Serendipity 6

issue 6

Aspirational. Inspirational. Sri Lankan.

Design Issue

Jamie Durie, Annika Fernando Singh and Murad Ismail… redefining the essence of cool

The New Bawa?

Inside the world of Cecil Balmond

My Own Private Island

Taprobane Island by Sir Christopher Ondaatje ISSN 1749-6144 (print) ISSN 1749-6152 (online)

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Taprobane Island

contents 10 Kothu Sri Lankan gossip from around the world 12 Film Issue Launch Highlights from our gathering at The Noble Sage 16 A Thousand Words Devaka Seneviratne 18 Hip Hotels: Taprobane Island Sir Christopher Ondaatje reminisces on the isle of Count de Mauny

26 Cecil Balmond, Astronaut The man behind the scenes steps into the spotlight 32 Elephant Walk Sri Lankan cuisine makes its mark in London 34 Beyond Skin Shiran Sooriya-Arachchi chats about Tank, design and Singapore

38 The Tastemakers From architects to interior designers, we feature the hottest Sri Lankan talent on the planet!

52 Monsoon Rains and Icicle Drops Brand new literature from Libby Southwell

editor’s letter A country as beautiful as Sri Lanka spontaneously produces a certain breed of designers and architects. Architects who understand how to create spaces that exist in harmony with the sunshine and the elements; designers who challenge our perceptions of how we can live our lives with taste and comfort.

That’s why we’re proud to present the first list of Sri Lanka’s Tastemakers, in this, our inaugural Design Issue. Here, we feature veterans like Barbara Sansoni and rising stars like architects Annika Fernando Singh and Murad Ismail who are slowly but surely making an impact in their field.

Serendipity online www.serendipitymag.net

But good design isnt limited to Sri Lanka - as our cover star, Jamie Durie has shown. His award-winning landscape garden firm, Patio in Australia, is pushing out the boundaries of design and winning plaudits from critics and the general public alike.

Much like our other cover star, Cecil Balmond, a man who surely deserves the sobriquet of ‘the new Bawa’. Balmond is the quiet force behind some of the most ambitious architects of the 21st century – icons such as Daniel Liebskind and Rem Koolhaas. In this special profile, we take a look at the man whom 20th century architectural giant Philip Johnson (a man taught

by Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe no less) called ‘my teacher, my mentor’. Not bad for a boy from Kandy.

From our family to yours, much love

Afdhel & the Serendipity Team feedback@serendipitymag.net

Published by Diasporic Media Ltd.

Art Director: Geoff Cowan

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

Picture Editor: Alefiya Akbarally

Email: letters@serendipitymag.net Publisher: Tony Thirulinganathan Editor: Afdhel Aziz

www.serendipitymag.net

Deputy Editor: Suranga Rajapakse Sales Director: Gaddafi Ismail

Fiction Editor: Shiromi Pinto Writers: Soharni Tennekoon, Editor-At-Large: Nihal Arthanayake Digital Marketing Manager: Ravin Fernando

the arts

The Galle Literary Festival Words: Suranga Rajapakse

Aspirational. Inspirational. Sri Lankan.

If you would like to get Serendipity delivered straight to your home, then send a cheque made out to ‘Diasporic Media Ltd’ for £15 for 6 issues to: Serendipity Magazine Flat 1, 36 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EA Please include your name and full address.

Offer applies to UK only.

Following in the wake of the Refreshingly Sri Lanka Literary Festival, held with much success in London, Serendipity is proud to support The Galle Literary Festival; an event that takes place from the 11th to the 14th of January 2007.

The first of its kind, this festival will be held in and around the city of Galle and its magnificent Fort, now a United Nations World Heritage Site.

This world class event promises to feature a host of prominent Sri Lankan writers, of both local and international acclaim, with such distinguished names as Arthur C Clarke, William Dalrymple, Mark Tully, Romesh Gunasekara, Yasmine Gooneratne, David Robson and Kerry Hill on the guest list.

The festival will run over four days and include keynote speakers, panel discussions and writing workshops. An environmental day with the authors and chefs (including Rose Gray and Christine Mansfield) at an organic eco farm, a day at Lunuganga, the country estate of the late great architect Geoffrey Bawa and a host of literary lunches and dinners are also on the cards.

This event comes at a time when interest in both Sri Lankan authors and their contribution to English literature is high. In recent times Sri Lankan authors have proven to be a formidable force, with many authors regularly receiving awards for leading literary prizes. This, together

with a host of new books by international authors that focus on Sri Lankan culture, lifestyle and arts, have given rise to an increasing popularity and curiosity to explore the island which have in the past, attracted such greats as Mark Twain, Pablo Neruda and Anton Chekov.

In a country where the rate of literacy is an impressive 98%, it is surprising to note that comparatively very few people are exposed to English Literature and the organisers hope that the festival can be used as a vehicle to not only promote Sri Lankan authors but to expose Sri Lankan readers to English Literature as well.

The festival will also prove an effective method of promoting Galle and the country’s beautiful Southern Province as a key tourist destination as visitors, both local and international, will get a chance to visit some of the most unique and memorable venues in the area.

Serendipity is proud to support The Galle Literary Festival which takes place from the 11th to the 14th of January, 2007. For further information on how you can participate and support the festival, contact Libby Southwell at libbysouthwell@yahoo.com.au or Ameena Hussein at tangalla@sltnet.lk serendipity

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kothu

kothu Pix: James Fennell

The best of Sri Lankan arts, culture and beyond…

LIVING IN SRI LANKA Thames & Hudson’s 2006 publication, Living in Sri Lanka by James Fennel and Turtle Bunbury is a visual feast of Sri Lankan architecture, striking interiors and the awe-inspiring landscapes that surround them. The book captured the abundance of the multi-ethnic structural design which combines Buddhist statues, Christian tapestries, Islamic footstalls, and Hindu sculpture.

The choice of houses is illustrated with over 200 colour photographs and showcases everything from colonnaded verandas and wandering balconies to vast double doors and high ceilings.

Living in Sri Lanka has already received critical praise for its positive portrayal of post-tsunami Sri Lanka. While The Financial Times proclaimed it “a sumptuous portrait of an unforgettable architectural landscape”, The Essential KBB declared it Book of the Month. Look out for a further collaboration between Fennel and Bunbury in the upcoming book, Vanishing Ireland, due to be released in October.

JAHCOOZI She’s half Sinhalese and half Tamil but was born in London. These days, Sasha Perera and her trail-blazing electronica crew - Jahcoozi, call Berlin home. Only if it was as easy to describe their pigeon hole defying music.

Blip hop, raga-tech, RnB punk – a veritable list of genres thrown in a cocktail shaker and served with attitude. Lacing this seemingly sonic madness is Sasha’s off-kilter rapping and crooning that takes aim at everything from ketamine freaks on “Black Barbie” to Asian racism and sexism in “Asian Bride Magazine”. It might be delivered in piss take fashion but makes for some serious dance music that’s taking clubs, raves, and music festivals around the world by storm. And until recently, Sri Lanka was the last place on her mind. But these days she just can’t get enough of the crazy island in the sun. Find out more in the next Music Issue of Serendipity.

YOUTUBE ROCKERS Sri Lankan rock/ metal bands have been banging on the doors of international recognition for some time now. While the quality of music has improved admirably within some of the more established bands such as the very heavy Stigmata, most bands haven’t received an opportunity to offer their music to an international audience; a move that would expose their talent and help them gather some needed constructive criticism from the global fan base. Finally it seems that one band has ingeniously broken through by riding on the ever-increasing popularity of one of the web’s hottest sites: youtube.com. Just search “Paranoid Earthling” on the site to see the video to the band’s local hit “69”. It’s already attracted a few comments and could prove to be a much needed medium for the future stars of rock n’ roll.

For more info on the book, log onto www. jamesfennell.com

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Art with Heart

Words: Afdhel Aziz Pix: Soharni Tennekoon

On a warm August night, Serendipity teamed up with Teardrop Relief and The Noble Sage, London’s premiere gallery for South Asian art, for the launch of its first Film Issue. Film makers like producers Suran Goonatilaka (whose recent film ‘Scenes of a Sexual Nature’ features Ewan McGregor and Sophie Okenado) and Sai George (‘In the Name of Buddha’) mingled with artists, collectors and aficionados in the elegant and spacious gallery in North London.

Guests sipped on chilled white wine and feasted on delicious cutlets as they took in the dazzling array of Asian art hanging on the walls. With the current boom in South Asian art, the market is heating up and professional and amateur collectors alike were on the look out for a bargain.

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The centrepiece of the evening was the auction, run by the genial and entertaining owner of the gallery, Jana Manuelpillai. To warm up the crowd, he started by giving away a couple of pieces for free, which certainly got everyone’s attention!

Then the bidding got underway, with offers coming in fast and furious, under the lights of the camera crew from BBC2’s ‘Desi DNA’ TV show, which was covering the evening.

The evening ended with the happy buyers collecting their purchases, safe in the knowledge that they were also contributing to a good cause – 10% of everything sold that evening went to Teardrop Relief. The very definition of art with a heart. serendipity

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fashion

The Elements of Style

To the fashion cognoscenti of London, Savile Row may be more famous but Jermyn Street has always been a byword for discrete, elegant style since the first store opened there in 1707. These days however, its not stuffy old gents with mutton chop sideburns but trendy young Asian and Afro-Caribbean men who are seen strolling along the pavements carrying bags from such venerable stores as male barbers Trumpers, Czech and Speake toiletries, and foodie heaven Fortnum and Mason.

Classic is the new contemporary and the old establishment, it seems, is the New Black.

At the heart of Jermyn Street, is menswear store Herbie Frogg, and at its heart in turn is a Sri Lankan, the elegant and eloquent Ranes Perera.

Since his arrival in London in the Sixties, he has always had a penchant for fashion, working in haute couture and retail alike before finding his niche at Herbie Frogg. Working closely with its owner Jeremy Klass, he has helped build Herbie Frogg into a cornerstone of the fashion establishment.

What is style?

Style is when everything you have just….fits.

That’s what Jeffrey Klass has done with Herbie Frogg – redefined style and made sure that everything we stock, whether its shirts, ties, cufflinks – everything starts with style.

Where did your penchant for fashion come from?

When I was younger my mother used to drag me to Bombay to go sari shopping with her! I’m

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an accountant by trade, but I think there’s a lot of excitement in retail. It’s also a generational thing – people bring their sons to the store, and sometimes even their grandsons!

Whose style do you admire?

George Alagiah, Jeremy Paxman, Jon Snow.

What are your predictions for the coming season?

Double-breasted suits, colourful braces, bow ties What do you think that Asian men can learn about fashion?

Well, the first thing is that lots of money and style don’t necessarily go hand in hand! I watch people on the train, and even people who wear expensive suits sometimes don’t wear them properly. I can tell just by looking at them that the sleeves are too short or the trousers are too long.

Good style has become a lot more affordable now - a good shirt used to cost £65 pounds, but at Herbie Frogg we do four great shirts for £100.

Asian men also have very specific colour combinations that work for them and that’s what our stylists in-store can help put together.

That about sums up the discerning careful approach of Herbie Frogg. Off the peg but not off the cuff.

Serendipity magazine is teaming up with Herbie Frogg to give its readers an exclusive 10% discount. Simply register on the Herbie Frogg website to take advantage of this great deal. www.herbie-frogg.co.uk serendipity

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a thousand words

a thousand words

A Thousand Words This section aims to showcase the work of exciting new photographers from around the world. Whatever the subject matter we’re looking for a single image that is worth – you guessed it – a thousand words. If you’re interested in seeing your work here, please email our Picture Editor Alefiya, at alefiya@serendipitymag.net

This picture: “I was on my way back from an assignment in Anuradhapaura, I Stopped on the Kala Wewa bund and got some pictures on the D SLR and left. Luckily I took a wrong turn and came back to the same spot. The light was a bit better, so I repeated it on transparency.”

The photographer Devaka Seneviratne For Seneviratne, photography was a hobby until he started working at Studio Times Ltd., Colombo. While the technicalities of using an SLR only became known after someone stole his ‘point and click’ camera, this made him switch to a heavy, temperamental but extremely reliable Zenit.

His influences Founder of Studio Times and legendary photographer, Nihal Fernando, photo related books and magazines - whether it’s a collection of Magnum’s finest or simply an editorial in Practical Photography.

His favourite Lankan things “An island that can give you four seasons in a day’s drive and bloody good food anywhere in between, has too many to list.”

His dream assignment “A black and white study of life in the North and East of Sri Lanka. It’ll either change or disappear forever soon, whichever gets there first.”

About his camera bag “Ranges from a Hasselblad CM 500, along with a set of Carl Zeiss optics to a Nikon D-SLR and Nikkor lenses.

Always in the kit - a Nikon FM2 and some Velvia.”

Devaka Seneviratne for Studio Times Ltd

To find out more about Devaka’s work visit:

devakaseneviratne.blogspot.com www.studiotimes.net Email: devaka.s@gmail.com 16

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hip hotels

hip hotels:

Count de Mauny Island

De Mauny is a name out of my past. Over sixty years ago our family, before Ceylon independence, used to rent the island for the most idyllic holidays we spent together. That was in the mid 1940’s. Ages and worlds ago. I cannot remember any point in my childhood when I was happier- swimming in the surf, being careful of the undertow, trudging across to the Rest House for string hoppers and prawn curry. I remember distinctly the north-west room where I slept, with

its view over the palm-fringed Weligama bay and its wide golden beach dotted with catamarans bordering the endless blue Indian Ocean. There is nothing between this tiny island and the South Pole.

I have always wondered who Count de Mauny was, and I even have in my collection a small watercolour of the Taprobane island drawn by the Count himself before he started work on his >>

This picture courtesy of SriLanka InStyle Pvt Ltd.

Words: Sir Christopher Ondaatje Pix: James Fennell

Last night, I dreamt I was on Count de Mauny Island again. I am sitting in the Weligama Rest House on a sweltering humid afternoon as I write. The Rest House overlooks the tiny island immediately across the Weligama beach and approachable only at low tide on foot. At high tide one either wades neck high or is carried to the island de Mauny named Taprobane – the old name for Ceylon and Sri Lanka.

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hip hotels magnificent house.

Count de Mauny Talvende was born on March 21st 1866 in Le Mans, France. His father was a banker with a questionable reputation, and his mother provided the de Mauny name which he added to his own. It was from her that he adopted the title ‘Count’. When he was 32 in 1898 he had the good fortune to marry Lady Mary Byng, daughter of the Earl of Strafford. After the wedding the newlyweds took up residence at the sumptuous Azay-le-Rideau Castle in the Loire which de Mauny tenuously turned into a type of university for foreign students. A son was born, and later a daughter. However, a nasty scandal soon erupted when the so-called Count was charged with “making advances” to the young Eton-educated Oliver Brett – the son of the influential Viscount Esher- who was sent to the Count’s chateau to learn French. Not surprisingly at this time too the Count’s marriage began to crumble, and when the University at Azay-le-Rideau failed, the couple returned to England separately but in 1908 reunited and moved to Sandel (now Sandle Lodge) in Wiltshire.

There began the Count’s passion for gardening.

He continued to develop the garden at Sandle Lodge, and to writing his first book The Peace of Suffering 1914-1918 which was published

by Grant and Richards in London in 1919. The morbid 96 page publication revealed that the Count had become a traveller and had made at least a single visit to the island of Ceylon in 1912 when he was invited there by Sir Thomas Lipton the tea magnate. Formal bankruptcy, disenchantment with England, and severe marital problems were good reasons for the Count’s decision to reside permanently in Ceylon. It is probable too that he was paid to stay away by his wife.

A second book Gardening in Ceylon was published by H.W. Cave in 1921. And, then, quite by chance, in 1925 the Count saw the island that was to become his final home. “A red granite rock, covered with palms and jungle scrub, rising from the Indian Ocean - an emerald in a setting of pink coral.” >> 20

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hip hotels The truth is, Count de Mauny was a landscape architect of remarkable ability. Once he found Taprobane island in 1925 he set about designing and building the house that he described in his third and final book Gardens of Taprobane published by Williams and Northgate in London in 1937. The foundation stone was laid on February 1st 1927 and he named the island Taprobane because it suited the rock for its “pear shaped outline that is like that of a miniature Ceylon.” Before de Mauny reclaimed and named the island it was used as a cobra dump. “All cobras found in the locality were brought in sacks to the island and left there because snakes are not normally killed in Sri Lanka. And before de Mauny could start building and gardening on Taprobane he had to get rid of the cobras.”

The remarkable house – covering a surface of 25 by 25 yards, with a broad terrace around it, was octagonal in shape and gave eight different aspects of the exceptional view. “The North facade looked on to the mainland and was the entrance to the house whilst the South facade was the principal frontage with a wide terrace, a lawn and an Italian garden. Overall, there would be echoes of the Italian lakes, the Isle of Capri, some details of the Kandyan style, Alhambra-style carved wooden pillars and even some elements of the Vatican gardens.” De Mauny called his central hall the Hall of the Lotus. It was also octagonal, 30 feet high, lined with panels of inlaid wood which held a design of lotus buds and flowers. All the rooms, as they still do now, converged in the main hall and a frieze inspired by the Sigiriya frescoes ran along the pure white stone walls. Outside, and visible anywhere from the central hall, towering palms and tropical foliage could be seen everywhere, and “a carpet of maidenhair ferns was relieved by the light bronze of a creeper with clumps of Eucharest lilies. The colouring of Caledium Brasiliens completed the picture.” The Count also, simply because he didn’t want to live with only local furniture, started designing his own.

Eventually he employed over 200 carpenters and inlayers and his furniture, which he sold, is now 22

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highly valued in Sri Lanka – if you can find it.

But it is the house which really is de Mauny’s masterpiece – built to be in full harmony with its gardens around it and the sea beyond – a brilliant reflection of de Mauny’s imagination and his skill as a designer. He lived in his glorious creation until he died in 1941. He encouraged many people – kings, princes, duchesses, aristocrats – and other famous personalities to visit. He was seldom alone. Arthur C Clarke recalls “I have never actually lived (on the island) and only visited it – wading across the shallow water – a few times. I have taken many visitors there, Ken Tynan, Paul Bowles, Gore Vidal ( I think) - and I believe Tennesee Williams stayed there for a while……The house usually looked deserted!” fter de Mauny died his house and island was auctioned in 1942 and “entered a period of sad neglect in the hands of disinterested owners.

But then in 1951 Paul Bowles bought the island for £5,000. Years later he described it in How to live on a Part-time Island as “a dome shaped island with a strange looking house at its tip and, spread out along its flanks, terraces that lost themselves in the shade of giant trees.” Bowles concluded that de Mauny did not want a real house with an interior but a pavilion that would be a continuation of the landscape. He added “like most things born of fanaticism (it was) wildly impractical.” Later Arthur C. Clarke, who visited the island again when Bowles owned it, found the house in a sorry state. In his Reefs of Taprobane he summarised “If one wanted to draw a moral, one could say that it (all) proved the vanity of worldly possessions. But moralising is not profitable in Ceylon, which is not the least of the country’s attractions.”

Bowles sold the island to the Irish writer Shaun Mandy in 1956 because his wife loathed it.

In 1955 Bowles wrote in his An Island of My Own “when I finally did sell the island, the proceeds were impounded by Financial Control of Sri Lanka, so that I have never seen any of my money. One can’t always win – but one can always remember.” Then, when Robin >> serendipity

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Maugham reached the island in the 1970’s the house was taken over by rats; and ten years later the Dutch writer/photographer Peter H. ten Hoopen lived on the island for a month and found that his family were reduced to using only a single corner of one bedroom as the other bedrooms were completely flooded when it rained. In his book De liefdeskeven (fraternising with the natives) he added that he found the solitude oppressive, and that the constant rioting on the mainland made it inadvisable to leave the island.

Although the island therefore seemed to have no useful future, de Mauny’s legend continues. It is now owned by Sri Lankan ex-patriate Desmond de Silva, Q.C. the distinguished London barrister, and is leased to Geoffrey Dobbs an enigmatic businessman from Hong Kong who has restored the island to its former glory. (see page XX for more exploits from Taprobane Island) De Mauny created a legendary folly of incredible genius and beauty. Many have lost their souls 24

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to the dangerously seductive island of Ceylon; many have stayed, and many have written about it. But few have left behind such a romantic and ambitious monument. It is not surprising that we old colonials still refer to the island as “Count de Mauny Island”.

Count De Mauny Island, or Taprobane Island as it is now more commonly known, lies on 2 1/2 acres of tropical fantasy with nothing between the island and the South Pole. Accommodation is provided in the form of five en-suite bedrooms, with spacious living areas, balconies, verandahs, gardens and an infinity pool.

The island is fully staffed and can be rented by contacting sunhouse@sri.lanka. net or on +94 (0) 912222624. For further details logon to www.srilankainstyle.com.

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Contact ads@serendipity.net

people

Cecil Balmond, Astronaut Words: Afdhel Aziz Pix: ©Arup/Thomas Graham

Architecture is no longer simply about buildings to live and work in; it is a direct extension of our human identity, a reflection of who we are as a species - and who we hope to become. In the world of contemporary architecture, it is always the architects who are the stars of the show. Whether it’s Daniel Libeskind sharing his soaring vision of the Liberty Tower in New York, or Frank Gehry revealing the truly awe-inspiring ripples and curves of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain – it’s the architects who get the spotlight. But just as the buildings they create rely on a strong inner core to keep their shimmering facades aloft, the architects themselves have to rely on their more pragmatic - and reticent - alter ego: the engineer. >>

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people “He’s a thinker, a mystic, he’s not your average engineer”

All too often, they are a breed for whom invisibility is a pre-requisite. But amongst star architects around the world, there is one name that is repeated again and again: Cecil Balmond.

This soft spoken Sri Lankan-born engineer has risen through the ranks to become the engineer of choice amongst the architectural cognoscenti. But when you begin to investigate his world, you soon begin to realise that his approach isn’t just rooted in the hard realities of construction - stresses and strains, mathematics and physics - but in a more lyrical aesthetic that, like the buildings he gets involved in, isn’t all that it appears to be on the surface. He is an astronaut, in the purest, rarest sense of the word; an explorer of space.

The story of Cecil Balmond begins in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the 1940’s where his father Hugh was a history lecturer and his mother taught piano. The young Balmond was much like any other young boy his age, playing cricket and gudu in the dusty street outside his house, immersed in ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’

by Arthur Conan Doyle and lying on the parapet wall at night looking up at the myriad patterns in the stars above him. At age 10, his father was 28

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elevated to a new job at the University of Peradeniya, in Kandy and his universe changed. The heat and dust of Colombo were left behind, for the green terraced paddy fields and lush vegetation, of moonlight creating ghosts in the trees, growing up to the sounds of the Benny Goodman Quartet playing ‘Whispering Diana’ on his father’s Bush Black Box valve phonogram. All in all, a weaving together of influences and memories for the young Cecil, that played their part later on in his life.

Fast forward to the present, and at 56, Cecil is probably at the top of his game. He has two advanced engineering degrees from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and a third from the University of Southhampton. He is also deputy Chairman of Ove Arup and Partners, probably the most dominant architectural engineering firm of the last forty years, from their work on the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre in Paris, to the Tate Modern in London and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters in Hong Kong, plus key projects around the world too numerous to mention. He teaches and lectures at architectural schools all over the world, and is the author of several books, most intriguingly >> serendipity

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people Number 9, a fascinating journey into the world of mathematics seen from the point of view of a young boy.

But to get an idea of just how stellar a talent Balmond is, you need to leave behind the dry as dust list of achievements and accreditations and look to those who swear by him - the architects.

Nowadays, good contemporary architecture occupies a space in our lives like good food or fine wine; architects are the new master chefs, the new winemakers, and we appreciate their latest creations the way we’d appreciate a new dish from a Michelin 3 star chef. And amongst the truly famous architects, Balmond’s is the name to drop.

The building goes beyond the habitual division between program and history, form and function, architecture and engineering, by offering new possibilities within the horizon of an evolving cultural and educational resource.’ And according to him, he couldn’t have created it without Balmond’s input. “He’s a thinker, a mystic, he’s not your average engineer brought from the outside to check things out. He’s there with us from the very beginning with his keen insights and his keen design ability. Most engineers don’t see engineering as an evolving adventure in design, but Cecil does.”

But there’s the inherent paradox in Balmond at the moment. He is at the top of his game - but one gets the impression that he wants to change Architectural superstar Rem Koolhaas has worked the game itself. No longer is the quiet, behindwith Balmond on more than 30 projects since the the-scenes role of engineer enough for him - no mid-1980’s, including the three that have made more Best Supporting Oscars. He has got into Koolhaas name - the Bordeaux villa, the Kunsthal trouble before with previous architectural partners in Rotterdam, and the new Seattle Public Library. over the provenance of ideas and ownership of Today Koolhaas wont even start a project until concepts, when he went to court with Foreign Ofhe has consulted with Balmond . “When we work fice Architects over a project in Yokohama; after together, there’s more to it than an engineer saying having won the contract with Balmond’s input you need a column here, support there...Cecil has being essential to their work, they cut him out changed my outlook on structure and enabled me of the project and started working with another to re-think architecture.” structural engineer for the execution, claiming If most engineers begin to approach a problem that Balmond and Arup were too expensive. It was with a structured, logical, left brain approach, a bitter pill to swallow. He has issued his maniBalmond’s speciality is doing the opposite - start- festo, a book entitled ‘Informal: New Structure in ing with the intuition, with emotion, with all Architecture’, in which he urges his fellow engithose right brain qualities that engineers aren’t neers to ‘ release from the world of engineering, supposed to deal in. German Daniel Libeskind and feel free to enter architecture’. He has fans whose controversial design for the Liberty Tower in high places. Koolhaas himself has twice asked in New York has made him a household name, Balmond to join him as business partner and recently collaborated with Balmond on the Spiral, creative equal, working as architect and creative an imaginative extension to the Victoria and equal. So far, Balmond has resisted the temptaAlbert Museum’s contemporary wing in London. tion - but who knows, one day, he may come out of Even though political wrangling has crippled the the limelight and join the pantheon of names that project, the critics have been unanimous in their shape the existence of our cities - and of our lives. admiration for the design, a decentred spiral that explodes onto the street in a startling façade. As Libeskind describes it ‘The Spiral Extension to With thanks to Serendib the Victoria & Albert Museum shares in the spirit of the twin inscription carved on Cromwell Tower magazine, where this article Entrance, Inspiration and Knowledge, and carries first appeared. that message into concrete space and its content.

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In our next issue:

50 Hottest Things to do In Sri Lanka (and our golf star Amrith’s secret haunts…)

food

Elephant Walk

out a mild chilli-sweat. Or perhaps we were too busy eating to notice.

Words: Soharni Tennekoon Pix: Courtesey of Elephant Walk

Serendipity sent Soharni Tennekoon, complete with high expectations and a homesick appetite to indulge in a good Fish Curry and Pol Sambol at Elephant Walk, the Sri Lankan and South Indian restaurant in West Hampstead, London.

A relative new-comer to West End Lane’s smorgasbord of grub establishments, Elephant Walk sits comfortably in its busy setting, its batik elephant name board subliminally beckoning its passers-by. A stone’s throw from the effortlessly hip West Hampstead tube, it’s slap bang in the centre of the action. Elephant Walk is the brainchild of husband and wife duo Kannan Sivanathan and Deepthi Rajapakse, who opened up the restaurant last summer. Renowned critic and past Glenfiddich Restaurant Writer of the Year Charles Campion, included Elephant Walk in his list of the Best Newcomers of 2006.

The ambience defies the norm of ‘Sri Lankanness’ - cue deep red walls interspersed with elephant themed batik wall-hangings, dark wood tables and flickering candles. Elegant and inviting?

Certainly. Necessarily Sri Lankan? Well, maybe not so much. But on a summer’s eve, a few tables are placed outside where you can experience the bustling street life and hurtling traffic, which, in terms of ambience, is as loyal to Sri Lanka as it gets. While fitting in with its slick, trendy neighbours, and almost bordering on a swish café, Elephant Walk doesn’t wear its vibrant ethnicity on its sleeve.

Catering to a western palette, the restaurant does well to strike that happy balance between staying true to its fiery roots and not giving its unwitting patrons a case of Delhi-belly. For those used to more than a mere sprinkling of chilli in their curries, remember, you will have to specifically ask for it. Needless to say we asked for everything as-hot-as-you-can-make-it and didn’t even break

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But it certainly hit the spot. The (oddly named) King Fish curry was sublime, despite the menu refusing to give any clues as to how it’s cooked.

Cooked in creamy coconut milk, chilli and traditional curry powder, the orange-brown thora mallu curry had just the right consistency of gravy and the perfect chilli-lime tang to it. The flavour of the Kukulmus meanwhile bore a slight resemblance to the fish but held its own thanks to tender, succulent meat and a thick, familiartasting gravy cooked to near-perfection. The Pol Sambol was a mutual favourite, owing to its fresh coconut, miris and lime based goodness. And the Vambatu, a traditional Sunday-lunch-inspired brinjal curry, bowled us over with its rich, gooey texture and spicy, lime-infused zest.

Sadly, there were two things sorely missing from this otherwise versatile and tantalising menu: string-hoppers and hoppers. Although there was an incarnation of the regular string-hopper in the style of string-hopper buriyani, it was a poor cousin to the outstanding plain inthi-appa.

Hoppers didn’t get in a look in, although both, we were informed, are soon to be added to the menu.

The less authentic, Middle Eastern-inspired Devilled Lamb was also a big hit. Brought to the table spitting and hissing (the dish, not the beast), it was an unusual, but welcome addition the menu.

Chopped red and green peppers and onions accompanied the tender char-grilled meat, marinated in a spicy, chilli gravy. The Ala thel thala, wasn’t our favourite (it was more ala and less thel thala), but was good enough to have been eaten to oblivion, dish left ravaged.

The staff was friendly and eager to please. It’s an enjoyable way to spend a Tuesday eve with friends, where it’s busy enough to enjoy the atmosphere but not too busy that you struggle to hear each other. But just prepare yourself to be temporarily immobile for a good few minutes after you eat. Spicy or mild, this is Lankan food after all. serendipity

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Words: Asif Ansar Pix: Tomas Ho When I first arrived in Singapore, a friend of mine asked me to meet him at the landmark Borders bookshop in the famous Orchard Road shopping area. I wouldn’t have any trouble finding it, I was told. While waiting for him, I marvelled at the thousands of books and magazines – surprisingly all available for reading at the store, even if you weren’t going to buy them.

Six years later, I was back at the same spot but this time, it was to meet the man who played an instrumental role in the design of this 35,000 square foot store which boasted a vast bookstore, 34

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two outdoor cafes, one indoor dining restaurant, a children’s reading section and a music and video department. Meet Shiran Sooriya-Arachchi, the “British-made Sri Lankan” and founder of TANK – a Singapore-based firm that is at the vanguard of the fast changing world of style and design.

“It’s great to be back,” beams Shiran as we grab a seat at Borders Café overlooking Orchard Road, a street buzzing with shoppers on a sunny Saturday evening.

says the 37-year-old, who was part of a two-man team for local firm Designphase that oversaw the project from conception to the opening of the store. “It [Borders] became successful because it changed the way books were sold in Singapore. Before Borders I remember walking into bookstores and wondering why everything was vacuum wrapped – it didn’t make sense.

The Borders shopping experience is about accessibility. You are invited to browse. Simple.”

conscious Singapore after working for top brands such as Clinique and Aramis in Europe and Asia.

So where better to set up a design house than in Singapore – a garden city-state with gleaming structures of glass, steel and concrete; a hop, step and a jump away from other vibrant hotspots like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong.

“Borders has become a landmark. I walk through the store now and see people enjoying it and I say to myself… I did this. It makes me very proud,”

Shiran, a former-store design manager for cosmetic giant Estee Lauder in the Asia-Pacific region, set up TANK three years ago in design-

“There are a plethora of design firms in Singapore – but this is how we differ: We care more about content than style – but we are slave to

But does design-conscious Singapore need yet another design firm?

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people “…we enjoy the conflict of seeing incongruent elements work,”

cynicism creeping across my face, he is quick to assure that he firmly believes in this credo and it’s not nonsensical, pretentious prattle spouted by creative types. He points to one of his current projects: “When we designed the Art and Design Library (for a Singaporean university) we brought into the design group a team of conceptual writers. This was important to us. We knew we were embarking on a milestone project. By widening our influences we were able see the project from other points of view. This changed our design. Good design isn’t skin deep.”

Besides the design for the new library, TANK is also involved in remodelling a penthouse in Singapore and a house over looking a bird sanctuary in Colombo, Sri Lanka. “They are all cool projects. The house is like Frank Gehry meets Geoffrey Bawa!” Shiran crows excitedly.

neither. Our work reflects our backgrounds – it’s cosmopolitan and multicultural – we enjoy the conflict of seeing incongruent elements work,” says Shiran, who holds a degree in Interior Design from London’s Kingston University School of 3D Design, and a part 1 qualification from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Shiran, who moved to Singapore from Sri Lanka in 1997, adds that the company also benefits from associate director Samuel Leong, who sits on the board of two major local design firms– Freespace and Intent. “This partnership allows us to leverage on skills giving clients exciting, creative 36

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and correct solutions,” says Shiran.

These days, TANK – which goes by the motto “God is in the details” - dabbles in a variety of creative fields such as design, architecture, film, and even toys. Not bad then for a company with a name that was picked up while trying to crash a Matrix party. “In 2003, I tried to gatecrash the Matrix Revolutions wrap-up party, with a friend, in Sydney. I was staying at the Establishment - a superb boutique hotel on Tank Street – near the Rocks. While she called all the contacts she had for us to scam our way in (no it didn’t work) I caught the club name – Tank – obviously,” says

Shiran, who considers crashing house parties, making short films, dhal curry, porn, and like most self-respecting Sri Lankans, cricket, among his interests. “It sounded good, simple and strong.

It’s partly Sanskrit. It means to hold or contain. I liked how the word came from Asian origins but also how time has changed its meaning – for most of us anyway. It felt right for what I was trying to do. Where I wanted TANK to go. What I wanted it to say.”

Shiran says TANK’s mission is to create work that has a “conscience, rather than design just being about skin or surface”. Noticing a hint of

Despite his already impressive resume, Shiran has managed to add another feather to his cap. “I teach at Nanyang Technological University in the School of Art, Design and Media. Its Singapore’s first degree programme in art and design. It’s really exciting. We’ve just started our 2nd year and I teach in the 3D and 4D units (which is all about media that changes over time),” says Shiran who has by now convinced me that he is a superhuman workaholic or an outlandish, mutantlike, space alien character from one of his many sketches.

And much to my envy, he still finds the time to frequently visit Sri Lanka – only a three and half hours flight away. “I go to Sri Lanka all the time, man! Whenever I’m free. It’s too intoxicating to live without,” says Shiran, who worked there as a graphics manager for YA TV after his stint in Europe.

So what does he miss about Sri Lanka? “The peace,” he says very grimly as we polish off our sandwiches in the setting sun. And as if he read my mind, he quips with a grin: “And a nice kottu.” serendipity

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THe

TASTEmakERs

Design; Regardless of its form, be it architectural, interior or landscape, design plays an integral role in our lives. Instinctively, we seek out spaces that are in tune with our environment and create a harmony between taste and comfort.

In this feature, Serendipity shines the spotlight on the quiet heroes in the field of design; personalities that continue to push the envelope and create magic in the process. We present, Sri Lanka’s very own Tastemakers.

Words: Suranga Rajapakse, Alefiya Akbarally

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people “The tragedy is that we don’t realize the potential of the country in architecture or design and keep going on borrowed things from the past. We are trapped and fool ourselves with borrowed culture. We are great at awarding ourselves without any benchmark and we really have to start looking beyond.”

PhiLIp WEErarATne, ARCHITECT Pix: Ravindu Karunanayake

Weeraratne’s recent work includes the Dialog Future Centre –a work in interior architecture which experimented with alternative materials, the Jayawickrama House which treated traditional spaces in a contemporary manner and last but not least work with famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando on the Mirrisa Weligama corporate retreat cum private bungalow. He currently works with another talented Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban. Essence of good design?

Spaces and forms which explore your senses; that take the user to a peak in their senses while maintaining a sense of practicality.

Sources of inspiration?

Meditation, Sigiriya and the ancient gardens of Rithigala, Arankale etc

Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

Kiribath and a Lankan beach Guilty pleasure?

Spending too much time in my make believe world.

Motto?

Trust in God and just BE.

Bad taste?

A man wearing a long sleeved shirt and rubber slippers together!

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BARBARA SANSONI, DESignER Pix: Dominic Sansoni

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An artist, writer and an entrepreneur, Sansoni needs hardly any introduction in the design circles of Sri Lanka. Best known for her textile designs, hand-woven panels and individual pieces, she is the Chairperson and Chief Designer of Barefoot, the company of rural hand-weavers that Sansoni founded in the mid 1960’s. Dedicating herself to the investigation of colour, she has exhibited her paintings and woven panels all over the world. Passionate about architecture, she published several books including ‘Viharas and Verandahs’ and ‘Architecture of an Island’ and won the JD Rockefeller III Travel Award in 1970 and the Sri Lanka Presidential Award for exports in 1984.

Essence of good design?

Vision …Balance …strong construction

Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

Yala’s birds, animals and jungle

Sources of inspiration?

The coast at sunset ….mountains at dawn

Guilty pleasure?

Ice cream

Bad taste?

Women yelling and laughing loudly at the table

Motto?

Never explain serendipity

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“Ego is the designer’s worst enemy”

ANNika FErnando Singh, INTErior DESignER Pix: Varuna Gomis

Defining Interior design as the manipulation of space and decoration as the embellishing of a space, her past projects include The Beach Hotel – Negombo and several residences both in Sri Lanka as well as in India. Believing that good design is based on trust Fernando Singh spends much time understanding the psychology of the client in order to cater to each individual need. She is presently working on the Water’s Edge apartments and Hotel, the refurbishment of Bentota Beach Hotel and on the Basera Hotel in India.

Essence of good design?

I believe comfort to be the core of good interior design; a sense of scale and intelligent lighting.

Sources of inspiration?

Everywhere! I love to travel and my most precious possessions are my books and magazines.

Main Pic: Private residence Colombo, Sri Lanka Inset: Interior detail, private residence, Sydney, Australia 44

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Bad taste?

Too many things! Sanitary ware and toilet paper in any colour other than white; coloured garden lighting; plastic flowers; white shoes; socks and sandals; need I continue?!

Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

Crab curry Guilty pleasure?

Karaoke and chocolate… separately!

Motto?

Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.

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people Poolside, Water’s Edge, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Murad Ismail, ArchITECT Pix: Eresh Weerasuriya

Ismail’s career milestones include Water’s Edge - Colombo, the Four Seasons’ in Maldives and Bridge House – Athurugiriya. He is currently busy on several residences and the Waters Edge Hotel.

Essence of good design?

Less is more Sources of inspiration?

On the golf course and 40m under the sea Bad taste?

Many Lankan women’s hairstyles – e.g. the SAF athletes, Despised the backcombed puffed fringe look!

Guilty pleasure?

Boys Toys – Gadgets Galore – anything from heavy duty diving equipment to watches, music devices and GUNS! Motto?

Work smart, work less (Pradeep Jayewardene of Ismail)

Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

Lankan Leisure – just chilling and relaxing 46

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Jamie Durie GardEN DESignER Pix: Simon Kenny from ‘The Source Book’ published by Allen & Unwin

Our Cover Star of Sri Lankan descent, Durie is the Director and Principal Landscape Designer of the award winning design company PATIO,and the host of Australia’s top rated TV programs Backyard Blitz and The Block. This two time Cleo Bachelor of the Year and GQ Man of the Year has over 28 garden design awards, both in Australia and internationally. Durie currently sits on the board of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden Foundation.

Essence of good design?

Good design facilitates functional living in a more refined, luxurious aesthetically pleasing way. Good design creates timeless classics that have enduring appeal which remain valid and prevalent so that they inspire modern designers to create new hybrids.

“When I visited Sri Lanka 5 years ago it felt like a part of me had come home” 48

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Sources of inspiration?

My inspiration comes from the vast natural beauty of the Austalian landscape and years of extensive international travel. For me inspiration is everywhere from cracked, peeling paint on an old timber door to a contemporary Swarovski crystal chandelier.

Bad taste?

Bigotry of any kind Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

My girlfriend Guilty pleasure?

I have a huge sweet tooth. Dessert is my favourite course!

Motto?

Work like you don’t need the money; dance like no one is watching; sing like no one is listening; love like you’ve never been hurt; and live life every day as if it were your last. serendipity

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Rico TAravELa, ARCHITECT

Born in 1942, Taravela received his Bachelor of Arts at St Gallen and his Diploma in Architecture at ETH, Zurich. He currently looks back at 17 years of architecture and design at his firm, Maison et Jardin, where he worked for such distinguished clients as the Persian Shah, Prince Fhad of Saudi Arabia and the Sultan of Brunei. He is also the Chairman of the Dorawana Welfare Trust, Bentota and in 1997, founded the Workshop Training Centre - Bentota, where local youth are employed and trained to create world-class furniture Essence of good design?

I think that the essence of good design lies in leaving out everything that has nothing to do with the functionality of the object. What should remain is a dialogue between aesthetic and functionality.

Sources of inspiration?

I find big cities such as Milan, Rome, Paris, very stimulating. I love the energies and vibrations emanating from places where people try things out, fabricate and manufacture things; workshops of all sorts. Another thing that stimulates me to be creative is the variety of old and new materials in the world. I love empty rooms in which our fantasy is able to move freely.

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Bad taste?

I think that everything vulgar cannot be counted as being a part of good taste.

Favourite Sri Lankan thing?

Nothing that can be touched! I love the music by Maestro Amaradeva, which takes me to a state of mind in which I can forgive many things.

Guilty pleasure?

To catch a beautiful fish and then to grill it.

Motto?

To set each morning new priorities for the day.

Then to strive to accomplish everything you planned to do, so that you can wake up the next morning without having to deal with the remains of the day before. serendipity

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Monsoon Rains & Icicle Drops Words & Pix: Libby Southwell

Serendipity brings you an exclusive extract from Libby Southwell’s Monsoon Rains & Icicle Drops, an inspiring story of love, loss and finding a new life -- in Sri Lanka. If you are a Sri Lankan writer who would like to see your work in the pages of this magazine, then email our Fiction Editor, Shiromi Pinto at feedback@serendipitymag.net 52

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When I disembarked on Colombo’s airport tarmac in the dead of night, a muggy tropical heat instantly enveloped me and I was hit by the smell of musky incense and tropical flowers. The hairs on my arm prickled with excitement. I had no idea what lay ahead, but I was very glad to have arrived. All I had was an address, a name and a telephone number.

I dialled the number and a foreign voice in broken English told me to jump in a taxi—‘I will

be waiting, madam’. After 30 minutes humming through the dark, I was ringing a bell at the entrance of a house. A man, all smiles, answered the call and ushered me past a fishpond into a house with large open-plan reception rooms. I later learned the house was designed by worldrenowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. I was led down a corridor to a bedroom with a fourposter bed, mosquito net and whirling ceiling fan. A tumbler and bottle of water stood on the bedside table. Through my open windows came serendipity

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fiction the strong, lush scent of flowers. I felt instantly at home and totally charmed by my surroundings. I fell into bed and slept.

When I rose, my new friend, Gooneratne, laid a table for breakfast and shortly thereafter put papaya with lime, toast and tea before me and announced the imminent arrival of a Mr Namal. ...

Shortly after noon, having acquainted myself with the housekeeper, Leila, a toothless granny with a long silver plait who did not speak English and swept leaves with gusto, Mr Namal made an appearance. To my surprise, this man in crushed white linen and groovy sunglasses, speaking English at a hundred miles a minute, was not much older than me. Handsome, and wreathed in smiles, he seemed to talk in exclamation marks.

‘Fantastic! You’re here! We are going to open a coffee shop! I have so many ideas! Come, let me show you!’

He shepherded me next door to another superb Bawa-designed home with whirring fans and a tropical courtyard filled with an abundance of fragrant frangipani trees. Namal and I (having swiftly dispensed with formalities) talked about Mr Geoffrey’s plans to open a city cafe on this site. I immediately imagined something very Sydney—white damask tablecloths, olive oil in bowls on the table and so on—but before anything could solidify in my jet-lagged brain, Namal whisked me away to show off his city.

We jumped in one of hundreds of three-wheeler taxis (or tuk-tuks) zipping down the main road and careened down pot-holed city roads, narrowly missing buses, taxis, cars and pedestrians. The metropolis whirled past in a frenzied blur of colour, smells and noise. The rushing stopped only for a few concentrated visits to colourful and crazy fruit and vegetable markets, kitchen appliance stores and linen suppliers where friendlylooking locals emerged from the depths of tiny shops to answer all our questions. My new life in Sri Lanka had begun as it was to continue—full pelt—but at this early stage, I just felt jet-lagged.

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Namal suddenly announced, ‘You be so tired! Too tired! You go home now! You sleep!’.

It was true. I had been in the country less than 24 hours and had barely had time to take in the completely different lifestyle and pace of this Asian country. I was overwhelmed by a vivid sense of the metropolis being awake and palpably alive.

People covered in saris and smiles glided down the city’s ramshackle streets as if promenading down Parisian boulevards. I was curious and enchanted, all at the same time, but all I wanted just then was to be horizontal with a pillow over my head. *** A week later, Namal and I had slipped into a topsy-turvy routine of shopping and scouting for equipment and stock, interrupted only by a surprise whirlwind visit by Geoffrey’s 80-year-old mother, Marie, her older sister, Bets, and their friend Mary, all three of them with a penchant for gin and tonics. Before even meeting Geoffrey, I was beginning to build a picture of my new boss—colourful, eccentric, and possibly just a little bit nutty?

Finally, I rose one morning for breakfast and noticed the breakfast table set for two. Gooneratne announced that Mr Geoffrey had arrived at midnight (all inbound Colombo flights did) and was soundly asleep in his bedroom. I was to meet the man himself at last. I instantly felt apprehensive, nervous about meeting the author of the steady stream of emails that had been popping up in my inbox for the last week. Fortunately, Namal arrived before my uneasiness could build, and next minute, there was Geoffrey himself—a big, curly-haired, tanned and friendly looking man, wearing a shirt emblazoned with ‘Ceylon Elephant Polo 2002’. He extended a hand with a booming ‘G’day!’, which left me slightly stunned and suddenly lost for words.

But I needn’t have worried; Geoffrey was not one for small talk. Within seconds, he was peeling the shell off his boiled egg, attacking a pile of toast and assailing me with questions. ‘So Libby, what’s

news? What plans have you and Namal hatched?’

He’d throw his tea down his throat and bellow, ‘Gooneratne, more tea! More milk!’.

2. The game consists of two seven-minute playing periods called chukkas with an interval of 15 minutes between each chukka.

I would open my mouth to say something and he’d interrupt. ‘Right, we’ve got elephant polo on the thirteenth, (hang on, that was less than four weeks away), ‘I’m thinking a sit-down dinner for 60 for the first night? Then a sit-down lunch the following day for all the teams. What do you think? What should we have for starters?’

3. There are no restrictions as to the height, weight or sex of the elephants.

...

Within days of meeting Geoffrey, who no sooner arrived than sped off to tour his various properties on the island, I realised I needed help.

The elephant polo tournament, which Geoffrey initially visualised as a sporting joust with picnic hampers on a beach, had mutated into a monster celebration. This would involve private dinners for the Sri Lankan Prime Minister and his party, glamorous dinners for the competitors at Geoffrey’s various hotels and villas and gourmet barbecue lunches on the beach. A gala dinner finale was also planned for 150 people on Taprobane Island; the jewel in Geoffrey’s crown of sumptuously rustic holiday locations was the most exclusive spot in Galle, the ‘Riviera’ of the teardrop island of Sri Lanka.

I wasn’t merely the chef—I was cook, cleaner and event manager for a four-day sporting event sprung, it seemed to me, from a mind that was possibly unhinged. Who had ever heard of elephant polo, for goodness’ sake?

Namal gave me a crash course on what to expect: six teams (with three players and a reserve on each) from Scotland, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Thailand and Nepal, were shortly to descend on Serendip’s shores to challenge the Sri Lankans for the Ceylon Elephant Polo 2003 trophy. I listened, amused, as Namal explained the rules of the game: 1. Each game is played by three players per team on a field that is roughly the size of a football pitch.

4. No elephant may lie down in front of the goal.

5. An elephant may not pick up the ball with its trunk during play.

6. Gentlemen may hold the mallets in their right hands only; ladies may use both hands.

7. The following acts constitute a foul: hooking the opponent’s stick, deliberately crossing in front of an elephant when the opponent is moving with the ball, standing on the ball, backing or going forward over a ball to stop a player reaching the ball, intentionally hitting another player, elephant or referee with a stick.

8. At close of play, sugarcane, bananas or rice balls shall be given to the elephants and a cold beer or soft drink to the elephant drivers (mahouts), but not vice versa.

Twelve elephants (to be rotated among the teams) were in training for the big event and a dozen mahouts were poised to join the international visitors aboard the elephants. The mahouts sit in front of the players atop the elephants because without them, the elephants don’t move, thus killing any chance of goal scoring. With the mahouts egging the elephants on, usually by tickling them behind the ears, the players aim to hit the ball through goal posts. Thousands of spectators were expected to arrive to watch the 2003 polo spectacle and two commentators, one English, one Sri Lankan, were primed to whip the crowd into a frenzy. ...

The first day of the 2003 International Elephant Polo tournament finally dawned. So far, my little crew, with Andrea and Charlie in full swing, had safely met and accommodated the tournament players in Geoffrey Dobbs’s various habitats in and around the picturesque town of Galle. The serendipity

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VIP seating was in place, commentators were primed and villagers were beginning to throng to the beach at Weligama Bay, the playing field for the tournament, close to Taprobane Island. The elephants were standing by, saddled-up, watered and tethered, and the mahouts were ready for action. There was just one problem—the first day of the tournament boasted a full moon, resulting in high tides that completely washed away the tournament’s playing fields.

triumphantly to no-one in particular.

Disaster! It was no use trying to play in the early morning or late afternoon as originally planned: waves would wash away the goalposts and the balls would be submerged in sandy sludge.

Geoffrey had party animal Dominic Moynihan and ex-army colonel Raj Kalaan and his wife, Sunny, on his Sri Lankan team; when the three of them weren’t bickering about obscure past hurts, each exhibited an unrivalled keenness to take the winner’s trophy. Excitement and enthusiasm were the order of the day, with passion raging whitehot as commentators urged the spectators to yelp, boo, whistle, clap and even throw bananas.

Teams had flown in from all over the world, the weather was perfect, and hundreds of excited spectators waited, national flags fluttering from every available pole or post. Referees were armed with shiny new whistles—and now a completely new schedule of events, with the poor elephants having to play at noon when the sun was highest and hottest. With the changing itinerary, Andrea, Anya, Charlie and I found ourselves even busier, if that was possible. Geoffrey would announce more dinners and new VIPs with alarming regularity and the four of us and our confused, muddled helpers would run around under the Serendip sun in 35ºC heat and 80 per cent humidity, serving canapés and filling beers until everyone was thoroughly sozzled. ...

As the tournament began in earnest, my crew and I began to familiarise ourselves with the different national teams. There was James Manclark from Scotland, who was the initiator of the colourful, crazy carnival, ably seconded by his glamorous wife, Patricia. A former Olympic bobsleigh champion, Manclark had become bored with his icy sport and graduated to the equally risky pursuit of motorcar racing before he tried a traditional bout of polo and got hooked. Then, he thought it might be fun to have countries competing against one another astride the elephants. Why? ‘Because one can,’ Manclark would announce 56

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With his good friend, Jim Edwards, owner of the world famous Nepalese resort Tiger Tops, Manclark convinced a network of their friends around the globe to indulge his idea. Compatriots Peter Prentice and the Duke of Argyll played with Manclark for the Chivas Regal team, flying Scotland’s colours, while Edwards played for Nepal, joined by his son Kristjan and Kristjan’s girlfriend, Hattie.

The so-called ‘action’ was more of a plod, but even so, with all my rushing around I barely had time to take it in. Riders, resplendent in national colours, seemed mostly to be limply hanging on, waiting with mallets in hand, while the wild-eyed mahouts tickled and prodded their charges to little avail. Occasionally, when an elephant moved and a rider would take a swing, the patient crowd would burst into a roar of delight, and then fall into silence until the next successful thwack!

My catering unit, meanwhile, was wading endlessly back and forth through low-tide water from the Weligama beach to Taprobane Island, with boxes of ice, chairs and tables on their heads.

called over the loudspeaker. ‘Will Miss Libby Southwell please come to the presentation platform …’

I felt instant frustration. The gala ivory ball for 150 was almost upon us and I still had a million things to do; I was also sunburnt and exhausted from carrying equipment all day long, and I looked a sight. My shorts and singlet were covered in grease, chocolate and tomato stains; my fingernails were crusted with pastry and my sweaty, smelly auburn locks were clamped underneath a filthy cotton scarf. This was no time for me to have to meet with someone else Geoffrey wanted to impress. For goodness sake, I thought irritably, what did he want now?

As I approached the podium where the trophies had just been presented, I suddenly realised that everyone who had been on stage, including the winning players and the Sri Lankan Prime Minister himself, appeared to be waiting patiently for me. Sure enough, I was duly presented with the Dominic Moynihan Cup for ‘Best Performance Off the Field’. The Prime Minister said something encouraging, the crowd clapped politely and the photographers’ cameras clicked.

Libby Southwell was born in Sydney. She has worked as an advertising executive and trained as a cordon bleu chef.

She is currently working in Sri Lanka running businesses in up-market tourism, and continues to contribute to the life-changing work being done

by AdoptSriLanka, which has so far raised more than US$3.5 million.

Monsoon Rains and Icicle Drops by Libby Southwell (with Josephine Brouard) is published

by Pier 9, £7.99

Through it all, ridiculous thoughts whirred through my head: What about the hummus?

Where the hell are Andrea’s feta and tomato tarts? Dazed, I looked around at the others on stage and caught my boss beaming with pride. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It was just another day in paradise and after a round of play-offs, the Sri Lankan team, under the captainship of Geoffrey Dobbs, became elephant polo champions of Ceylon for the second year in a row. Geoffrey was delighted, cheeks cherry-red after an afternoon astride his elephant, hoisting his trophy for the local press photographers. I breathed a sigh of relief. This long, muggy nightmare of endless revelry was, finally, slowly drawing to a close.

Then, unexpectedly, I heard my name being serendipity

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