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Showing posts from May, 2007

Finally, It Was A Relaxing Weekend

After three weeks of non stop work, including the weekend, I found myself with a weekend off. That is half a day of Saturday and a full Sunday. I was looking forward to getting away from Moratuwa and convinced Samantha and Sandaruwan to go with me to Unwatuna. I had heard that beach at Unwatuna was beautiful. So, we took off on Saturday afternoon. It was about two and half hours on a bus. We checked into a nice resort for Rs. 1500 (about $15) a night for a duplex room. There weren't many westerners around and we got local rate (at that point I wasn't known to be a foreigner). Rest of evening and Sunday was really relaxing, we swam, walked on the beach, and I read a book - biography of Gandhi, Binoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan.

Cooked For the First Time in Sri Lanka

Yesterday evening I cooked for the first time here. For us who live at Sarvodaya hostels it is always canteen food, which can be too boring at times, especially sine we eat rice, dal, and curry (which is always tooooo hot for my taste) three times a day. So, I had been thinking of cooking for a while. Actually, almost a week back I had gone shopping had discovered that buying food can be as expensive here, the prices were comparable to US prices. Offcourse, I bought from a super market, which I am sure is off the reach of an average Sri Lankan. I had Samantha and Thiyaga as my dinner guests. I find cooking for myself too boring. We had dinner of Rice, Soyameat (I dont' like that meat thing, it's a wrong word), fried potatoes and lady's finger, and dal. Honestly, the food wasn't the best but edible...rice was little over cooked and I didn't have all the spieces I needed. Anyway, it was a welcome change from Canteen food. But, I am not sure how often I will cook, most

Bomb Blast Cancels Dinner Plan

I was to join Sharif and Francisco for dinner. We were planning on going outside, Sharif had suggested that there is a very nice Indian resturatnt in Colombo called Mango. I have rarely been to a nice resturant in Sri Lanka, none in Colombo. So, I was tempted enough to go eventhough I have not been eating much of dinner. My dinner at canteen has been mostly yoghurt and fruits. As we got out to catch a vehicle, we learnt that a bomb blast in Ratmalana had closed the Galle road. There are conflicting reports as to the causalties. We heard atleast three people killed and more than 20 people injured. BBC is reporting five dead and 20 injured . TamilNet says eight killed and 27 injured. Ratmalana is not far from here, it's about three or four kilometers. Only two days back another bomb went off in Welawatta near Colombo. It's rare that bombs go off in Colombo area this frequently. It is a sign that the war is coming to Colombo as well. As the government forces push towards North, LT

Four Day Bus Tour Around Sri Lanka

Between May 8th and 11th, I went to four day bus tour with Sarvodaya's Desodaya (National Awakening) team carrying the message of good governance and peace. More photos http://picasaweb.google.com/skhanal/DesodayaBusTour