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| Sunday, 24 February 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Kandy: ancient splendour and modern reality by Hana Ibrahim If you were to read the touristic palaver about Kandy, you will be hard put not to heave a sigh of relief and say 'ah utopia at last'. For isn't this the most beautiful town in Sri Lanka where ancient splendours, legends, folklore, and traditions get lovingly moulded into the melange of modern living? And, isn't this a place where history is delicately configured into a living craft and kept alive by the 'oohs' and 'aahs' of itinerants who only see what they want to see?
In a superficial sense, Kandy is all what the brochures proclaim it to be. But peel the layers off the mouldy frontage of antiquity, dig beneath the gushing superlatives, get to what the brochures deliberately overlook and you begin to see a more realistic picture - that of a 21st century Kandy, with the accompanying humps and bumps and clutter and chaos of modern living. This Kandy still manages to retain a certain degree of old world charm. At least in terms of landmark buildings and sites that have endured, to remain a silent, albeit a battered, witness to the changes taking shape. But outweighing the charm and far more insidious are the changes that have made Kandy conspicuously warped, bulging at the seams and stained at the edges. Ask the man on the street what ails Kandy and it is like suddenly unclogging a furrow that had remained choked for years. "What's not wrong with this town," asked an retired government servant, fuming at the traffic blocks, lack of parking spaces, lack of a proper water supply, unauthorised constructions, corrupt politicians, inept law enforcers, rising crime, garbage disposal, illegal parking, the polluted lake, dilapidated roads, youth drain. The list of 'wrongs' is more than a mile long and gains further span when echoed by the banker, the salesman, the teacher, the harried mother of two school going children, the recently returned expatriate Lankan, the mercantile secretary, the shoe salesman, the hotel security guard, the three-wheel driver and just about everyone who deigns to stop and respond to your question. Their sentiments acquire substance when you do a walkabout and encounter the nitty gritty of everyday reality of 21st century Kandy. The city, categorised as one of the 80 odd world heritage sites in the world, is a congested hodge podge of people, haphazardly parked vehicles, chaotically strewn garbage, hawkers trying to force a sale, pavements crowded with stalls, roads filled with potholes, roads dug for various reasons and abandoned, car parks that overcharge. Permeating through all these sights are the cacophonic din of blaring horns, screeching vehicles, yowling loud speakers of the sweep sellers and the occasional authoritative shriek of the police whistle. The Kandy town is a place bursting at the seams. It is a also a place of charming contrasts where, like serendipity, you do stumble upon places, things and people that do live up to the image of Kandy as a cultural melting pot.
There is for instance the old buildings lining the narrow streets, neither of which have changed in aeons and are likely to remain unchanged because of an Archaeological Act that prohibits any major alterations; street names both poignant in meaning and resonant with historic nuances; Byrd's Park, which though obstructed by unauthorised constructions, neglected for years by the relevant authorities and now home to birds, beggars, vagrants and the homeless, still manages to retain a certain degree of dignity and charm; the Kandyan Arts Association, which, housed in one of the 25 oldest buildings in Sri Lanka, struggles to keep an ancient tradition alive; the National Museum, located in a building believed to be the Kandyan equivalent of the Arab harem (female quarters) and giving an intriguing feeling of what life was like at a time when Kandy truly belonged to the Kandyans. But, underlying these glimpses of grand history, old world charm and gritty endurance is the feeling that Kandy is also city where many things aren't what they appear to be. Nearly three months after the December 5 massacre, where 10 Muslim youth were gunned down in what's described as the 'terrifying culmination of a vicious election campaign' a sense of melancholic languor hovers in the periphery of everyday living. The fear, the helplessness, the anger, the shame... these feelings lurk beneath the chaos and confusion of daily living as grim reminders of what Kandy disintegrated to when anarchy reigned supreme for a brief period. "The horrifying incident has forever blotted the city's image," laments a retired teacher, wondering how things came to such a pass. "With the Dalada Maligawa as the centre point, Kandy should have been the citadel of peace, but see what happened when basic human feelings were forsaken in the quest for power," he says. Another old timer, enjoying a cup of tea in one of the numerous restaurants claim that as much as they, as Kandyans, feel helpless and angry about the incident and the delay in justice being meted out, they also feel a certain degree of shame, because the incident happened in Kandy with Kandyans as both perpetrators and victims. Many also wonder what the local government election has in store them. Will it be more violence, more unrest.. will the blot widen and deepen? "We are striving for an incident free election," says Kandy's Deputy Mayor, Z.A. Mohamed Razick, who will be contesting for Mayor this year and promises to conduct gentleman politics. "I won't be using posters or banners," he says. Several of his opponents express similar sentiments and a desire for a violence free poll. But it isn't just the residue of power politics that has you thinking many things are not what they appear to be. As the tourist brochures boldly proclaim, Kandy's focal point (without doubt) is the Dalada Maligawa where the sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha is enshrined. But in 21st century Kandy where high security gates block both the entrance to the Maligawa and its view, subjecting all and sundry to check point manoeuvres and body searches, the focal point is more the battle between the Kandy Municipality and the Maligawa Officials, over the issue of the security checks. This is in a sense the story of modern Kandy - the battle between the municipality and the various local departments. Quirky political shenanigans saw the municipality being stripped off its responsibilities and the numerous task of city development being distributed among various departments. And in a classic mismatch of humangous proportions, none of the responsible bodies saw eye to eye on any issue. From pumping water to cater to the city's needs, to crematorium charges, garbage disposal, traffic snarls, parking woes, road repairs, and law & order situation, the battle continued until recently, often pitting a hapless public as unweary victims in the tug of war for power. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Kandy Lake, which the tourist brochures describe as 'lovely' and a 'must see' site built by the last Sinhala King, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, in 1806. Used by the surrounding hotels and commercial concerns as a disposal site for their sewerage, and by the itinerant visitor as a dumping site for their garbage, the lake in modern Kandy is literally a polluted, weed filled cesspit where nothing survives, especially the fish that were found in plenty not so long ago. The situation was further compounded by the tug-of-war, which saw the Department of Irrigation wresting control of the lake and the Cultural Triangle becoming rulers of the centre island. "We did a study and started a programme to clean up the lake, and stopped the hotels from pumping their sewerage into the lake. But then the lake was taken away from us and we were just left with the pavement," says the Deputy Mayor, adding that with the change in government, a better sense of order is beginning to take shape. "We've appointed a committee to look into the development of the lake and we will be initiating a programme to dredge and clean the place," he says, adding that plans are also under way to identify and prosecute those who pollute the lake by using it as a dumping ground for their sewerage. The culprits according to Kandy environmentalists are nearby residents, hotels and even the Vishrama Shalawa of the of Maligawa. In a similar vain plans have also been drawn up to develop the city, that will, while bringing it on par with 21st century developments, also answer some of the routine grouses. These include an 800-1200 capacity car park to be constructed with an Asian Development Bank loan; overhauling the existing 50-year old water supply system with a functional modern scheme; relocating the Bogambara prison to Pallakele and the Court Complex to William Gopallawa Road; securing a 35-acre block of land for garbage disposal; reviewing the law and order situation. When this will happen is anybody's guess. But in the meanwhile Kandy endures blending the good with bad, old with new and tradition with modernity and like the term serendipity, for every disappointment the city lobs at you, there is something to savour around the corner that is uniquely Kandy. |
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