  Everyone is fond of me and loves me
I’m a member of a palm family.
If you trace my origins, I belong to both South-West Asia and
North-Western South America. But the debate still continues as to where
I actually originated.
Therefore there are no records to reveal the exact country of my
birth. I’m ashamed of it. However, I’ve been brought up from the time of
Sinhalese kings and have become one of the most distinctive features of
Sri Lankan landscape. From my infant days, I did not get excessive
attention to make me flourish. What I needed was a sandy texture, plenty
of sunlight, regular rainfall and high humidity for my healthy growth.
I was provided with all these comforts and lived mainly in the
coastal belt. The main areas we lived were in the shape of a triangle
and encompasses the three districts of Gampaha, Kurunegala, and Puttalam
in the west coast of Sri Lanka, popularly known as the ‘coconut
triangle’.
 I gradually grew up with a slender ash-grey trunk sweeping high into
the sky crowned with a frond of fan-like waving leaves.
I have become a grown up woman and can be truthfully said that no one
else gives so much comfort and satisfaction to man in such variety of
ways.
Everyone is fond of me and loves me. The most commonly associated
image is the fruit known as a coconut which plays a significant role in
the local kitchen.
No meal is complete without at least one dish without me in some
form. The kernel of matured nuts grated and the milk extracted used as a
medium in which almost all tasty Sri Lankan curries are cooked. Coconut
scraping are made into pol sambal, a hot appetiser and a palatable gravy
called a pol-hodda, is made from special coconut milk. Rice coocked in
coconut milk ‘kiribath’ is a must in any ceremony. Be it a high scale
event as the Sinhala Tamil New Year, an opening of a business, the
laying of a foundation, the first day of a new month, or a New Year or
the first day of employment. It suggests prosperity and success in the
given endeavour.
 Coconuts are used in religious ceremonies; they are also used in
weddings to dispel anything negative that may be cast on the
newly-wedded couple and to bring them good fortune. I’m also invited for
the ceremony to mark a girl’s coming of age who has to break open a
coconut herself, signifying a future of plenty and success. Look at the
hut of a villager. Skilfully woven dried coconut leaves serve as a
roof-call it thatch or cadjan. Yet it is rainproof and cool.
In the kitchen of village homes and palaces houses in Colombo 7 are
utensils made of coconut shells. Mats and baskets are woven with coconut
leaves. Young leaves gokkola pale and yellow and its plant are used as
ephemeral decor at ceremonials, weddings and other occasions, adding a
characteristic Sri Lankan touch to the setting. The coconut palm sways
supreme as a source of food and drink. The bud at the top of the stem
called the ‘bada’ - is delicious when made into a pickle. The younger
fruit, ‘kurumba’ provide a refreshing, cool delightful drink is a much
sought after thirst-quencher. A liquid taken from the coconut flower
called ‘toddy’ is made into jaggery. Vinegar is a by-product of toddy.
From toddy is also distilled an alcoholic drink ‘arrack’. Toddy is also
an invigorating drink.
The dried kernel of the coconut - ‘copra’ is finely grated and
marketed as desiccated coconut which is used extensively in
confectionery and cooking. Among other things, coconut oil used as a
cooking fat and in the manufacture of soap, margarine and hair
dressings.
 Villagers leave the fibrous husk to soak in pits for many days. Later
I am beaten to extract the fibre-coir. This coir is either spun into
ropes or made into doormats, brooms, brushes and a number of other
utility articles which are exported and used the world over. These
commendable actions have brought me happiness by serving the community
and feel proud as this tree that knows no bounds in its capacity to
give.
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