Of People and Places

Trunks flew overhead like missiles. And there was drool in the air! I was caught in the cross fire as the elephants shot out their trunks hither and thither to eat the bananas and other fruits the tourists were holding up for them. The elephant I was trying to feed, opened his mouth wide, patiently waiting for me to pop the banana into his mouth when, quick as lightning, other elephants intercepted the food, rolled them up with their noses and gobbled them up. Self-service is the best service, I advised the poor fellow who had been cheated. He tapped me on the head, as if trying to see if I had some stashed away on my head and hands. I shrugged and told him -         "See, my hands are empty!" I am at Pinnawala in Sri Lanka, an orphanage for baby elephants close to the Maha Oya river . They are bathed twice a day in the river and many hotels and restaurants have sprung up close by so that visitors can eat, drink and relax with the gorgeous ...

Belgaum has many beautiful houses dating back to colonial times. With gothic arches, linear shaped buildings, terracotta tiles, they express a serenity and calmness that is hard to find these days. Some people do continue to live in these houses whereas some have an abandoned look. These buildings have an interesting blend of British, Kannada and Marathi architecture.Most of these houses are built from stone, mud bricks with high ceilings, cast iron railings,ornate windows and roofs. I wish we had a heritage walk in Belgaum where we are guided by experts on the history of these buildings. I am sure it would be an enriching experience.

On Day 2 of our tour in Sri Lanka, we took a road trip to the Pinnawala elephant orphanage . On the way, I was delighted to be on the canal road - where colorful boats lined up on the waterway on the right while tuk-tuks , cars and buses plied on the road that we were on. This is the Dutch canal/ Hamilton canal   connecting Puttalam to Colombo. It runs across many towns and landscapes and my only regret is that we did not go on a boat ride on the canal. It was constructed by the Dutch to be a supply route for agricultural produce and goods to be transported to the sea port at Negombo. It connects to the Muthrajawela wetlands in the Negombo lagoon, a marsh with incredible biodiversity, from what I've read. Next time I visit Sri Lanka, the canal  and Negombo lagoon are definitely on my bucket list.

A sketch I'd made of the view from Cinnamon Bey, Beruwala One of the best things about our trip to Sri Lanka was the magnificent properties we stayed at. The trip was organised by my father's alumni association ( Batch of '79, Agriculture college, Dharwad) with a conducted tour operator in Bangalore ( Ujwal International holidays ) who has good tie ups with travel companies in different countries. In Sri Lanka, it was with Royal holidays  . There were 34 of us. It was a surprise to me that we would be staying at swanky hotels, the likes of which I have seen only in TLC and insider TV. My favourite hotel was Cinnamon Citadel in Kandy. It's right next to the swampy Mahaweli river and the way it's built is fantastic. It is built on a hill, so our rooms were closer to the base, with the river in our backyard while the lounge and the pool are built upstairs with a superb view of the surrounding dense forests. Do check out their website - the aerial view is unbe...

Half way through the safari on Madu river in Balapitiya, Sri Lanka, we had sudden rains which made the boatmen abandon the original plan of visiting the islets and the mangroves. It rained quite heavily and disappointed, we went to the Galle fort for sightseeing and hoped that the weather would be fine in the afternoon to try again. Galle is a beautiful city, but more on that later. All things seem to be for the best. We got to enjoy boating in the Madu river both in the rains, where the water looked lovely and in the late afternoon, where all the leaves looked fresh and reinvigorated from the morning rains and it wasn't as sunny or sweltering. This is a little watercolor sketch I made. We had just visited an island where the locals spoke about growing Cinnamon and when we made our way out of the marshland, one of the boats ahead of us, it made such a charming picture, with most of the horizon covered with foliage from the mangroves. It was like we were in a tunnel ...