Again lots of things to report.
I went down to Colombo on February 24 to deal with my visa application. Nothing was open until the Tuesday because it was Poya. Once a month on the full moon, there is a holiday called a Poya Day. However, I had to go down on the Sunday as there were no train tickets left because of Poya and the Colombo Perahera. So off I go. Jez booked me in this place right next to his house called the Red Rose Hotel.
OMG! First of all, I thought the tuktuk man was taking me on a ride because it was so far from the centre of town. Finally, we get there and it is terrible. The rooms are swept, but the dirt is left in a pile in the corner. One of the rooms, the toilet didn't work and the other had such a strong urine smell, that maybe the toilet there didn't work either. Finally, Jez showed up and I went to his place which was more or less fine. I ended up staying there.
That was overall OK although most Sri Lankans live very differently from us. First of all, they are very communal. Secondly, the level of cleanliness is much less. However, I survived.
On Poya, Jayanthi had tickets for the Colombo Perahera. It has been going for about 25 years now. That is quite new, considering that the original Perahera held in Kandy has been going for hundreds of years.
Here are some pics:
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| Full moon which Poya honours. |
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| Fireworks kick everything off |
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| Full moon climbing higher |
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| More fireworks |
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| The Perahera is announced by whip crackers |
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| Another whip cracker |
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| Then lantern bearers |
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| Lots of bands playing traditional instruments, dressed in the traditional Sri Lankan dress |
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| Lots of flag bearers. Too many in fact. Because of them, the Perahera did not end until about midnight. |
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| Good look at the costume |
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| Lots of drummers. They were good too |
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| Carrying the Sesette of the sun and the moon. The moon is always a quarter moon with a bunny rabbit sitting across from it. Don't ask me why. Not even Sri Lankans know. |
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| Sri Lankan national flag |
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Buddhist flag. 5 colours representing the 5 precepts,
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I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life. |
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| 2. |
I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. |
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| 3. |
I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct. |
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| 4. |
I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech. |
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| 5. |
I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness. |
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| Provincial flags. This is the Kandian flag. |
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| More flags |
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| The beginning of the elephants. There were about 60 elephants in this Perahera. Not many compared to the hundreds in the Kandy Perahera |
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| These people are dressed as kings and are carrying representations of Buddhist relics. The original Perahera in Kandy was to carry the tooth of the Buddha from the Malagawa (Temple of the Tooth) among the congregation. The Malagawa is to Sri Lankan Buddhism like St. Peter's is to Catholics. |
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| Dressed like demons |
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| Can't see it too clearly, but these guys had 3 legs |
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| More demons |
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| Dancers and acrobats |
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| Only elephant to act up a bit. Remarkable considering their size. Mind you, they are severely chained |
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| Top spinner |
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| These are the Tuskers. There are only 13 tuskers in captivity that are used for the Peraheras. In Kandy all 13 are there and are all lit up. Here there were only 3 |
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| Gangaramaya Temple is the sponsor of the Perahera. It is one of the wealthiest temples in the country |
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| My good friends Jayanthi and Jezeem. Jez is one of my partners in the coconut/cheese project |
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We left the Perahera at 1030 and it was still going. Unfortunately, we missed the stilt and fire walkers. We did get a look at them on the way to the car.
So then it was the start of the immigration saga. I was down in Colombo to pick up a letter from the Deputy Minister of Economic Development. Here Deputy Ministers are MPs and are considered part of the Cabinet. I thought I had it made in the shade as the Deputy, Sivalingam is also President of the Ceylon Workers Congress, one of the biggest and most powerful unions in the country. They are the union I worked most with when I lived here before and I know Sivalingam personally. Also, the Ministry of Economic Development is headed by one of the President's brothers, Basil Rajapakse and is thought to be the second most powerful ministry. So no probs, as Jayanthi would say. Wrongo elephant breath!
First of all, the letter was to be ready on Tuesday, but was not ready until Wednesday. I did get a great view of Colombo from Sivalingam's offices in the World Trade Centre. Yes, the same as in New York. Built by the same company with two towers, just not as tall.
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| View of Galle Road, Galle Face Green (I always thought it should be called Galle Face Brown), and the Indian Ocean |
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| The Old Parliament which is now a government office. |
Finally, I got the letter and off I trot to immigration. At least it was not a crowded as when I went the last time. This time I asked for the person that Sivalingam had told me to ask for. They did not know who that person was. Not good news. I barged into the office of the Senior Deputy Controller. That is the way things are done here. There are about 10 people in an office at a time.
I can't believe my ears when we get in there. He is on his cell phone, in English, negotiating a new car in exchange for a visa. He very clearly states that he is going to give the visa outside the regulations. Jayanthi and I were just looking at each other. These bribes are too big for my blood.
When he finally gets to me, he looks at the letter and very disdainfully says that this is only a political letter and that I need something from the Ministry. I play stupid and say that the Deputy just told me to come there with the letter and that I had better call him to find out what is going on. This scares the guy a bit at which point he bumps me up to his boss, the Controller.
The Controller is no more helpful and seems to be angling for a bribe. I would be happy to give him one, but I am not sure and you can get into a lot of trouble bribing the wrong person, so I keep quiet and leave with nothing.
Just to finish this off, I report back to Sivalingam and Devaraj and both Jayanthi and I feel that their behaviour is an insult to the Deputy and is seated in racism as Sivalingam is a Tamil. I think Sivalingam is pissed off now as this coming Monday, he is taking me to immigration personally. I will be interested what they say to his face.
In any event, I have a back up plan. If they don't give me a visa for at least one year and even if they do, I am setting things up to apply for a My Dream Home Visa that is good for 2 years. I don't have to rely on anyone for that visa. You never know when these guys will be out of power or when I may fall out of favour. So this way, I can stay.
The next adventure was going to the Petha. This is like the kazba or sook in an arab country. The central market area. The last time I lived here, I arrived driving through the Petha from the airport. It was on fire with buses overturned and ablaze. For a long time, most of the Petha was closed as a lot of the merchants are Tamil and Muslim and were actively persecuted. Things are back to normal now though. Here is a picture of a tree growing out of the side of a building. No holding back nature in the tropics.
In the end, I stayed in Colombo a week longer than I intended and got nowhere. I did manage to find some decent table lamps, get my shoes fixed and get my chooridar let out, so it was not a dead loss.
We also did very well at our first Good Market. This is a very high end farmers market set up by an NGO that operates very near the new parliament in one of the swankiest neighbourhoods of Colombo. Moorock Ripe & Raw has a stall there. Check us out on Facebook. We are selling our cheeses and soaps.
On the first day we sold $250 of product, which is a lot for here. On the second day, we sold a little more than that despite the fact that it was monsooning for most of the market. We have been approached by the Park Street Mews, a very up market restaurant which is opening a deli. They import Rs.8.5 million of cheese a month. We have made a deal with them to be their exclusive local cheese supplier. We are cheesily on our way.
I have also designed a laundry rack and an ironing board that we will be selling. There are no dryers here so all laundry is hung. The rack design is terrible. You cannot hang sheets, they rust out in this climate and they fall over by just breathing on them. The ironing boards are the same. You can't iron because they are always tipping over. So I have come up with a better mouse trap. I am also designing table lamps and drawer pulls both of which are in short supply and/or ugly and expensive. I love the Third World. It is the land of opportunity.
Sri Lanka particularly is so small and underdeveloped that you can always get to the source and start things from scratch. No middlemen.
Back at home, Jez picked my cat up from the hospital. She had been there for 10 days being looked after and being spayed. They took great care of her. The kenneling and operation cost me $8. Unreal!
I also had a live in maid for 3 days. She wasn't bad, but when I had to go to Colombo, I told her she could either go to Gampola and work for Jez's parents for the week or stay in the house. She didn't want to do either and said she wanted to go home to her parents. No way was I going to give her 5 days paid leave when she had only worked 3 days. I told her that if she went home, she needn't come back. So she didn't come back. So back to looking for a maid.
I will end this here for now. Lots more to tell, but I want to eat breakfast and get this posted. Will write more later.
