Off the beaten track
I cannot remember when I last rode a push bike. But like how the lady
in the bus in the book, 'To Sir with Love' says, talking about how her
husband keeps her warm at night, riding a bike too is the kind of thing
you will never forget, after you do it once. So I discover, as my
colleague Tilak and I burrow two push bikes to explore Bandarawela to
our heart's content last Saturday morning.
Eureka! Off the beaten path, Bandarawela is beautiful in unfathomable
ways: A jungle fowl waits impatiently till we take his photo, the hum of
bees on a tree by the road side reminds me of C.T Fernando's "goom goom
nada dee... Inside a simple hut surrounded by plots of beans and
potatoes we discover two pieces of roti on a clay plate - the lunch of
the farmer who was not to be seen... (no, we didn't take a bite even
though the temptation was great)
Discovering a shroud like veil of falling water, we were disappointed
when the villagers said they did not know what it was called. This
Bandarawela, often missed by those who languish in the hotels around the
town radiated a sense of completeness.. The land was full of something
akin to eternity, it was almost scary.
But a quick dip in the cold water cleared all that "poetic nonsense".
The lady inside the kade who gave us two cups of hot plain tea flavoured
with ginger, said "Gihin enna" as we jumped on the bikes to return to
the town.
Now, looking at the photos we feel we should heed her farewell.
Return! But ...Hatchoos! Hatchooos! never to jump into that un-named
stream again.
-Aditha
On a tree by the side of the road... |
The land covered in mist radiated a sense of completeness |
For the New Year... |
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