Sri Lanka - Introduction

Ayubowan.

I am writing this entry to record my observations about my visit to Sri Lanka. I have made the observations on the country, its people, language, culture, socio-economic conditions, society etc. Whenever I fail to conjure some hullabaloo about such esteemed topics, I will write about some thing flimsier. I might have erred at times or been too judgmental about certain things which might lead the reader to a misconstruction. In either case, I would be happy to correct myself.

I am not writing this as a tourist guide to Sri Lanka although I won't mind if it serves such a cause. I will try to supply travel related information as well wherever I can plug it. If the reader has any specific question, I would try to answer, although LP/Tripadvisor would be a better place to start.

This entry is of more significance to me because my preconceived ideas about the country were challenged. Challenged is not the right word, 'destroyed' is. I am reminded of this quote by Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

My original thought was to avoid any comparison with India - to represent Sri Lanka as a discrete entity but I later realized that it would be futile. Comparisons are bound to creep in unconsciously so let me bring them out. What is a man, if not his prejudices! Alternatively, they would contribute some juice to the otherwise boring posts.

As I gather my thoughts, I think it would be better to divide this into smaller posts because primarily I don't want to write a long meandering post and secondly because I think each topic deserves a separate post. I have also decided to write these posts on my Hindi blog as well. Since I am lousy in both the languages, the reader should not observe any appreciable differences.