"Paradise on Parade" at Trafalgar Square!:

"Refreshingly Sri Lanka" an outstanding success

by Delerine Munzeer

The weather Gods cooperated with the organizers of "Refreshingly Sri Lanka" - an initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and the Sri Lanka High Commission in the U.K., - and 17th June 2006 turned out to be one of the hottest summer days in London.

Trafalgar Square, the chosen venue for this event, has throngs of visitors walking through on any given day, and this being a warm Saturday, it was packed with people of all nationalities who automatically wandered in to the square which was transformed in to a miniature Sri Lanka, to investigate what all the music, dancing and drumming was about.

Video cameras whirred and cameras clicked as Foreign Minister and Minister of Ports and Aviation Mangala Samaraweera accompanied by Ken Livingston, Mayor of London were escorted in by a mini Perahera. Kandyan dancers, Kavadi and Lee Keli dancers, Channa and Upuli's beautiful girls in multi-hued costumes including a section of Peacock dancers, drummers, flute players, even a Nilame sauntering in with his attendants created a sensation in the normally staid atmosphere of the city of London.

On stage at the inauguration of the festival, the First Lady Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa read out a message on behalf of her husband President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "Considering Sri Lanka's long standing ties with the United Kingdom, this country was a natural choice for the launch of Refreshingly Sri Lanka, at which you are offered the history, culture and cuisine of Sri Lanka all at the same time," she said. Minister of Tourism Anura Bandaranaike and Deputy Minister of Tourism Arjuna Ranatunga were also present as part of the delegation.

At the inauguration ceremony Mayor Ken Livingston said: "The Sri Lankan community is one of the largest and longest established in our city, and this festival represents and reflects the very long historic link between Britain and Sri Lanka."He added that this relationship has now grown in to different dimensions. "It is the relationship between two great nations with mutual respect and cooperation for one another," he said.

"This festival is the first of many such celebrations planned for the future," said Minister Mangala Samaraweera adding that similar events are to be held in China and India and on an even larger scale in Japan next year.

Around 14,000 visitors thronged the square, examining the many colourful stalls selling Sri Lanka produce, and the longest queue was outside the Mount Lavinia Hotel food outlet where visitors stood patiently in the hot sunshine to savour the Lumprais, Kottu Roti, Thosai, Vadai, Patties and other typical Sri Lankan culinary creations being served up.

In fact, the rush was so great that it prompted Bazeer Cassim, Director/General Manager of the Mount Lavinia Hotel and Harindra Weerasinghe, the hotel's Director Sales and Marketing, to don gloves and assist in serving all those waiting to taste these "home-grown" delicacies.

Another long queue formed outside the area allocated to two palm readers/astrologers taken along by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board to forecast the fortunes of visitors to this promotion. They were much in demand and were kept busy gazing at palms and calculating planetary positions from morning until late evening when the event finally came to a close.

In fact, at the close of the day's proceedings, Priscynthica Dissanayake, Assistant Director Marketing at the Sri Lanka Tourist Board who coordinated the SLTB part in this promotion found it extremely difficult to get the exhausted astrologers away from visitors who were determined to discover what the future held in store for them!

Also enjoying immense popularity, the Ayurvedic Pavilion co-sponsored by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and Siddhalepa Ayurvedic Resort and Spa had hundreds queuing up for complimentary head and foot massages and consultations with the Ayurvedic doctor.

SriLankan Airlines which provided considerable assistance to this event through sponsorship saw its booth inundated with visitors looking for information about the airline's operations. An original competition saw visitors to this booth select a card and "spin the wheel." If the wheel happened to stop at the point indicated on the card, they walked away with attractive gifts offered by the airline.

Among the booths enjoying brisk patronage was ODEL with owner Otara Gunawardena present to add more colour to her popular outlet. Barefoot was yet another well patronized outlet while designer Chula Nanayakkara was kept busy draping her creations on visitors and demonstrating exactly how graceful the Sri Lankan saree could look. Handicrafts, colourful masks and tropical fruits and vegetables contributed to make the event vibrant and exciting.

In fact, by mid afternoon, "Refreshingly Sri Lanka" turned in to one big "Sri Lankan Party" with the musicians - Bhathiya and Santush with Ashanthi and Randiv, Misty, Anthony Surendra from "Shakthi", violinist Ruwan Weerasekera and Janaka and his troupe of vibe percussion drummers - giving of their best on the gigantic stage, belting out Sri Lankan favourites including the popular "Bailas" and visitors singing and dancing to the well-known tunes. Chandana De Silva, Head of Corporate Communications at SriLankan Airlines certainly kept the lines of communication open when he joined the musicians on stage to sing some of Sri Lanka's well loved melodies and invite visitors to "come and visit us in Sri Lanka."

The catchy rhythm of the music combined with the hot weather even prompted some English merry makers cool off by hopping in to the Trafalgar fountains and continue dancing in the knee-deep water which was awash with 2000 purple Lotus flowers especially flown to London for this promotion.

The Sri Lanka Tourist Board booth was kept busy, with loads of visitors requesting for information on this destination, helping themselves to the many colourful brochures attractively displayed outside the booth, and being very pleased when they were presented on a complimentary basis with Sri Lanka T-shirts, Sri Lanka bags and colourful posters of the many attractions waiting to be discovered on this island.

Cayetano Selva, a Spanish national resident in London for over 32 years has visited Sri Lanka around 30 times! "I enjoy your food, your music and your culture and my wife Pamela and I plan to come to live in Sri Lanka permanently next year," he said. Like Cayetano, there were many more who had visited Sri Lanka many times over, a number who planned to visit later this year, and some who had not thought about it but were definitely making it an option after visiting this event.

It certainly helped that "Refreshingly Sri Lanka" was timed to coincide with the 80th birthday celebrations for HRH Queen Elizabeth. The trooping of the colours took place a few hundred yards away from Trafalgar Square, just an hour or two before the day's programme took off and of the many thousands of tourists who thronged to view the trooping of the colours and see the royal family ride by, quite a few naturally stepped in to Trafalgar Square to investigate what all the drumming and dancing was about.

This resulted in not only British visitors but others of many nationalities, also getting first hand information about Sri Lanka as a destination.

This open-air festival at Trafalgar Square was part of a ten-day celebration of Sri Lankan culture, art and trade in the United Kingdom. Other events included the "Serendib" Trade Exhibition at Convent Garden's New Connaught Room which showcased over 70 Sri Lankan businesses including apparel, gems and jewellery, tea, spices, cut flowers and foliage etc., "Srilit" Sri Lankan Book Festival and Art Exhibition at Foyles Bookshop, Charring Cross from 16th to 23rd June and a Sri Lanka Film Festival at the Electric Cinema and Nehru Centre from 16th to 23rd June.

A Sri Lanka Food Promotion from 15th to 25th June at the Park Terrace Restaurant of the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington High Street had chefs from the Mount Lavinia Hotel prepare a delicious buffet dinner for guests and an Investment Round Table at Marlborough House on 22nd June for leading U.K. businesses was organized by the Commonwealth Business Council in conjunction with the National Outsourcing Association.

If the purpose of organizing "Refreshingly Sri Lanka" in the U.K. was to create awareness of this destination and all its diverse attractions including business, investment and trade opportunities available, then the organizers can rest easy with the knowledge that their efforts were extremely successful, and an increase in interaction in all spheres between the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka should be the end result.