Wading into a lost city

What is this lost city? The answer, many would regard as blasphemous for Colombo is certainly advancing from what may be called newness to newness what with all the innovations going on equipping it to rub shoulders with the best cities in the world. But it is this very journey to modernity that is burying the Olde Colombo, say the Olde Colombo as described by the eminent writer Dr. R. L. Brohier in his Changing Face of Colombo and gone via the hassle of print due to the endeavours of his devoted daughter Deloraine.

Can the city he describes be termed "Colombo in the making"? No. It had embarked on its stupendous journey some centuries back ever since the much vilified Portuguese invaders built a small fortress in the vicinity of a Kolon tree. Many are of the view that this Kolon tree lent its name to the Kolon ferry that was to end up as a mega port of the world due to its site in the criss-crossing of ocean traffic. The Kolon tree itself has long withdrawn into the lost city with its ferry.

The Portuguese bargained for a bit of land around their roughly built fortress, say, the size of the hide of an ox, but the whole transaction was tricky and soon their land extended to what encompasses North Colombo now, Grandpass, Kotahena, Mattakkuliya, Modera and a bit beyond fringing the Kelani. This river maid that, to use Oriental rhetoric, embraced her husband, the Indian ocean at the picturesque Modera or Muwadora.

Power

As the alien race boosted its power and settled itself, a whole host of buildings that catered to commerce, religious and social causes mushroomed in the area. Then came the Dutch in 1656 who however experimented with Galle as the capital but returned to Colombo, a tradition continued by the British since 1796.

"Sediments of imperialism" some would scoff but no one can erase the momentum of "Colombo in the making" as the Olde city is almost disappearing. To try to present that whole landscape in a single newspaper article is a challenging task, so an attempt is made here the present some main facets starting from what is today called Colombo 1. Colombo 11 merges into it circuitously and the merger transpires in the dilemma of the address of Lakehouse itself that stands a giant sentinel in the area. The postal address veers between the two in this land area.

Why land area? For, formally the Lost City was all inundated with water, water from the Beira lake and even water from the mighty ocean. However, stretches of jungle interspersed, and "jungled" enough for black big pachyderms to not only frisk around but even go on rampage to attack humans. That was now "the lost city". Welcome it back? Not for dear life would be the likely answer as fear whirls around the big beasts.

Sources

Water was abundant in the city then not only due to above sources of the lake and the ocean but due to a third source, that is the sky. In fact foreign writers as Schweitzer have dubbed Colombo as the water-pot of Asia due to the constant rains. But did anyone try farming here? No. The land was too marshy and only very further Northern stretches as the sylvan site of Muturajawela lent themselves to paddy farming. But the abundant water lent itself to many a useful service, as for example, transport.

There was then no land transport, fuel being an unheard of commodity, here and abroad. Roads had yet to be built negating the use of bullock carts in the area. So only conveyances were river vessels or boats. These boats began cruising the waters right from the centre of the city, that is opposite the York building. The boats made their way in different directions. A main one was along what later came to be called Canal Road and that ran to the sea.

That is a water pathway that even calls for a resuscitation. But alas, it has been totally removed along with the historical board too. Another hydro route ran a rather long way, terminating in the Kaffir Island which too has a complicated history. Today it has gone into oblivion after becoming an eye sore opposite a grand hotel that changes its name often.

Kaffirs

It once provided a haven for the black-listed Kaffirs suffering an ignominy due to a crime committed by a single one of them. None of them, then serving as household workers in Dutch houses were allowed to stay within the Fort premises and had to get back to the allotted island in the evenings, once the day's work was done.

The Dutch victims of the murder, a husband and wife, began to haunt their dwelling and Brohier gives a chilling account of how they came back at midnight to heave loud sighs and go into bouts of weeping. As no one opted to dwell there again, the house had later served as a coffee store and one wonders whether it is the nucleus of the giant commercial venture that began to dominate the fort.

Another "water spot" was making its own headlines in another part of Olde Colombo, that is in the Northern part of it which had shot into prominence from Portuguese and Dutch times, the latter favouring it more. In fact the main religious edifice of the Dutch was built here, on the Dahl of the Wolf or Wolfendahl. Jackals running wild in the area had been mistaken for wolves, hence the naming or misnaming. Just below it was a watery gateway to the city that incidentally became the northern entry point to the city. Here with much pomp and pageantry Dutch generals received ambassadors who came from the Kandyan kingdom to negotiate many a treaty, some crafty.

A drawbridge served not only transport purposes but also as security. The water that flowed beneath, diverted from the Kelani seethed with crocodiles whom they called Kaiman. In fact the bell tower that the Dutch built to demarcate their boundaries on the Northern front is even today called the Kaiman gate. The bell has a story to tell. It has been robbed from a Roman Catholic church in Kotte and installed there, symptomatic of the bitter feud of two European races on our land. Gradually the place assumed a commercial veneer which continues to this date. It even ended up the terminus of all the roads in the island plus the mega postal centre cum railway hub and became Colombo 11.

Prominence

Colombo 1 retained its prominence, as the centre of government. Gordon Gardens, retained its place as the residence of the Governor while commercial activities began to proliferate. Entertainment was another area that flourished. The Galle Face Green was the first venue that Colombo in the making experimented. The jausang dancers had first begun their frolics in this green followed by certain religious communities using it not only for prayers but also for worldly entertainment. The tradition continues.

It is suggested here that an enterprise be undertaken to demonstrate this stupendous journey of Colombo via media channels. It would be an apt homage to writers such as Brohier who laboured hard to demonstrate the gigantic journey in mere prose.

(The writer is the translator of Brohier's Changing Face of Colombo into Sinhala.)