Shedding light on Beira Lake

First I must thank ‘history master’ for my encounter with ‘Jala Boo'. Now who is history master? You may come across him on the streets of Colombo. Old and spectacled, he is ever ready to talk on the lost world of Colombo.

He has a canny ability of spotting those interested in the topic and will sidle to you and pour out what he knows. He spotted me one day in Fort. I was just returning from Pittu Bambuwa, the main office of the Bank of Ceylon.

It was a rainy day with winds lashing to and fro in fury.

We, History master and I along with a few others stood stranded under umbrellas in a protrusion of a café just opposite the board “Canal Row” facing the Echelon Square. Alas! Both Canal Row and Echelon Square are parts of the dead picturesque Colombo now.

History Master did not know me but gave me a broad grin as if he had spotted a sister.

“It is raining cats and dogs,” I said foolishly just to respond to that smile.

Whoever has seen cats and dogs falling from the skies? But we just repeat these sayings.

Water pot

“Colombo is known as the water pot of Asia. It is a foreign writer who has called it so. He writes that it is always raining in the city of Colombo. Lady, I am known as the History Master. Once I taught in classrooms but today I teach on streets to any body interested in Colombo. It is hard to believe that this city with its sky scrapers was at one time almost just a mass of water and mud with a few jungles here and there opposite the present Regal theatre.”

“Huh?”

“Yes. Mr. Brohier, the eminent historian writes in his Changing face of Colombo about an episode where a wild elephant had come out of that jungle and had been on the rampage in the surroundings of the area where the Regal theatre is located now opposite present Lakehouse.”

“Really?”

Just then there was a stroke of thunder and lightning and the modern city of Colombo first lit up and then got back into a fearful darkness where all the tall buildings around turned into mere misty shadows.Then from the lane named Canal Row (at one time a diversion of the Beira) just in the vicinity of Echelon Square, emerged a rather strange figure. He was drenched with rain water but seemed to be very happy in that state. Like the cats and dogs has he too fallen from the skies? More likely floated from some watery expanse.

‘Jala Boo’

“There comes ‘Jala Boo'” said History Master laughing.” It is short for Jala Boothaya, the water spirit”.

“Lady. I have been in the waters of Beira for more than 500 years. Ah! What a lot I have seen all these years!” The master laughed again.

“Lady, it is upto you to believe him or not. He is probably a restless soul of the Portuguese race for his memory goes back only to their period. Poor Jala Boo! He keeps wandering about in places redolent of the old watery expanse of the city. His favourite haunts are the Beira lake, the Canal Row and the site of the Pontoon Bridge in North Colombo.”

I looked at Jala Boo carefully. He did not seem like a Boothaya who appears and disappears eerily. Was he really a special kind of Boothaya going on living like Rip Van Winkle? You never can say in this strange world.

Anyway I thought of asking him a question.

“Why is this lane called the Canal Row? I see no water nor any boats rowed here.”

Canal Row

“It is a long long story. It cannot be related in a short time. If you meet the two of us on a few evenings on Galle Face Green, we can have long chats on the Water Pot of Colombo and on large lakes like the Beira and its diversions like the Canal Row came here to stay.”

I agreed. It is not everyday you get invited by queer characters like the History Master and water spirits who never die. I had come here, to Galle Face Green sharp at 5 pm. as promised. Two gypsy women seeing me alone approached me.

They wanted to read my palm and foretell my future. It looks chaotic, they prophesied and we can put things right. “Don’t worry” I said, “I tend to enjoy the chaos rather than the plain sailing which made them go away.” I went on staring at the Indian ocean. Ships sailed to and from-large hulky ships. I was enchanted like a child. What a wide world lay beyond!

Presently my two friends emerged on the coast. They said they were held up by three women from Malayalam Desha in India and they had seen two others just leaving me. They seem to have come in hordes today.

They are poor wandering women who live in tents while donkeys bray around.

“We should have really sat on the banks of the Beira for this session,” said Jala Boo.
“That is okay. We are not foreigners. We have all seen it.”.
“Now where do we start?”

Diversion

“We will start from where we stopped. That is as to how Colombo became so watery. Of course, it rains a lot in this city but it is not rain alone that makes Colombo so watery. It is the diversions from the rivers, especially from the Kelani”.

“The Kelani our second largest river next to the Mahaweli is a fascinating river. It begins from the Central highlands and disgorges its waters at Modera or Muwadora or Maha dora”

“Not only Kelani but all rivers are fascinating. Kelani is especial to us as it is flows to the ocean just close to Colombo. The wide estuary made Colombo famous. Actually Kolon Thota is the early name of Colombo, the Ford in the vicinity of the Kolon tree. See the connection”

The History Master now took command.

“Rivers are really the bed of civilisation. All great civilisations began on river beds, for they provided not only water basic to human life but means of transport too”.

Settlement

“The Portuguese made capital of the Kelani river. Their early settlement was in and around the Modera area. And they got the clever idea of diverting the waters of the Kelani to form a lake that is now called Beira.”

“Are you sure?”

“Remember, Jala Boo lived at that time.“

But I was not very sure of that and told so. “You may not believe it but I was among the few Portuguese soldiers who finally opted to protect the Fort against the Dutch. Finally we had to surrender and as I came out I fell into the moat.”

“And died?

“No. Lady. Due to some freak happening I did not exactly die but was turned into a Jala Boothaya who took to roaming the streets. Such things happen especially in Eastern countries with a belief in the mystic.”

Two against one. So I left it at that.

“Kelani river was diverted for two reasons. One to fill the moat around the Fort, the other for purposes of transport. It snaked from North Colombo to the Southern area , playing hide and seek it came down”.

Ships

“Actually Beira lake was much bigger 500 years ago than now.”

Three ships sailed in yonder seas one after another. The sun was beginning to spread its red glow. It was time to leave and return again another evening.

This time we met on York Street, in the heart of the city of Colombo. Needless to say, a bustling city rose all around us. Thousands passed us by. So busy. Then suddenly it all disappeared. And a mass of water spread before us.

“This is Jala Boo’s work. Do you believe in him now?”

“I have to.”

“We have receded centuries back. See the anchored boats. Hema Building came up later on this site plus other buildings. This was the main boat anchor in Fort. The slaves who worked in Dutch houses were all transported to Slave Island from here”

Diversion

“From where does the water ooze in here?”

“There has been mud and slush already here for the area is very close to the sea. Then there is the diversion from the Kelani. Actually the Water Devil did a real dance in this area. A large pool formed itself before which Lakehouse was built.

This newspaper office got its name from Beira Lake.

“Beira is not a Sinhala word”, I said. “When I travelled about in Italy especially along the hem of the Alps I saw many boards indicating the way to Beira. Portugal too uses the word.”

“Now you can decipher the connection. It is a Porto word” “Ah Lady. You really want to get at the bottom of things. In Mozambique, one of the Portuguese colonies there has been a place called Beira.” It all ticks.