Yup,so I'm back from Galle,sun-burnt,scratched all over(by corals and sand) and positively starry-eyed.And I'm actually beginning to miss it.
It started off rather funny because it was only after getting on to the bus with the rest of the gang that I realized that I had left the GLF passes at home(and yes,I did feel like banging my head on a wall,only I couldn't locate one at that moment of absolute need).But as miles passed by(and after a considerable amount of drama on my part,screeching,sighs.I wanna go back home's,aiyoo's and anne's later) I settled in to the idea of receiving my passes on Friday which Father Dearest promised to be delivered to my hands in Galle.(Did I mention that I love him so very much?)Anyways,we crashed in at this really gorgeous typical southern bungalow which belonged to the ultra sweet grand mother of one of the gang who had gone in to so much of trouble in cooking the yummiest of food for us(the grand mother,mind you.NOT the nut case who took us there :P) and treating us like royalty,not to mention putting up with a screaming,hysterical band of banshees for a whole night.So we had our dinner and digested it over an extra juicy horror story session (during which some of our spooked out lot poked in their ear phones n tried to fall asleep but ended up falling asleep in their own respective beds,hugging each other and grabbing on to each other's hands).So after a good night's sleep(during which nobody had opened their eyes and looked around for the fear of seeing somebody starring at them out of the dark) and a hearty breakfast later(Chami's grand mother had made this LOVELY fish ambul thiyal southern style to go with string hoppers) we set off to Galle.
Have you ever felt the way that your heart just flutters with joy when you're travelling down south and you get a glimpse of the sea for the first time? Well,that's exactly how we felt when we caught a glipse of the vast and winking green blue sea sparkling in all its splendor as we travelled Galle-wards along the coastal belt.As mesmerized as we were,we couldn't help but notice all the outrageous election campaigns going on in the streets where vehicles were halted in the middle of the road and election posters were taped(nobody asked,nobody objected) on the passing vehicles.As we starred down at this long haired,bizarre looking dude's face pasted all over the place and pondered over the many intricacies of the system,the bus sped towards the Galle Fort carrying our thoughts with it.
The stay at the Galle Fort was nothing short of magical.I actually cannot think of a better word to describe the whole experience other than the word magical.We were constantly at sea,rolling in the sand,letting the waves wash over us to our heart's content,later on complaining of sandy hair and bruised skin due to the corals and the sand.The ambiance within the Fort is simply just breath taking with its Dutch architecture,it's haunting ambiance with so much of history saturated amongst the walls.It's the feeling you get walking down the streets of the Fort,feeling the sea breeze ruffling through your hair,smelling the salt,that aquamarine,sea-weedy smell of the sea.Better yet is walking down these streets cuddled up with your loved one(yes The Darling did make it to GLF.Yeey!!) Not to mention the sea baths(underwater hugs,under water cuddling and smooching STRONGLY recommended) Be ready to face the side effects of severe nostalgia,dazed eyes and a constantly grinning face once you get back though.
The Galle literary Festival was rather interesting this time around too.The BBC forums were quite entertaining specially and rather lively I must say.The sessions were good,well planned although the performances didn't amount to much(maybe because of the fact that some performances like the vannams which were supposed to be an outdoor performance was forced to be held indoors because of the rain).Also,people didn't turn up much for this event and as I later heard,other sessions were going on at the same time at different places which could have been the cause of this.I personally think that the foreign participants would have LOVED to witness something like this(because I too enjoyed it a lot and me being a Sri lankan,hadn't seen those vannams first hand before.) So why deprive the foreign participants a priceless sneak peak in to our rich and thriving Sri Lankan culture eh?
And I do believe that the festival needs more musical performances with a twist.
We did not attend any festival parties this time which was indeed a pity.Mostly due to the fact that they were placed too far off the Fort and us being somewhat strangers to the place,did not know(rather felt lazy) to get out of the comforting warmth of the Fort and look elsewhere(also due to some unpleasant experiences we were faced with which led us to believe that it was not a safe place for a bunch of girls to bounce about during the night) It would have been priceless if only the parties were held within the Fort walls.Well,that didn't stop us from having our own unique kind of fun though ;)
A word must be said about the oh-so-charming writers.The rudeness of the volunteers and (some) organizers were vanquished almost immediately under the heart warming smile of those beautiful,beautiful writers.Well,there must be a reason why they are writers,isn't there? It takes a sensitive soul to recognize human thoughts and speak to the hearts of many through their words.Whole truck loads of attitude won't do you know.
Speaking of which,we did notice quite humorous episodes between the volunteers/organizers and the participants.The condescending attitude which they practiced on the local participants was quite irksome where as,they welcome the white-skinned with their teeth on their palms and wide open arms.It was quite funny how the commanding presence of an organizer/volunteer would practically melt like butter at a mere nod of the head of a foreign individual.I noticed this rather funny episode where some local participants rushed in to a session slightly late and were told off quite rudely and told to sit at the back and not disturb the audience by a rather sour-faced organizer/announcer(who we noticed doing some announcements later on) while the same person bent over backwards in seeing some foreigners come in and ushered them to seats right at the front,not caring whether that would interrupt the session or not.Maybe the whiteness of their skin has bestowed un to the foreign individuals a sort of a transparency or an invisibility that would not result in the interruption of the sessions when they walk on to the front.Perhaps the amount of melanin in the local skin tone interferes with the concentration levels of the audience.I fail to understand the logic behind that(if there is any) Maybe its still the colonial mentalities at work where we respect the sudhdha's to bear the divine power that rules us all and think them to be a superior race of beings above the dark-skinned,sinhala speaking,betel-chewing(or not) natives.Well,get over it people.We have long since emancipated ourselves(according to the books and statutes).But it seems like certain individuals have chosen to remain slaves out of their own free will even to this day.
Isn't it enough that we get discriminated all over the world,in the very countries of those who we treat like royalty,branded as Asians because of our darker complexions? Do we have to be discriminated in our own country too? There should be at least one country in the world where we should be able to proudly walk about,flaunting our chocolaty complexions and expect to be accepted as human beings and not be classified according to the skin colour right? Well,it might as well be this country.
The volunteers are a bit better I think. Even though they walk about the place with self-importance dribbling down their chins(like toddlers with infant cereal dribbling down their chins really) and give you plentiful doses of their ever-charming attitudes(if you DARE approach them for help with something that is), at least they don't bite your head off. At least I haven't seen that yet.
All that aside,we managed to spend an absolutely magical time at the Galle Fort,surrounded by the blissfully intoxicating warmth of total and complete joy of that beautiful soul that I call as mine and the craziness of those nut cases who shall always remain the same.Came home,pigged out on red rice(who would have thought I would have missed red rice? I didn't use to be a huge fan of red rice before) after all those fried rices,naan and the other oily,unhealthy restaurant stuff.Also enjoying a hugeass mugs of milk tea in the morning,a privilege which I was deprived of during my stay in Galle. Missing The Darling though.Missing him so very much right now.
Galle Fort is a magical place with its age old buildings,an even older ambiance,the sea breeze lulling your senses and carrying your imagination far and wide on a sea gull feather,floating carelessly and oh-so-lightly in the wind.My conclusion for the day - Need to buy a house in the Galle Fort and I shall live in it with The Darling and my troop of darling doggy-poos that I shall rescue from the sreets :)
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