Pic courtesy http://jonoandjules.com/ |
It’s raining. Hard. They say ‘bad weather’, but I think it would be ridiculous to describe Colombo on a rainless, hot afternoon as a city enjoying ‘good weather’. I don’t understand Meteorology lingo. Anyway, I distract myself. It’s nice weather for me, especially since I am just watching the rain and not getting drenched by it.
Right now I am sitting in the verandah of a quaint little
restaurant somewhere in a quaint old place called the Galle Fort. I believe it is a Made-for-Colombians kind of
place. Almost everyone here speaks
English. There are as many white people
here as there are brownies such as me. I
even heard that most of the shops here are owned by foreigners.
I am sitting here sipping a lime juice. No, I didn’t come here to have a lime
juice. That’s just for starters. I am a Colombian and I have a thing that
others don’t – taste. Taste buds to be
precise. It’s not just about food. One has to have a taste for good things. Like opera.
Good literature (I curse those who were responsible for putting a stop
to the Galle Literary Festival). And of
course good food. I got up this
good-weather-morning. There was tea and
breakfast all laid out. I had my
breakfast and reflected for a few minutes about what I had planned for the
day.
Not much for a Saturday.
There was a long-promised visit which could be shelved simply because it
was promised such a long time ago that an extra week wouldn’t be noticed. There was dinner engagement that couldn’t be
avoided and wouldn’t be missed because it was one of those connect-and-profit
kind of affairs. Dinner without
deal-potential is like salad without dressing, I’ve always felt.
It was the intervening hours that bothered me. Time, like money, has to be spent. Time, unlike money, cannot be invested in
bonds and such and be expected to come back with interest. Once it is gone, it’s gone. There’s always lunch to think about. And then it hit me. Mahinda Chinthana!
I wanted to have avocado prawns for lunch. I know that most yakkos in Sri Lanka would not think of the two together, but they
can blame no one but themselves for their ignorance, barbarity and lack of
taste. I, on the other hand, Colombian
through and through, can see avocado as a fruit, a drink, guacamole and as a
lovely wrap for prawns. It can be made
at home of course but my culinary skills is limited to drying an egg and
switching on the rice cooker. Anyway,
there’s another thing that the yakkos
known nothing about. Ambience. It adds to the taste in ways they can’t even
begin to comprehend.
And that’s what brought me to the Galle Fort. There’s only one thing better than sitting
here watching the rain, sipping a lime juice and anticipating avocado prawns
for lunch – having avocado prawns for lunch!
It’s all thanks to Mahinda Chinthana. When I crawled out of bed it was past 9 in
the morning. When I had breakfast it was
10. By the time I finished contemplating
my navel seeking answers to the vexed question of what to do until dinner it
was 11 o’clock. It took me a while to
get to the Kottawa Interchange and that’s because too many non-Colombians have
cars – had it been just us Colombians there would be less traffic and no
curses. It was not yet noon when I got
here.
This would not have been possible if not for Mahinda
Chinthana. Who cares if all this was
part of someone else’s plan? Mahinda got
it done. His pals may have made a lot of
bucks but then again in the business of sharing spoils a lot comes to us
Colombians because we are structurally located to take.
But that’s not the best part. The best part is that we are not only the
best positioned to reap the benefits of Mahinda Chinthana -- we get to bitch
about it too! I can come all the way to
Galle, have my avocado prawns along with a glass of wine, take a walk if the
good weather permits it or just sit right here and fire off emails, status
updates or tweets complaining that Mahinda doesn’t care about the yakkos, those good for nothing people
who can’t speak English but whose sorry situation is excellent garnish to my
anti-regime rants.
It’s lovely sitting here, watching the rain. I can’t wait to roll my tongue around those
succulent prawns. Life is good.
5 comments:
Aiyo Malinda, I thought you were a vegetarian.
you've missed the point.
I too suspected that I was not getting the point. Anyhow I am happy that I misunderstood. May be I am an "Extemist" but I can't open my mouth an say "Sir" to anyone who eats the flesh of another living being and helps the "genocide" of them. Thanks.
I recently met up with people who told me quite openly that the next president should be more well-versed in English than the current one (who accordingly is "horrible" in that language). Then I looked up where they "hailed from" and stopped being surprised. I laughed. Great article. Looking forward to the follow-ups.
"But that’s not the best part. The best part is that we are not only the best positioned to reap the benefits of Mahinda Chinthana -- we get to bitch about it too! I can come all the way to Galle, have my avocado prawns along with a glass of wine, take a walk if the good weather permits it or just sit right here and fire off emails, status updates or tweets complaining that Mahinda doesn’t care about the yakkos, those good for nothing people who can’t speak English but whose sorry situation is excellent garnish to my anti-regime rants."
Duh, the best description of our elitists who are trying to trick the common man into voting for their man at the next election.
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