Colombo's hell hole

by Afreeha Jawad

Colombo's hell hole is here. Guess where? It's over here in Pettah at Gabo's Lane where stench reigns supreme and where man, fly and crow live cheek by jowl inhaling what would even 'outdo the perfumes of Paris.

The fish off cuts piled up daily coming off the St. John's fish market, the smelly drains, tons and tons of other garbage, the litter output from shops over which just one downpour is enough to transform the already nauseating environs to a damnable hell hole.

Over here, pavements are not even things of the past. Men, women, dogs and cats walk side by side not to forget the mo-bikes that catch you unawares as you try to find your way out of all this horror.

Seemingly an unpatrolled area, Gabo's Lane with its multitude of parked vehicles - lorries, cars, vans, mo-bikes and what not, run the risk of a time bomb. To some what relieve its present overcrowded state, the row of Ayurvedic shops - all long-standing ventures were assured alternative accommodation-still an unfulfilled promise. The smell of herbs anyway cannot out do the unbearable stench the place offers 'on a platter'. Certainly, in otherwise surroundings the herbal aroma would have wafted across in no small measure as an environmental air-freshener.

Amid all this squalor one finds brisk business going on. Vegetables and fruits share a neat spread even though on mud filled ground covered with some damaged plastic cloth or worn out gunny bag. Yet, customers galore, make their pick and move on - the luring agent being dirt cheap price tags.

All in all the community living here is a rare breed whose resistance power to foul odour, dirt, dust and noise is beyond comprehension - perhaps even unforgivable. Talk to any one of its membership, in one voice they'll proclaim "Aney, Apita May Okkoma Puruduvela. Monava karannada. Karumay Thamai." ("What to do we have got so used to all this. May be its our fate.") This Sri Lankan fatalism is nothing new. In a country where even a cough, sneeze or yawn could pass off as 'karumay' why not an administrative flaw?

Getting on to more pragmatic ground, the wheels of local government should be churned effectively into public good. A round-the-clock cleaning up operation by a special team is a compelling need here - a shared view of this area's citizenry. They even vehemently insist on private venture participation in this connection as local government authorities are a proven failure.