Tags
Aluwihare, Amparai, Anamaduwa, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Batulu Oya, Belihuloya, Beragala, Buttala, Chitra Wickramasuriya, David Woolger, Diyaluma Falls, Gam Udawa, Getamanna, Gill Juleff, Haputale, Ismeth Raheem, John Keleher, Mahaweli, Mahiyangana, Matale, Matara, Medawachchiya, Neil Kemp, Nirmali Hettiarachchi, Paru Nagasunderam, Polonnaruwa, Rahangala, Rex Baker, Samanalawewa Dam, Somasundara, Vavuniya, Weerawila
I also much relished in my new job the opportunities I had to travel outside Colombo, to explore again and again what I had once described as the widest range of beauty to be found in the smallest compass in the whole world.
I had got used to frequent travel in my last years at the British Council, first for the office on the Furniture Project which had been started for the North and East soon after the Indo-Lankan Accord. When that unraveled, we had persuaded the Overseas Development Administration to transfer the funds to two other Districts, in addition to Amparai, which remained comparatively safe for travel.
The two selected, because of their proximity to the East, were Matale and Matara. I was able therefore to drop in frequently on my Aunt Ena in Aluwihare and on my father’s brother and his wife in Getamanna. But I also stayed often in Resthouses, and grew to love what I saw as their unity in diversity. The country had a range at different levels of comfort and cleanliness, ranging from the dingy old one at Mahiyangana to the lovely new one in the same city, on the bank of the Mahaweli. I loved too the little ones, at Batulu Oya, and Weerawila overlooking the reservoir, and Anamaduwa looking over paddy fields when Chandrika first changed the clocks and the evening stretched out for ages, as I remembered from Summer Time at Oxford. Continue reading