A type of hyphen

There have been other departures, but none probably quite like this. There have been other arrivals too, but here, squinting at 8ish in the a.m. alighting directly onto sunbaked tarmac, it was amazing how quickly ridiculous my all black everything seemed.

Sweating, stripping, juggling luggage, my taxi man––holding ‘that’ sign synonymous with celebrity and sophistication (of which I was neither)––says ‘very hot madam’. I am a puddle. It was then out onto the freeway where there was ‘very traffic madam’. And into Colombo proper where the very traffic continued/s; except for a window after around 11pm each night where there’s mass animal anarchy, the dogs (strays), the cows (liberated), haunting the strangely empty streets.

It was some time after this one night, hopping between Colombo nightspots, that our Tuk is pulled over by the police, a torch shone in our faces. The examination––to ascertain whether we’re prostitutes or not. The assessment––so brief I was almost offended.

Other than dinners, cake, coffee, drinks... the usual punctuation of holiday life, it’s been mainly Ari K S, with his big adorable eyes, an exact replica of R’s, and his chubby comestible cheeks. I’ve excelled myself at ‘playpen time’ arranging all the animals (plastic and stuffed) in evolutionary order and upturning everything to create an enviable percussion section, which Amma might well rue later on.

Having first visited Sri Lanka while the civil war dragged on, conversation has been centred on comparisons––political/societal/economic. Fundamentally, the new chaos seems backed by a positive energy and is far more heartening than the tumbleweed and trepidation of six years ago. But corruption and economic disparity are still key issues for the country. ‘What to do?’ needs a work over, and Sirisena––the newly elected President has built optimistic anticipation in the people that he's the person to stamp out the fait accompli in that very rhetorical question. But as we know, politicians have promised less and failed.

This weekend we’re getting away from the Colombo Street Hustle and pushing off early down to Galle on the South Coast. So there’ll no doubt be more reporting from SL before the holiday morphs into the next life chapter in olde London town.

Colombo street hustle