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Buddhism, Tea and Guns
We left Thiruvananthapuram and headed across to Sri Lanka late December with a view to renewing Col's visa.
With two weeks to allow the application to be processed, we planned a short stay in Colombo, the commercial capital, followed by Kandy, considered the cultural capital, then further south to visit one of the Hill towns, then finally a relaxing time at the beach for the remainder of our stay. The photographs will tell you of what we saw, but in this blog we thought we'd give you some of our general impressions and experiences of Sri Lanka.
Before arriving we had done a little homework about this tear drop shaped island. We knew it was a predominantly Buddhist country, with populations of hindu Tamils, Muslims and Christians, and was previously colonised by the British, Portugese and the Dutch. We knew a little about the conflict between the Sinhalese establishment and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and that things were progressing towards a showdown.
On arrival we could not help comparing it to our experiences in India. Sri Lanka has stunning lush landscapes and beautiful beaches and horizons. The people seemed much more smiley and welcoming. We definitely felt the Buddhist vibe in some places. The roads and traffic control were also better. However, the prices were much higher; comparable to Europe leaving us wondering how local people could afford them. Hotel tariffs were quoted in US dollars, and it became clear that prices were different for domestic versus foreign tourists. Unlike India we not were not mistaken as Sri Lankans and we were asked if we were from Pakistan quite pointedly on a couple of occasions. Based on the prices we were not surprised that it wasn't a common backpacking destination, but there are other reasons as we discovered. This included the conflict and strong military presence as well as the lack of public transport infrastructure.
Although we were aware of the troubles in Sri Lanka the presence of armed military and police personnel on the streets and the impromptu checkpoints on main roads of autorickshaws we travelled in and on major bus routes made this a startling reality. In our naivete, within the first day or so when we were a little lost and disoriented looking for the art gallery we made the mistake of asking a group of wandering policemen for directions. They began by asking us for our ID (you are required to carry photo ID with you at all times here) then seemingly joking and laughing amongst themselves when we showed them our passports. They asked us if we were Tamils which we pretended not to hear and took our leave fairly quickly when we realised they could not understand our English; but then one of them relented and flagged us down a bus to the art gallery.
The recurring military checkpoints, made what should have been 3 hour bus journeys into a tiring 5 hour journey, as all the passengers had to get off the bus, stand in queue with their luggage and ID. On one long distance journey there were three checkpoints. It took us a little time to get used them, but they remained an irritation as we began to wonder how effective these checkpoints were. They left us alone when they saw our British passports and did not check our bags which was a relief, not that we were carrying anything, but with a backpack it would have been a nightmare to unpack and repack so often.
Our other observation was that people did not speak English as often as the Lonely Planet suggested and certainly throughout our stay we did not understand a word at checkpoints and found public transport much more difficult to access than in India. We had hoped to travel by train, as recommended by Lonely Planet, but discovered that all trains were booked for weeks ahead on each of the journeys we had planned to make and they were also the slowest form of transport, so we made do with the bus, which overall was a pleasant albeit cramped way to see the country.
One of Sri Lanka's previous govenments had decided that Sri Lanka had an obligation to protect and promote the Buddhist 'religion'. There are Buddhist schools, attended by most Sinhalese children, a 'Poya' holiday each month, at the time of the full moon, and special seats for the clergy (Buddhists Monks) on public transport, Buddhist literature at each of the hotels we stayed. This adherence to Bhuddist principles seemed inconsistent with the fact that Sri Lanka spends more on military expenditure than anything else in the country, and the oppression of the Tamils in the north. We may seem a little puritanical - just like anywhere else in the world where religion is insitutionalised, it loses a spiritual dimension. We found the fact that the Buddhist clergy were fervently backing the Government's offensive against the Tamils difficult to reconcile with our understanding of Buddhism.
Buddhism is not a religion, but a philosophy, most Sri Lankan's know and recognise this, and yet it has become enshrined as a religion in the country and the clergy actively contribute to state politics, having reserved places within parliament. Desmond, a bar manager in Unawatuna (a beatuiful beach in the south), meditated daily and offered a more spiritual interpretation of Buddhism, one that had changed his life and given him hope. He along with a few others we met also believed that insitutionalised Buddhism did not truly reflect the Buddha's teachings and so had lost some of its spirituality. One emigre who ran a local meditation class was a follower of the Friends of the Western Bhuddist Order (FWBO) because he did not believe state Buddhism in Sri Lanka reflected true Buddhism. Although living and working in New Zealand, he was keen to offer an alternative in Sri Lanka too.
Whilst in Sri Lanka we celebrated new year with resolutions to try one of the aspects of the Buddhist eightfold path - Right understanding, Right thoughts, Right speech,Right livelihood, Right action, Right effort, Right concentration, Rightmindfulness. Sundeep, who has been practising Buddhist meditation made the promise to herself that she would make time to meditate and continue her classes at the Buddhist centre. Col decided that she needed to work on the art of Right Speech but alas as with most resolutions, her foul mouth has let her down but its a process not an event so watch this space.
Tea, that was another interesting diversion. Most of the biodiversity, including rainforest, has been lost to beautiful cash crop tea plantations which required the removal of indigenous flora; a legacy of colonisation. Planting tea on the hills was done using 'steppe' planting for irrigation purposes. This resulted in a stunning backdrop in the hill country. We were told the plantations were worked by Tamils who live in self contained plantation communities funded by plantation estates still owned by Europeans - a legacy of colonisation. The Brits originally brought the Tamils over to work on tea estates as the local Sinhalese population refused as part of their resistance to colonisation.
Most of the tea plantations in Sri Lanka have the Fair Trade brand suggesting good working conditions. Our guidethrough the hill country suggested that the Tamils were lucky to have a house, schools and hospitals for free. However, given that Tamils have been long treated as inferior citizens, denied full participation, face regular discrimination and have fewer opportunities - we thought this a one dimensional argument. Particularly because the enclosed community would offer few opportunities for plantation families and their children to develop, progress and participate fully on the island. We wondered whether this opportunity to live on a tea estate also became a generational trap for families. However we did not have anyone to discuss this with there so it remains speculative and based on our own suspicions.We will continue to seek right understanding.
On the 31stof December we made our way back to Colombo to get Col's visa. It was completely painless and no questions were asked. We celebrated with a few Lion beers, with a couple of other sucessful visa applicants, and realised we were really looking forward to going back to India. The vegetarian fare in Sri Lanka was rice and curry and whilst it was nice a few times ... it became boring as the only decent option towards the end. We had missed India and were looking forward to returning to its chaos and brilliance.
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