We have had some communal violence between Sinhalese and Muslims in the Kandy District. The rampage started when 5 Muslims beat up and killed a Sinhalese man over a car accident. Instead of letting the police do their job (still unclear whether or not the police were part of the problem), bus loads of Sinhalese were brought in from the south to riot, loot, destroy, beat up and/or kill Muslims and their property.
The incident that sparked the whole thing took place in Teldeniya, about 21 kms. from Kandy and spread to Digana, a neighbouring town. This was a real problem for my household as my maid, Veenitha lives in Digana. On the Tuesday night, they did not sleep at all as there was fighting all around them. Happily, they were not hurt. She said that it was definitely not her neighbours as they were sheltering the Muslims in their homes. The trouble makers were outsiders.
Curfew was imposed from 1800 to 0530 for a week and two days saw day curfews as well. All western governments sent out alerts telling their citizens to stay away from Kandy and most complied. It was very quiet. Both the police and the army were deployed. Plus Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber were blocked to prevent organizing and live feeds of the violence.
We had a leak in a mains water line to the house and called out the water board crew to fix it. In the midst of doing that and after turning off the water to the house; which did not effect the leak in any way, the entire crew buggered off saying there was trouble in Katugastota, just over the bridge from us, and they were going to join the fray. What a bunch of idiots! So we were left with no water and a gushing leak in the front yard. After a Muslim shop had been burned and the crowd of about 500 had been dispursed and put back on their buses, the crew thankfully came back and fixed the problem.
I have to admit that I do not mind curfew as it makes things quite quiet and I am used to it from previous experience. However, some people I know were quite freaked out and frightened reminding me of just how serious the situation was.
Apart from that bit of excitement, it has been cat care central here. The kittens are growing and creating a lot of work.
Three in a row; Aya, Buddy and Baby
Another view
Introducing Putha (the striped one, a boy whose name means son) and Nangi (a girl whose name means little sister)
Yin and Yang
Kitten love
They are so cute, I can't give them up
Baby feeding them. She is a great mother
Sleeping on my lap
Nangi having a nap
Baby standing guard
Nothing is getting by her
Starting to venture outside
All 5 of them in bed with me. Good thing I have a big bed.
Putha and Nangi curled up in my lap
Putha having a cuddle
Nangi sprawled out
Everybody is enjoying the front room
Post feeding nap. They have discovered the cat chairs.
Thankfully, I have found another maid who is supposed to come on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. She is good when she comes, but she has been missing some days, some due to curfew, one due to her sister being sick and now today, because she is sick. Thankfully, she is just filling in the days that Veenitha cannot come, otherwise, I would not put up with the frequent absences. It is especially crucial as the babies are now using litter boxes which have to be cleaned every day. Not a fun job.
Caring for pets is a bit more difficult here than in Canada but as always, the Sri Lankans are innovative as evidenced by the picture.
My friend Judith's puppies after they were fixed. Only in Sri Lanka would they think to convert a garbage can into a collar.
My classes are going quite well. I have enlisted one of the mothers to be my assistant. She is a teacher by profession and her English is good. She brought her two children to join the class, but I initially said I would only take the older boy as the girl is only just 4. Once I realized that I would be losing Kithmee and that I needed an assistant, I decided to propose that I would actually teach the girl who would be coming with her brother in any event, but that I would not charge for her if the mother would help out. She agreed, and we have been doing well together.
I now teach 8 hours a week, which is quite enough. There have some inquiries about doing classes on Saturdays, but I don't want to. After all, I am supposed to be retired.
The weather is turning quite hot with the odd rain storm. No-one knows what the rain is all about. Not supposed to be monsoon yet and this time of year is usually dry. But what is usual any more.
