. Imagine eating it! All that sweet sweat like butter melting on each noodle as it was stripped off a real top-notch sex-bomb.’ I squeezed the dough into the stringhopper mould and looked up at Tolstoy. His eyes were huge and round. ‘Only later when the fellow was lying down for an after-lunch nap, letting the ocean cool his swollen feet, did Marco realise he had been a little tactless in talking so much about Chinese noodles to our people. He knew he had made a real blunder when Tikka, his local minder, started quizzing him on the noodle-making. Tikka was a clever kolla. A brilliant mongrel product of our Middle Ages. He spoke Tamil, Sinhala, Sanskrit, Arabic, a smattering of Mandarin, Malay and a new harbour-front pidgin: Latin and Anglo-Saxon. All

staccato. He told Marco about his family going all over the place: his great-grandfather had been an Ambassador to Rome and somebody else had been the first Chinese travel writer Fa-Hsien’s guide eight hundred years earlier. But Tikka’s ancestors were not cooks, you know, or if they were they had kept the noodle a secret.’ I imagined this Tikka talking. A sharp dark bulging head whispering salaciously, ‘Kenoodle, Polo, hokum-hooker, courtesan? OK?’ ‘Concubine,’ Marco would have corrected. ‘Concubine, courtesan, same-same treacle man. What the duck it matter?’

Marco Polo had spent only two weeks on the island, Tolstoy told us. Marco had coveted the King’s massive ruby, but when he realised he could not get it he dismissed the whole island as not worth another mention. ‘Congealed ox blood,’ he had snorted into the history books. On his last night on this yet noodle-less island after the sun had sizzled into the hot sea, Marco had dreamed again his most intense recurring dream: the dream of his mother’s knedliky--a mittelleuropean dumpling she had discovered on her honeymoon at a snow bound inn in the Carpathian mountains. Her husband, Marco Polo’s father, had apparently been so enthralled by the dumplings the inn-keeper’s daughter prepared every night of that blissful week that she had resolved to learn the art of this foreign cooking for the long-term health of her new marriage. Tolstoy says that Marco had grown up eating dumplings every day of his boyhood. And that night in a Lankan beach hut, thousands of miles from Venice, when Marco dreamed of them again he realized that what the Chinese noodle left wanting, despite an orgy of eating, was the round, firm, springy shape of a crumpet rising like the moon in front of his face. ‘My little dumpling,’ his mother had cooed so innocently all his childhood, an endearment he found himself echoing around the world as he sweetened bed after bed, searching for immortality in the pillow-heads of love. >> serendipity

food The next morning he had said to Tikka, ‘You know, never mind the noodle, what I really dream about is my mother’s dumplings.’ He described them: round, soft but firm, budding. A mixture of hope and home. ‘Niha, niha,’ Tikka had grinned, ‘but how-do-youdo the eff-dish dumpling?’ At this point in the story, Tolstoy leaned forward as though he himself was about to invent a new dish for the world. ‘When Marco described the business of pounding grain to make flour, mixing it with warm water to make your dough and then kneading it and kneading it and kneading it like that, Tikka noticed the similarity to making noodles in China that Marco had talked so much about at the lunch table the previous day. Tikka got so excited, fellow couldn’t wait to get away and talk to the cook.’ In a wonderful visionary moment he had seen how his imagination could straddle the whole known culinary world of 1294 and pull together Marco Polo’s mother’s dumplings and Kublai Khan’s favourite noodle into a dish that would gobstop the entire island. A steamed rice noodle dumpling disc hinting of youth and love and hope and home that would spread across the sea to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, all of South India, Malaysia, Africa and in time, UK, the USA, the whole world. ‘The next morning the stringhopper was born and our Tikka was jubilant,’ Tolstoy grinned and helped himself to a handful of my freshly steamed ones. ‘Bravo,’ my father cheered. ‘For he on honeydew hath fed, and drunk the milk of Paradise.’ Honeydew? Or should Coleridge have written stringhopper?

Ranil Jayawardene, an agronomist turned amateur historian now very big in pigs, and a former colleague of my father’s, dismissed these imaginings about noodles and stringhoppers. ‘Bunkum. Sheer bunkum,’ he said when I told him Tolstoy’s Marco Polo story. ‘Marco Polo is fantasy. Fiction. One big lie. All this foreign food: hoppers, string hoppers, kavum, kokis, things to do with flour 32

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food and grease, all of this unhealthy stuff comes from western imperialism. Portuguese left-overs, that’s what they are. The Portuguese and the Dutch, they are the ones who left this mixed-up food, two hundred years after your Marco Polo. Then the Britishers brought their mad beverages: coffee, tea, gin-and-tonic. Stuff to spoil our tongues, our language, even our bloody bowels you know.’ To Ranil, cuisine reflected cartography and was determined by history. The New York waffle replicated a grid-city, the folded crepe mimicked those angular Parisian junctions, and the stringhopper was a map of the tangled route the Portuguese had been taken on to confuse their sense of direction when brought before the king. Ranil said that after the Portuguese had subdued the king with Lisbon canon shot and Madeira cake, they made the cooks create the stringhopper as a reminder of how they had arrived. ‘It belongs to a bad time,’ he said.

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But surely the stringhopper, like everything else, must belong to those who make it? Ranil slowly sucked in his thick blue lips, ‘I have to admit,’ he said, ‘your father’s stringhoppers were something else ...’ In the end, for my father, the stringhopper was what knitted reality together as he travelled the world: Beijing, Manila, Kabul and finally London. A mixture of hope and home, art and life, society and solitude. And although each of the vermicelli threads that sprouted out of his stringhopperpress had an intrinsic beauty of its own to tell, the real delight, he would say, was in getting the texture of the dough right. And when he did, he would beam like a poet who had perfected an unbreakable line connecting the past to the present. A real lifeline.

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Romesh Gunasekara’s most recent novel was the criticallyacclaimed ‘Heaven’s Edge’,. His next novel ‘The Match’ will be published in March 2006 also by Bloomsbury.

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sport A breathtaking sunset at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, looking out over the Dambulla Tank reservoir.

Pictures - Copyright Red Dot Tours

The Glorious Game

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There is only one religion in Sri Lanka. No matter if you were born Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Christian, if you are of Sri Lankan origin, then sooner or later you come to the realisation that there is one unifying belief - that cricket is God’s gift to the sporting man. Serendipity takes a tour of some of the finest cricketing venues in the island.

You will see Sri Lankans playing cricket anywhere at anytime - whether it’s schoolboys in crisp whites amidst the emerald green of paddy fields in the hills, fathers and sons playing on the beach as the evening tide washes away the crease, or street urchins playing underneath the street lights of a Colombo suburb at three o’clock in the morning. Visit Colombo during ‘Big Match’ Season when the established boys schools take on each other in a series of legendary battles and you will see trucks bedecked with flags, bands and excited troupes of boys loudly proclaiming their allegiances and loyalties, roaring all over the city.

Walk down a Sri Lankan road when there is a major cricket match going on - say a One Day International or the closing stages of a tight test match - and you won’t even have to switch on your portable stereo to find out what the score is, it will be blaring out of every TV screen and radio. There is no more welcoming a place than Sri Lanka for a cricket tour - declaring your love for the game makes you an an honorary Sri Lankan, a shared devotee of the nation’s obsession. And for those of you whose passions have been aroused by watching England battle Australia for the Ashes over the summer, well now there’s a >> serendipity

sport way you can have a little taster of what international players experience. All you need to do is to pull your cricket-obsessed friends out of their sofas, wrestle the cans of bitter and lager from their hands and embark on a cricketing holiday of a lifetime in that utopia for cricket fans - Sri Lanka. Serendipity spoke to Charlie Austin from Red Dot Tours (www.reddottours.com), a leading travel company who specialise in bringing over groups of expatriate cricket fans for tailor made cricketing holidays. We asked him what made Sri Lanka such an attractive destination for cricket fans. ‘Sri Lanka is (was) good value and the cost advantage over the West Indies and South Africa makes it attractive. Schools were also becoming bored with the West Indies/South African/Australian tours and were searching out for something more exotic” explains Charlie, “India is slightly too daunting for most groups, but Sri Lanka is exotic and laid-back and generally trouble-free. However, prices have increased now though because of rising hotel rates and that is a serious worry, especially for club and university tours.’

(above left) the outdoor nets and (above right) a night game at the R.Premadasa Stadium (below) The mighty Murali

Despite that, Charlie Austin says there is also one major advantage that Sri Lanka offers, “The facilities are also good because you can play on international pitches – in the UK, most average cricketers can only dream of playing at Lord’s or the Oval. Nowhere else in the world is it so easy to hire a Test venue – it’s a major attraction’.

Nowhere else in the world is it so easy to hire a Test venue 36

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Most of the country’s first class cricket is played in Colombo, and it is home to many of the most established clubs in the country. In the plush Colombo 7 suburb known as ‘Cinnamon Gardens’, there’s the Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC), Colombo Cricket Club (CCC), Bloomfield Sports and Athletic Club and the venerable Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), all within a few minutes walk of each other. The SSC is Sri Lanka’s equivalent of Lord’s (even boasting its own Long Room!) and is the most prestigious club on the island, as well as being the headquarters of the country’s cricketing authority, Sri Lanka Cricket. It has a chequered past, having been used as an aerodrome by the

Allied Forces in the Second World War! Nowadays though, the only low flying objects are likely to be googlies. It has superb facilities including indoor and outdoor nets, a well-maintained outfield, a pancake batting square, and a giant scoreboard that can be manned for a small fee. It also boasts other sporting facilities, such as a fully equipped gymnasium, tennis courts, squash courts, and two huge swimming pools. Of the SSC, Charlie comments, ‘ I love the SSC because of the sense of history, and the giant dressing rooms and scoreboard that make you feel like a professional for a day. ‘ Even though it has a packed schedule the whole year round, it is well worth a shot - when, if ever, are you ever going to play at Lords? For echoes of Sri Lanka’s colonial past, try the NCC and the CC which have a more elegant, laidback ambience - think wooden floored pavilions and circular ceiling fans languidly beating back the heat, while you sit in a comfortable planters chair sipping on a fresh lime juice. Both are very well suited for amateur tours, being scenic venues with large tropical trees and white washed walls ringing the grounds, rather than scores of empty terraces. They also feature excellent flat pitches that help the batsmen rack up the runs - though NCC has a good reputation for helping fast bowlers in the morning too! In the suburbs of Maradana, is the gigantic R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, (also known as the Khettarama Stadium) which was the brainchild of the late Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who championed the development of this colossal 35,000 seater concrete bowl, the biggest in Sri Lanka. This day-night venue is best remembered for being the scene where the world record for the highest test total was set - 952/6 declared by Sri Lanka against India in 1997, which saw then Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya and partner Roshan Mahanama sharing the highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket, with 576 for the second wicket. Who knows, the cricket gods at the ground may be munificent enough to reward your own efforts with such largesse! There’s also a new >> serendipity

sport (left) Chaminda Vaas in full flight (below) Under blue skies at Asgiriya Stadium Kandy

training centre behind the stadium with 16 practice pitches and dormitories for the Sony Max Cricket Academy, which started in 2003. Close by is another special stadium, the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium (or the Sara Oval) which is a beautiful old stadium with a long and interesting history. Home to the Tamil Union Club, the stadium is currently being re-built, with a new pool and sports centre being added. To the south are another couple of good venues: the Colts Cricket Club and the Burgher Recreation Club, both of which have excellent pitches, comfortable pavilions, and practice nets - and even though the outfield’s a bit ragged and bumpy, well, that can only help when it comes to fielding practice! Two more venues, which come recommended for school and club tours, are the Moors Sports Club and the Air Force Ground, opposite the Trans Asia Hotel in central Colombo. Moors, in particular, is a quaint old ground, an oasis of peace amongst some of Sri Lanka’s tallest buildings, with a pristine white wall that rings the outfield. Finally, just out of the city there are a couple of stadiums of note in Moratuwa, home to the Tyronne Fernando Stadium (45 mins from Colombo) and Panadura (1 hour from Colombo), ideal for those staying in the tourist coastal resorts of Bentota or Kalutara, and which both have good turf pitches and look forward to fixtures with touring teams.

Asgiriya International Stadium, one of the prettiest grounds in the world, with steep hills, quaint stadium and bountiful foliage on offer 38

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But perhaps the whole point of coming to play cricket in Sri Lanka is not to stay in built-up urban conurbations - but to get out there and explore one of the most beautiful countries in the world, playing in some of the most stunning and breath-takingly beautiful grounds in the world. For instance, if you travel to the North Central Province to Dambulla, you’ll not only see some of the oldest archaeological sites in the country- including UNESCO-protected cave temples which date back to 85 BC - but also the newest international cricketing venue in Sri Lanka - the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. Constructed in an astonishing 167 days in 2000, this magnificent 30,000 seater has a stunning location, looking out over the Dambulla Tank reservoir and the Dambulla Rock; and since its

located in the dry zone, this means that it gives Sri Lanka the ability to host one day matches right through the year - monsoon or no monsoon. The pitch here is pretty bowler friendly, for the seamers in the morning because of the high water table and heavy sweating, and in the afternoon for the spinners when the pitch has a tendency to crumble. An hour’s drive south from Dambulla you will find the Welegedera Stadium in Kurunegala, a breathtakingly beautiful venue, surrounded with tropical trees, with the dramatic back drop of the huge granite ‘Elephant Rock’. It regularly hosts international teams for practice matches, so the facilities and dressing room are in good condition and the pitch is excellent, which favours batsmen because of its true bounce and relatively quick pace - though, beware, the giant rock acts as an oven, making it very hot indeed! Heading further south brings you to the cool climates of the hill country, with the beautiful town of Kandy at its heart. It is home to such attractions as the tranquil Sri Dalada Maligawa, the sacred Temple of the Tooth, where the tooth of the Buddha is said to be stored, as well as the rolling Royal Botanical Gardens and the Peradeniya Campus. It is also home to Asgiriya International Stadium, one of the prettiest grounds in the world, with steep hills, quaint stadium and bountiful foliage on offer. The stadium was primarily a school venue, playing host to Trinity College cricket, but has been re-developed to become a regular fixture for three match Test series. It has a reputation for producing exhilarating matches, with the flat pitch offering a bit more bounce to fast bowlers than the Sri Lankan norm, and the buffalo-grassed outfield also proving lightning fast. Unfortunately, demand is high because of the school and international commitments, but the nearby Peradeniya University’s ground makes for a good alternative, with its natural amphitheatre-like setting. For those of you with a bit more time, a trip deeper into the hills is recommended into the main tea producing area of the country. >> serendipity

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Willow wielding warrior: Marvin Atapattu takes aim

There are many rest houses and small hotels, from where you can explore the sprawling tea plantations built in colonial times, sit on an immaculately manicured lawn and sip the finest tea, while admiring the mountains and the mist in front of you. At Nuwara Eliya, a holiday town where locals escape the heat in April and May, you can find the genteel Radella Club, built by the British planters in the middle of a tea estate. Dating back to 1894, the club is full of memorabilia from early MCC and International Touring teams - though the pitch can vary in quality because very little cricket is now played there. And finally, we head to the South, home to two of the best grounds in the country. The Galle International Stadium is in the charming city of Galle, and features a picturesque 450 year old, UNESCO-protected Dutch Fort as the backdrop, and views of the Indian Ocean gleaming in the distance, with the sea providing a cooling breeze across the ground. It used to be called the Esplanade, and was a common ground for the town where football used to be played. The inaugural first class match was played in 1984 and its first Test match in 1997, when Sri Lanka took on New Zealand. The venue is available much of the year, except in the run-up to the major international tours, when it is much prized as a Test centre. The facilities have large dressing rooms, an indoor training centre, outdoor practice nets, a club bar and a media centre. The pitch itself is hard, dry and flat - a nightmare for fast bowlers, and manna from heaven for batsmen. However, it does bear fruit for spinners, with over 70% of the wickets taken in the nine matches played here taken by slow bowlers. Further down South is Uyanawatte Stadium in Matara, a city that has a long association with cricket - the first cricket match was played here in 1884, and the Matara Cricket Club was born in the year 1904, the bulk of the side consisting of European tea planters. Its native son Sanath Jayasuriya has also gone on to great things, captaining Sri Lanka for many years. The grounds themselves are favoured by visiting international teams for practice, though it has never hosted a ODI or Test match - which

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will hopefully change sometime in the future. The facilities are more limited than Galle, but the pitch is rock solid and true, and the grounds staff disarmingly friendly - as are the locals who will filter in to sit under the trees and watch the cricket, giving friendly encouragement to both sides. For this is one of the nicest things about the country. When it comes to cricket in Sri Lanka, it should be pointed out though that great venues in gorgeous locations are only half of the attraction - its the people you play against who count as much. Charlie comments ‘Cricketers also love the challenge. Playing in the heat and humidity, against an army of spinners, against opponents who take the game very seriously and are extremely talented – it all adds up to a lifetime experience. It improves your cricket too. Finding opposition is never a problem in SL! The tricky issue is matching standards and avoiding one-sided matches. For example, the standard of schools cricket here is generally much higher than in the UK so we usually organize matches against kids two years younger here. For clubs, we tend to use the mercantile teams, old boy teams and I also put together invitation XI’s.’ And just as you can be sure of some pretty fierce opposition on the field, you can be sure of the polar opposite off the field. Once the game’s over, Sri Lankans will show you exactly why they are considered one of the most hospitable peoples in the world. ‘ The genuine warmth and friendliness of Sri Lankans always makes a lasting impression. I am yet to meet anyone (apart from the odd international cricketer!) who has not loved touring SL.’ So this winter, get rid of that subscription to Sky Sports and use the money to get out of cold, grey England and play your heart out - beautiful grounds in a stunning country, a game opposition, and cold beers in the pavilion - who could ask for more? http://www.reddottours.com/ Thanks to Serendib magazine where this article first appeared.

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words & pictures © Gehan De Silva Wijeyratne

the gathering Over the next few days in Sri Lanka, one of the most awesome wildlife spectacles in the world, will continue to gather pace. Over three hundred wild Asian Elephants converge for ‘The Gathering”. Gehan De Silva Wijeyratne reports on this fascinating event

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Sri Lankan wildlife defies conventional wisdom. Small islands are not supposed to have large animals. Someone forgot to tell this to the elephants, the largest terrestrial mammal. Not only is it found in Sri Lanka, the largest concentration of Asian Elephants, a seasonal gathering, takes place on this island. Every year, ‘The Gathering’ takes place on the receding shores of the Minneriya Lake, in the north central province of Sri Lanka. As the dry season fastens its grip on the dry lowlands, leaves wither and fall in the dry deciduous forests, waterholes evaporate into cakes of cracked and parched mud. The elephants must move on in search of food and water.

The elephants, sometimes numbering an awe inspiring three hundred, converge onto the receding shores of Minneriya Tank. Nowhere else in the world will one find such a high concentration of wild Asian Elephants concentrated into a few square kilometers - a fact confirmed by Jayantha Jayawardana author of ‘The Elephant in Sri Lanka’ and a member of the IUCN/Asian Elephant Specialist Group. >>

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‘The Gathering’ at Minneriya is a wonderful opportunity for wildlife enthusiasts and casual travellers to observe the social dynamics of elephants. Matriarchs lead their clans to water, the whole group taking care to safeguard the baby elephants who are always flanked by adults. The basic unit of family society is a mother and calf. Clans of related elephants will coalesce into herds when they converge onto Minneriya in search of a common quest for food, water, cover and mates. The smaller herds group into even larger herds, sometimes numbering over a hundred elephants. Adult bulls mix freely, using their trunks to test the air for adult females who are receptive. When a bull elephant attains maturity, he is expelled from the herd and wanders as a bachelor. At the gathering elephants who have not seen each other for a year, renew acquaintances. Bulls tussle for dominance and calves play with each other. The Minneriya Tank or reservoir is an ancient man made lake constructed by King Mahasen in the 3rd century AD. Many centuries ago,

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these lowlands were farmed for agriculture by an ancient civilization whose mastery of hydraulics was remarkably sophisticated. Today, the ancient reservoir fills during the North-east monsoon and gradually shrinks as the dry season fasten the lowlands in a torpid grip. As the waters recede, lush grassland sprouts attracting elephants in search of food from far away as the jungles of Wasgomuwa and Trincomalee. The lake always retains some water and is surrounded by scrub jungle, which provides shade during the heat of the day. The Asian Elephant is a shade-loving animal. It is not endowed with as good an air conditioning system as its African cousin who has large ears. As evening falls, the elephants emerge from the scrub, in small herds of tens, coalescing into larger herds, sometimes numbering over a hundred. The ‘Gathering’ is truly one of the most unforgettable and fantastic events in the international wildlife calendar”. >>

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When should I visit? The Gathering peaks during the months of August and September. The locals will know whether the herds are gathered at Minneriya National Park or whether the nearby Kaudulla National Park offers better viewing at a particular time. Be guided by local advice and be flexible as to which of the parks you visit. How should I visit? Choose a reputable tour operator who can make your arrangements for accommodation, park entry fees, safari jeep hire, etc. Hotels in the neighborhood can also make arrangements for jeep safaris. What else can I do? Minneriya which is the focus of ‘The Gathering’ is at the center of one of the richest areas for culture and archaeology. The magnificent ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the rock fortress palace of Kasyappa at Sigiriya, the Golden Rock Temple of Dambulla, are all within a half day’s excursion. Wildlife enthusiasts may like to go further to Wilpattu National Park or go primate 46

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watching or birdwatching in the many forests patches in the area. Many of the country’s finest hotels are also in the area. About the author and photographer Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne (gehan@jetwing.lk) is an author and photographer who has published several books and articles to popularise wildlife in Sri Lanka. Books he has lead authored or photographed include ‘A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Sri Lanka’ (OBC (UK) 1997), ‘A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka’ and ‘Magic of Sri Lanka’ (New Holland UK, 2000 & 2005). He is also the CEO of Jetwing Eco Holidays (www.jetwingeco. com) which runs safaris for observing the ‘The Gathering”.

the arts the sea can be terrible, a ‘walking mountain’ bringing death and destruction in its wake. But it can also be a source of rebirth and redemption

dancers in the dark From disco dancing knights to seedy Sri Lankan politicians, from princes on bicycles to Kandyan dancers emerging out of the flames: welcome to ‘Children of the Sea’, a magical evening of Shakespeare, song and dance in Edinburgh, performed by survivors of the Boxing Day Tsunami.

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Pictures - Hana Al-Hadad

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is an annual gathering of culture vultures and amateur-dramatic fanatics, all heading to the charming Scottish city for a dose of theatre, comedy and performance art of all shapes, sizes and hues. Edinburgh in August is a cultural Mecca for harried looking medical students sporting sideburns performing Restoration drama and busty barmaids sporting latex, lustily advertising their wares… and er, promoting their latest show. It’s a melting pot for all kinds of theatrical traditions from the Shakespearean to the bizarre: it’s not Edinburgh until you’ve seen one adaptation of ‘Animal Farm’ complete with tricycles, juggling and real animals. Sometimes with the animals doing the juggling. But bringing a uniquely Sri Lankan feel to the festival this year was a troupe of young actors, directed by veteran producer Toby Gough. The play

is called ‘Children of the Sea’; considering it was loosely based on Shakespeare’s stormy oceanic drama ‘Pericles’, it seems fair enough. But what made this production different, made it more real and moving than many other performances was the fact that the majority of the cast were actually survivors from the terrible tsunami that rocked Sri Lanka on Boxing Day 2004. The genesis of the project starts with a young Red Cross volunteer, Hana Al-Hadad, on a plane to Sri Lanka for a friend’s wedding; she arrived to find chaos. Quickly realising the scale of the operations that are needed to be undertaken, she arranges to make her temporary vacation into a permanent sojourn. She starts participating in the massive rehabilitation operation, slowly helping people rebuild their lives. Her speciality is rehabilitating people through the use of drama and theatre: she finds a group of children and >> serendipity

the arts The smell of Sri Lankan food drifts in the air; saronged musicians on a dais play soft music on a tabla, flute and sitar

Inoshi Sharmila Medavi, 14 yrs old from Weligama holding up a candle during the reunion of Thaisa, Pericles and Marina

Venuri Perera (right) as Thaisa and Rasika Manori, 19 yrs old from Matara as her maid

finds that her work with them starts taking on new meaning. Slowly, something magical begins to take shape. She enlists the help of one of her old friends, Toby Gough. Toby is a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe, having produced many plays with his Theatrum Botanicum company in his signature venue: the beautiful, lush grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Flying into Sri Lanka, he too sees the potential of what is happening and adds his energy and professionalism to the project. Things begin to move quickly; Sri Lankan screen legend Anoja Weerasinghe also gets involved: she too has been involved in helping people rebuild their shattered lives, through her Abhina Foundation.

Manusha Udayangani, 15 yrs old from Mirissa as a Kandyan dancer in the court of King Simonides 50

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Momentum starts to build: and suddenly the distant possibility of going to Edinburgh becomes a staggeringly achievable reality. Of course, nothing is easy. There is sponsorship to be drummedup; passports (which have been swept away in the tsunami) to be obtained; visas to be negotiated.

But as the song says, they get by with a little help from their friends. One of whom happens to be Kylie Minogue. Recovering from her breast cancer scare, she writes letters in support of their case, helping them obtain their visas, and also ends up sponsoring one of the actresses to come to Edinburgh, to the tune of a couple of thousand pounds. Talk about being lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky… So here’s how we flash forward a scant eight weeks to the luscious and atmospheric Royal Botanic Gardens, on a balmy summer evening. The smell of Sri Lankan food drifts in the air; saronged musicians on a dais play soft music on a tabla, flute and sitar. The audience throngs the garden, buzzed after their day of cultural bingeing but still eager to see what the night has in store for them. They don’t have long to wait, for out of the gloom comes the imposing figure of Rawiri Paratene. This legendary New Zealand actor may be familiar to some of you as the evil grandfather in ‘Whale Rider’; his Maori good >> serendipity

the arts Through song and dance, music and speech, the troupe of actors leads the audience through a celebration of hope…

Jehan Aloysius as Antioch

… the whole thing is a visual treat – a feast for the senses

looks and stage presence lend an air of solemn gravitas to the evening. As the night progresses he will be our shaman, our spirit guide taking us by the hand and (literally and metaphorically) leading us through the darkness. The settings are both awe-inspiring and disarmingly simple; the lights of the city of Edinburgh twinkle in the background, while the demarcation of the stage comes in the form of a graceful curve of candles.

Gengeswaran Velmurugan as a Disco Dancing suitor trying to win the heart of Thaisa 52

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The story of Pericles is the story of families torn apart by storms: the storms of life, the storms of nature. Pericles, Prince of Tyre (played by a dashing Hemantha Prasad) loses everything; his family, his voice, his faith. His nemesis is the evil Antioch, played with devilish charm by Jehan Aloysious, one of the most talented character actors to come out of the Sri Lankan theatre scene. We watch as Pericles battles against the elements, losing his wife Thaisa (Venuri Perera) at sea and his daughter Marina (played by Tilani Shamila and Amali Range) to a brothel. Seamlessly intervwoven into Shakespeare’s narrative are flashbacks to the real-life drama that happened on Boxing Day 2004. At the heart of the play is a powerful theme: the sea can be terrible, a ‘walking mountain’ bringing death and destruction in its wake. But it can also be a source of rebirth and redemption. An eloquent idea, imaginatively brought to life by the production.

With subject matter as dark and raw as the tsunami, you would expect the show to be similarly heavy and intense. In fact, it’s actually very enjoyable – enchanting and humorous, with a few bits that had the audience laughing heartily. Through song and dance, music and speech, the troupe of actors leads the audience through a celebration of hope. Its amazing considering that 14 of these young people were survivors of the tsunami; some of them are orphaned, some of them dispossessed. A few were even so traumatised that they couldn’t speak a few months ago. Teenagers, Singhalese and Tamil, working together in harmony created the show using their ideas and their voices, and it couldn’t be more authentic or honest. From disco dancing knights to seedy Sri Lankan politicians, from princes on bicycles to Kandyan dancers emerging out of the flames, the whole thing is a visual treat – a feast for the senses. It shows the best of Sri Lankan culture – the resilience of spirit, the upbeat optimism and the joyous humanity in all it’s complexity. It won a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award and the show is already picking up interest from producers around the world. Let’s hope it travels far and becomes the global success it deserves to be.

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party people

Want to come to our party? Come and celebrate the launch of Serendipity at the funky Apt Bar, Old Street, London on Saturday November 12th. It’s going to be large! Confirmed DJ’s include Radio One’s Nihal and Kiss 100’s Big Ted, playing hip-hop, R’n’B and old school classics. We’re going to be covering the night for Issue 2 - so make sure you dress sexy and stylish! We’ve also got a few surprises in the works. So make sure you book tickets in advance! For advance guest list and table reservations: Call SriLankanParty.com Hotline 07939315455 or email guestlist@srilankanparty.com serendipity

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Controversial. Outspoken. The King of Baila speaks out in the next issue of Serendipity. serendipity

humour

Dumb and Dumberer… The questions below about Sri Lanka are from potential visitors. They were posted on a Sri Lankan Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials. Q: Will I be able to see wild elephants on the streets? (USA) A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Sri Lanka? (UK) A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: I want to walk from Colombo to Matara - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden) A: Sure, it’s only a hundred miles, take lots of water.

Q: I heard Brian Adams and Michael Learns to Rock were playing in SL recently. Can you send me the entertainment schedule? (USA) A: Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Thursday by the Diyawanna Oya straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Is it safe to run around Wanni (the LTTE-held area) in Sri Lanka? (Ireland) A: So it’s true what they say about the Irish. Q: Does it ever get windy in Sri Lanka? I have never seen it rain in Sri Lanka on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK). A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die. Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Sri Lanka?(USA) A: Sure, the hippo racing is every Thursday near the Diyawanna Oya. Come naked. Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Sri Lanka who can dispense Ratlesnake serum. (USA) A: Rattlesnakes live in A-merica which is where YOU come from. All Sri Lankan snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets. 58

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Q: Can I wear high heels in Sri Lanka? (UK) A: You are a British politician, right? Q: Are there supermarkets in Colombo? Is milk available all year around? (Germany) A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal. Try Arrack instead. Q: Which direction is Jaffna? (USA) A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions. Q: Do you have perfume in Sri Lanka? (France) A: No, WE don’t stink.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Sri Lanka, but I forget its name. It’s a kind of huge animal that are dressed and taken in pagents. (USA) A: It’s called an Elephant. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking. Q: Can you tell me the regions in the Western Province where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Germany) A: Yes, gay nightclubs in Negombo. Q: I was in Sri Lanka in 1999 on R+R and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in an apartment at Liberty Plaza. Can you help? (USA) A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour. Try the eigth floor at the same place. Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (Germany) A: Yes, but you’ll have to learn it first Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Sri Lanka? (Italy) A: Only at Christmas. If you like this, may we recommend Sri Lanka’s finest satirical site www.crazylanka.com

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