My love affair with Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is extraordinary in every way. It is immensely pleasing, culturally rich, religiously and landscape-wise diverse, and full of colour, taste and wonder.
In the long-standing history of strife faced by Pakistani passport holders, Sri Lanka with all its fervour has remained a friend, being one of the few countries where Pakistanis are welcome without visa.
Before visiting Sri Lanka for the first time ever, my understanding of the country was limited to the country’s two major punch lines: its legacy of cricket and the decades marred by the Tamil Tigers syndrome. It is safe to say that my expectations of the place were somewhat modest.
I was first greeted to the country by the many similarities of its main metropolis, Colombo, to that of Karachi. Colombo with its adaptable nature has everything there is to offer. It is fast, busy, downright crazy, intensely overwhelming, and yet it is calm, serene and captivating.
It is a place where your average Joe can take solace from the everyday frenzy on its beaches along the island’s coastline.
Colombo’s abundance of restaurants, markets, diversity of people, endless stream of rickshaws and the trendy, chic hangouts by the coast makes it a vibrant city.
Next on my trip, I came across the sensationally-built, fortified city of Galle. It’s a living ode to the country’s two former colonisers: the Portuguese and the Dutch. Galle is a city crammed with little boutique shops, whimsical cafes with the smell of spices and salty winds in the breeze around.
Only a few kilometers to the southeast is the relaxation capital of Galle district, the beach town of Unawatuna, a tourist hotspot. It is here that I came across tourists from all over the world. More to my delight, it is in Unawatuna that I felt Pakistanis were treated like celebrities by the locals. My love affair with Sri Lanka became intense from the get-go.
From the warm beaches of Unawatuna, I made my way to the country’s second largest city, Kandy. Kandy, the last capital of the ancient Kings’ era is a buzzing place. I was fortunate to be able to visit the city’s renowned Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic — a custodian of a single tooth of the great Buddha.
The daily evening ceremony at the temple was nothing short of a fine sight as it was always heaving with both locals and tourists from all walks of life. The most interesting aspect was the young tour guides, and their multilingual skills; these guys spoke in English, French, German, Russian, you name it.
After one day's stay in Kandy, I trooped on to the hill country to the city of Haputale, predominantly inhabited by locals of the Islamic faith. Haputale is host to many of the country's tea plantations and tea factories with lush green sceneries in the highlands. It had a cooler climate in comparison to the rest of the island's tropical temperatures.
From Haputale I made my way to the best part of my trip, from the town of Dalhousie en-route to the Adam's Peak. Adam's Peak is a mountain of great significance not only for the 2,000 meters that it takes to reach the summit, but also for the local legend and folklore that surrounds it.
Home to Sri Pada, or the Sacred Footprint, it is believed to be the place where Adam first set foot on earth. Some believe that the large footprint is of Buddha’s on his way to paradise while others believe the footprint to be of Lord Shiva.
Regardless of the adaptation of the story one believes in, the peak of the mountain has an unbelievable aura to it. A temple atop the mountain and its triangle-shaped shadow hovering over the land and the mountains next to it will make every bone in your body shiver. The mountain is therefore crammed with thousands of Buddhist pilgrims each year.
The next stop was Sigiriya (The Lion Rock). Considered one of the most valuable historical landmarks of Sri Lanka, the rocky plateau is formed from the magma of a volcano. On top of the rock is a large fortress famous as King Kasyapa last abode.
The remains of the once great robustly fortified castle, attempt to ignite the human imagination into painting a coherent picture of its past through the remaining fragments and ruins. I paid tribute to my travels across the island as my journey came to a halt. The next day we took a rickshaw half way across the island back to Colombo.
Although, I only spent fourteen days in this astonishing place the memories of my time there remain as vivid as ever. To this day, I remain mystified, dazed and perplexed with the many mysteries the place had to offer.
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