August 24th 2008
Day 11, Sunday

Cricket!

Quite suddenly one day I was invited to a cricket match for the 3rd game in an India vs Sri Lanka test match, of course being ignorant of all things cricket I just went along out of curiosity. Without much of a clue as to what the day would entail I just packed my camera and my outing hat for a day at the greens (that probably isn’t even the proper term, but just roll with it).
Was picked up by Sanjeev (the cousin who invited me to the game) around noon and we picked up a few more people on our way to the stadium. I learnt that the stadium security allows only non-alcoholic drinks, so our ingenious crew took a sealed water bottle removed the water via a small hole in the bottom and injected white coconut arrack (40%-50% sharp tasting alcohol), along with a bottle of cola to mix all was well.
As we approached the stadium I could see greater crowds of people traveling along the roadside and the traffic became quite congested. Fortunately the seats we were able to get came with a special parking pass that got us right beside the stadium – otherwise a bit of a trek with long line ups to get into the grounds. The pricing for seating were as follows; standing area for Rs. 100/ ($1 CAD), lower level seating for Rs. 1500/ and upper level seating for Rs. 2500, there is also special boxes for the relatives of the players and other officials. Again we were quite fortunate to get the upper level seating with a good view of the field, after getting seated the game had yet to start so I took the opportunity to learn at least something of cricket which Sanjeev was able to impart.

It’s similar to baseball but there are only 2 innings, the first to bat is decided by coin toss. Here is where it gets a bit complicated, there is a bowler and he throws 6 balls in one over, after an over the batsmen switch side – oh, I forgot to mention there are always 2 batsmen on the field. Instead of a diamond the field is a large oval, with an inner border, the pitching field is in the middle consisting of a rectangular track with a set a wicket at each end. The wickets are 3 poles stuck in the ground that have 2 small wooden pieces resting at the top. The goal of the bowler is to hit the wicket and knock the piece over to get the batsmen out, per inning each team has 10 wickets – or 10 outs after which the teams switch positions. As well wickets can be taken from catching the ball before it falls to the ground or penalties such as the ‘right foot rule’(if the batsmen is standing in front of the wicket so that it is covered).
There are a bunch of other rules but I have no desire to go into them here, nor do I actually remember that many more so let’s continue with the story…

As the game was about to start more and more people started pouring into the stadium, the crowd was fairly mixed though in the upper level more of the well to do and ‘cool’ people were in the crowd. I was surprised to see a five person band seat themselves not too far away, a fairly common thing they are called ‘papara’ bands denoting the type of beat they usually adhere to. It seems the band is part of the attraction of seeing the game live, I must say that they were quite good at keeping things lively.
The game started with a coin toss which India one – they elected to bat first. As the people took their positions on the field the cheering became intense and people began using these inflatable plastic noise makers that were handed out at the entrance of the stadium, even the band got louder and played a faster beat for the crowd. The cheering reached a crescendo when the first Sri Lankan bowler threw the first ball resulting in a scratch (no run or out). Afterward everyone settled down a bit then divided their attention between the game and listening to the band.
By far the center of attention were the bands, people around them were dancing and cheering along with them, as honestly to keep attention on the match itself would be kind of boring. Every once in a while an exciting play took place and everyone got up to cheer, but only the really hardcore cricket fans could really stay focused on the game all the time.
Scoring for the game was fairly straight forward, if a batsmen hit the ball far enough away he and the other batsmen would run the length of the centre pitch, being awarded 1 run for each length they ran. If they hit the ball so that it rolled along the ground over the outside boundary 4 runs were awarded. Then if they hit the ball in the air over the boundary then that was 6 runs (the most that could be awarded).
The rest of the game was a mixture of various types of runs awarded to India and a few plays that resulted in wickets. The game had a maximum of 50 overs per inning which translates into 300 pitches (and chances to score), though again if a team got 10 wickets it was over.

I’ll take a little break here to mention ‘Percy’ the one man cheering squad. It seems that for ages there was only one patriotic elderly fellow (I so wanted to use old geezer) who would be the only one cheering for Sri Lanka at international and all local events. He was so dedicated showing up for every single game in uniform and waving a Sri Lankan flag that he was officially recognized by the team and sponsors. A self made celebrity, who just loved the cricket team… or had way too much time on his hands, either way quite an interesting story. So carrying on where I left off…


After the first 50 overs (and roughly 3 ½ hours) India had 237 runs, not exactly a high score but average. This began the ‘half-time’ so we took the opportunity to get some beer and short eats, such as chicken hot dogs and nuggets. The crowd was quite large around the 4 concession tents with the beer line by far the longest. The whole thing seemed an exercise in chaos familiar to anyone who has attended a major sporting event anywhere in the world.
Sri Lanka came up to bat and the crowd became rowdier than before, as many started producing smuggled bottles of Arrack and other alcohol to consume for the second half. We also broke open our ‘bottled water’ and had a few drinks as Sri Lanka started their batting, they had to score 238 runs to win the match. Again it was a bit of a boring affair watching the game in length but dividing ones time with the festivities of the papara band and the occasional cheering moments on the field made the time go by quickly. Unfortunately Sri Lanka was penalized several times early on for about 5 extra wickets, so after only 20 overs they had only 2 wickets left and about 50 runs. It didn’t look like Sri Lanka was in any form to win against India.
Though as the game continued one could not help but get caught up in the excitement as the Sri Lankan team tried to rally for more runs, it then became an exercise in math as we would calculate how many pitches were left and the number of runs needed per pitch, and average number of runs they needed per over. For a while it was very close but India played well and wickets Sri Lanka received early on proved their downfall as the game ended at 48 overs after a pop fly was caught by the Indian fielders.
The final score was India 237 – Sri Lanka 204, actually quite a dismal showing by the Lankan team according to the spectators. The stadium emptied out pretty quickly (a few people left early on after when Sri Lanka had 8 wickets at the 20th over).

With that we waited a bit for the crowds to lessen and headed home, a few drunken revelers were outside but otherwise fairly tame. I can’t say that cricket is my new favorite sport, or that I really appreciate the game – I like the atmosphere of watching with other people, and the excitement created by the bands and revelers. A few people may have taken it a bit far in my opinion, dancing like possessed spider monkeys in seizure. Though what I also liked was that everyone regardless of age, gender, religion, background etc. was there to have a good time and cheer on the national team. In a country that has been given an image of a society divided by civil war, seeing a show of unity is quite uplifting – even if rather inebriated.

Adventures in Fort
August 20th – 23rd
Day 7-10

I had scheduled this post for writing about the cricket match between Sri Lanka and India but decided I need to finish up on a few thoughts and some experiences otherwise… actually for no real reason other than to see myself write?... there doesn’t seem to be an appropriate parallel to hear oneself talk, oh well. Anyway a few things that took place in the same time period as the previous posts.

I was offered a position teaching spoken English to students, was quite surprised to learn that there is a overwhelming demand for teachers here and there are quite a few quacks that offer comprehensive English courses that don’t really teach anything practical (basically like the mandatory French language programs in Alberta – c’est merde). Even among the more illustrious institutes like Royal Academy, there is more of an interest in making money than in a students education… do I really need to add a quip here?

My first class teaching is Wednesday August 27th, well 2 classes one 10-2pm and the other at 5pm, most of the students are in their 20’s and want to practice spoken English for employment purposes, honestly it’s pretty easy work but I’m going to try to challenge them a little… an evil part of me briefly considered talking with a Newfie accent but I was able to suppress that instinct. It doesn’t exactly pay much by Canadian standards but for this location it will serve well for getting groceries, travel and various knick knacks (I’ve always wondered at the history of that phrase). Starting with one day a week then depends on my popularity as a teacher… I should start handing out candy in class, or maybe cell phone minutes would be more popular – oh, in reference to my previous post I have to add one more thing that is awesome about the Sri Lanka cell services, you can send people extra minutes! That’s right if your friend is about to run out of minutes and you have some to spare you can basically SMS (some sort of txt system on steroids) them some of your extra minutes.

Okay, so the teaching thing is interesting and we’ll see how that turns out. Now I would like to expand a bit on my first adventure touring around the main city Colombo by myself on the local transit and how I avoided pick pockets, shills, and characters of dubious repute and interactions with the friendly people with machine guns, or as they are known the Sri Lankan Military security (whose checkpoints sport all sorts of advertising – fortunately nothing too out of taste).
When I had taken the bus (for the first time) to the heart of Colombo called the Fort area, my goal was to see the ocean and head to an area called Galle Face Green, a well known park by the seaside. The place I got down was about 1km or so away and I thought it would be fairly easy to just walk down to where I wanted to go. I was quite mistaken. Firstly when one gets off the bus in Fort it seems like utter chaos busses are haphazardly moving in and out of the area, people are milling hurriedly in all directions and various street hawkers are yelling either something about what they’re selling or ancient Klingon poems (I’ll try to keep future geek references to a minimum).
I easily got disoriented as there are few – make that no street signs to speak of and most of the sidewalk space is occupied by the peddlers of things ranging from pirated DVD’s to fake designer bags. While I was tempted to try shopping a bit, my main goal was to see the beach and so I just picked a direction and kept walking. To make a long story short, I chose incorrectly. Fortunately I had a street map of the area and was able to discover my error after only about 45 minutes of walking under the hot sun. So heading back the way I came looked around for alternative routes, as well by this time my shirt was soaking with sweat not so much from physical exhaustion but uncomfortable heat and humidity. With that I really looked out of place and was approached by quite a few ‘helpful’ people that wanted to take me where I wanted to go, and one persistent fellow walked with me for a few blocks saying he was a person not ‘from Colombo’ and didn’t want any money but wanted me to follow him to his place. It seems he also collected stamps from various countries… yeah, and I was born under a Bo tree. Eventually plotted a route to take me to the long anticipated beach but was puzzled by these “High Security Zone” notices as I approached the street, then I was politely stopped by some security officers wearing very crisp green uniforms and although seeming quite well used, serviceable machine guns. After an initial language confusion was able to convey my intentions and they were actually quite helpful (if a bit hard to understand) and pointed me in the direction I had to go in.

Unfortunately this began… the term ‘rat in a maze’ comes to mind. It’s not that I didn’t know where to go but every other street or area I needed to get to was blocked by HSZ’s (aforementioned High Security Zones). I probably spent about 3 hours wandering around the center of the city at times I even smelt a cool sea breeze… and finally I found the right street to take, but at that time I needed to head back home.

That technically ended my first adventure to the area I would later learn is called Pettah, the infamous street market district. The area itself is quite overwhelming aside from the street hawkers there are several side streets that seem to be dedicated to various goods, down one street there are gold smiths and jewelry shops (mostly owned by Muslims), down another is household electronics, and down one is textiles so on and so forth. I definitely plan to do a bit of shopping there in the future but it is extremely crowded and also a bit dangerous to the unwary. Pickpockets are abound so you have to keep a close watch on your valuables – which one should really keep to a minimum in the first place. As well the shop keepers will try and charge you as much as possible so one has to be knowledgeable about local prices or fairly good at bargaining. So while it is easy to get ripped off one can find a variety of clothing and other items for around Rs. 500/ ($5 CAD) that may cost you around $20- $90 CAD back home. Eventually I did return to Pettah for a little shopping and picked up a pair of pants for Rs. 150/ and a nice shirt for Rs. 475/ probably overpaid for the shirt but even by local standards the pants were a steal… hey, where’s my wallet?


(Oh there it is, under the pile of pirated DVD’s I got for Rs. 100/ ($1 CAD) a pop - MPAA eat your heart out)

A few days later…
August 20th – 22nd
Day (7-9)

So a few more observations I want to write about… actually I think we’ll skip that for now and I’ll relate my other experiences just getting around the area.
Anyway, after about a week in Sri Lanka finally felt well enough to head out on my own with the local transit system. Here, I’ll have to do a bit of explaining as the system of transit is vastly different from what you would find in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Probably the biggest difference is the majority of busses are privately owned though they do prescribe to set routes designated by numbers, for example to get to Colombo from where I am staying in Kandana means taking the Ja-ela 187 bus, or Airport bus. There are also 2 types of busses the larger 40-50 seat buses and the smaller vans, the vans are air conditioned so are a bit more expensive for the same trip, a trip to Colombo runs Rs. 24/ for the regular bus and Rs. 80/ for an AC van.

Busses come with fair regularity and the first time I went didn’t wait for more than 15 seconds (seriously) before a bus rolled up and jumped on and took a seat, the most I’ve waited as of to date is about 5 minutes for a bus. The busses themselves vary in mechanical maintenance and cleanliness, some are spotless and run as well as Calgary Transit busses, others sound like they are a large bump away from losing the entire engine and you can’t tell the original color of the interior for all the dirt – Though most busses fall somewhere in between.

The procedure for getting a bus is a bit entertaining as far as I’m concerned, you can either wait at a bus stop… I use the term loosely, or as the bus approaches flag it down. The bus slows down and the conductor shouts the destinations, you then hop on and grab a seat if available or find suitable standing room. Then after the bus gets on it’s way the conductor comes around and collects money from the new passengers. Not speaking Singhalese too well, have run into a few problems in the past but usually another passenger knows enough English to help me out. Some of the conductors also provide receipts or tickets… not sure why since no one ever seems to use or need them.

Then one just sits back and enjoys a bumpy ride listening music pumping over the speakers of the bus. The music is mostly Singhalese so don’t really understand it but it seems to suit the riding the bus and kind of grows on you. During my first trip was listening to what I though was a really catchy tune when I realized it was a couple of people who were playing music on the bus! The guy had a drum and kept beat while the girl had a tambourine and sang, it was kind of enchanting traveling down the dusty road with people singing as the bus bounced to and fro. Near the end of the route the couple passed around a basket for tips so gave a few Rupees as the experience was to be remembered.

The main bus junctions can be a confusing affair with dozens of busses moving slowly up the street trying to pick up more passengers before the leave, I’ve seen a few bus drivers roll forward and back to get people on the bus faster. In general using the bus is fairly easy and cheap way to get around, one just has to know which stop to get off at. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of documentation on the Sri Lankan transit system, routes and availability to be found on the internet or even with the transportation ministry itself. Not knowing the language can be a huge deterrent to bus travel but the experience is far better than trying to travel by taxi (and a hell of a lot cheaper).

After quite the pleasant experience traveling by bus I decided to take the local train for a few travels too and from the city. Tickets for the train are a bit cheaper at about Rs. 13/ for 3rd class but the times are a bit limited, the morning train is at 8:15 AM and the next one is at 11:30 AM. The local station is divided into two sides and to get to the other side one has to jump down and cross the tracks (a finable offense in Calgary). During the morning commute, a couple of military guards check bags at the entrance to the station, the terrorist situation is still a bit of a concern.
So after waiting a few minutes the train actually arrived 15 minutes early, it definitely had a used look to it, most of the cars were designated for 3rd class. Though the first car had signs painted in Singhalese, Tamil and English stating “Reserved for Clergy”, though either people didn’t take these signs seriously or “Clergy” encompasses a wider variety of people than I previously believed. After getting on the train found all the seats occupied so just stood near one of the door ways, actually the younger teenage passengers preferred the doorways as they would hang outside the doors while the train was moving for entertainment. The train car definitely had a bit of a used look to it but was pretty functional, there were rotating ceiling fans that kept conditions inside pretty comfortable. The passengers seemed to be daily commuters and occasionally groups would break into a song that others would pick up on as the train went on its way, then everyone would just sit as before lost in thought as their commute continued – not a bad way to travel.

One slight hiccup in the whole trip was the realization that I was indeed the victim of groping… hard to believe, I know. I brushed it off at first since I assumed it was because of crowding but even when I moved to a more open space the creepy old guy sort of followed along. I’d rather not go into details, but suffice to say it was a rather uncomfortable experience. It was only later that I learned that even among locals some people are afraid to ride the train for reasons as above and that the daily commuters have taken a very proprietary view on the train, they assume that since they’ve been riding the train for so long that a particular seat or car is basically ‘theirs’ and they have been know to force people off of train cars that are invading their ‘rightful space’. I’m not sure how much of this has been exaggerated and how much is based on truth but given my previous experience I am leaning toward the latter.

In any event travel by local transport is easy enough after the initial plunge but can definitely take a bit of adjustment. Meh, given a couple more weeks will eventually be a seasoned traveler, for now signing off for another day. Next time will tell tales of cricket and how it puts sporting events in Canada to shame – just for the atmosphere created by the audience.

Of Bombs and Foreign Policy

Unfortunate result of being behind in my postings (I blame the lack of a reliable computer or internet access) is that I have to interrupt the timeline of events sometimes to the point that I’m unsure of the proper sequence anymore. Be that as it may, I need to break consistency here to make a few comments about some events that happened over the weekend of August 31st and a brief recount of some related topics in Sri Lanka.

Now, every since I came to Sri Lanka on the 13th of August I have been impressed by the efficiency of the people and in particular the military. Security guards no longer consist of overweight and extremely bored looking individuals scattered at seemingly random intervals, the army is a persistent presence along the main roads leading into Colombo and the check points are in key junctions well manned with serious (and well armed) troops. As well the terrorist group that called the LTTE has been under increasing pressure from Government troops and last week the Sri Lankan armed forces began major pushes into LTTE territory, capturing key administration junctions and training camps for the terrorist group. All this comes at the end of stretch of government victories over the LTTE as well as relative calm in the major cities with no explosions for about 3 months in Colombo – for citizens here that is considered quite a feat.

Unfortunately all that ended last Saturday when a bomb went off in the Pettah district of Colombo… an area I was in only about ½ an hour after the blast. Oddly enough I had no clue about what happened, it was raining heavily that day and many of the street stalls in the area were closed – I assumed it was because of the rain. Whether the rain washed away evidence of the blast or people have become extremely efficient at clearing areas of wounded and debris is unknown, it just highlights the one troublesome fact of living in Sri Lanka. Not knowing if you’re next bus trip or shopping excursion will be your last. [The above photo I took unawares of what happened earlier, just thought the rain was cool]

While I still don’t worry about traveling around the country (whether it is bravado or stupidity is debatable), I can’t help but notice how close I was to being in the middle of the blast. In fact I was only delayed from shopping in the Pettah district because my Aunt designated me to take a few photographs of her Teachers Union meeting. The blast itself was relatively tame by previous incidents, 45 people were injured including 2 children and only 2 people in serious condition. The fact that the bomb was considered ‘tame’ by local standards says something about the kind of terror people used to face every day. Now I don’t relish the idea of being caught in a bus explosion or having my legs blown off while shopping for knick knacks, but I don’t see the point in hiding at home or avoiding using the most reliable local transport. It seems that people here have learnt that giving into fear is how terrorists control people, and if you don’t give in to that fear then… the terrorists have no power over you. Of course this is probably the opposite of the attitude in the states where even the remotest town lives in fear of ‘terrorists’ after 9/11. I’m not making light of the tragedy of that day or the sacrifice people made, but living in constant fear does no justice to anyone, and actually allowed the US government to make the world a place were terrorism can flourish. Take a look at the current US embroilment in Iraq and how because of their commitment they cannot afford resources to other matters, such as in Georgia.
Here I have to say a bit about the perception people have about the western world in Sri Lanka. There is a certain amount of chagrin as Western powers call for human rights inquiries and election watchdogs when not too long ago the world saw picture from Guantaunamo bay and the voting irregularities in Florida from the 2000 presidential elections. In particular the United States, Britain and for some reason Norway have all take a bit of interest in Sri Lanka in ‘concern’ for welfare of the people. However the countries have absolutely no moral high ground to make any judgments are any attempts to do so are met with sarcasm. There’s a saying in Sri Lanka that the only difference between the corruption here and the corruption in the west is that they have institutionalized corruption to the highest powers of government in the west… made it more efficient if you will.
I mention this because I can guarantee you – as the LTTE seem to be approaching an inevitable end, Western countries will be clamoring for ‘peace’ and use human rights as an excuse for cessation of military operations. I’m curious as to where these people were when the US invaded Iraq… hmm, that’s a bit too easy. Though the fact is, western countries do not want strong and stable governments to exist for the reason that they are much harder to exploit. While countries do give ‘aid’ these are in reality devious sorts of loans that generally involve using the money to import goods from the donating nation, while preventing the building of infrastructure that would actually improve conditions.
I’ve gone on a bit of a ranty tangent here, but it is a topic that as I learn more about the more disgusted I become. Not that I haven’t known some of this before, but it’s only once you get close enough to actually smell the shit that you have to hold your nose.

Side rant

I wish to expand a bit on the topics of my previous post… but still have a lot more to expunge (hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right… in fact kind of gross), a lot more to expound? Ah, a lot more I wish to impart (that’s better) regarding my impressions of Sri Lanka, it is difficult to write in a more orderly fashion about the subject as most of the impressions are of relatively small things that pique the curiosity as they defy the normal conventions as to which I am accustomed – or to but it more bluntly, I’ve noticed things that have broken misconceptions and stereotypes previously held.

A few examples with a bit of background; within the first week I decided it would be a wise idea to get a local cell phone as I wanted to do some traveling on my own and it would be a good way to keep in touch with relatives and perhaps ask for help if hopelessly lost or in other dire situations. Now Canada for all it’s status as a first world nation is a horrible place in concern of cell phone companies and plans offered, even with three cell companies the plans and prices are much greater than in the United States as well customer service is treated as something of a fanciful myth. I’ll share my own experience concerning my plan with Bell mobility which I wanted to suspend while in Sri Lanka since I really wasn’t going to use the phone – which they wouldn’t allow. So I asked if I could use the phone in Sri Lanka and how much would it cost? They replied that the cost per minute would be $5.99 – for roaming charges! (just to keep the cell phone on would cost six dollars a minute) As well, to reduce the plan to the cheapest available still meant paying $40 CAD a month for a service I’m not using. Even the pay as you go plans are not much better, you would have to spend at least around $100 for a cell phone and then minutes are on average $0.25/min with an expiry of 30 days.

So looking for a phone in Sri Lanka, with relative ease got a cheap phone with simm card (activation chip for the company)… with due apologies I’m going to add a bit more in my criticism of Canadian cell companies. Another thing that really bothers me is the fact that most of the cell phones are ‘nerfed’ or aren’t able to use all the features they are designed for because the companies don’t support them or use a proprietary operating system on the cell that forces you to use their services, again using Bell as an example; my cell in Canada is technically capable of using mp3’s for its ring tones and I should be able to just hook it up to my computer to add files and choose the ring tone of my choice. However Bell’s operating system has disabled that function, instead forcing you to purchase inferior ring tones from their network with additional cost of $2-$3 CAD per tone! As well if you decide you want to change companies – you can’t use the same phone! This forced loyalty only works because companies can continually get people into 2-3 year cell contracts (since the pay as you go plans are pretty bad in themselves) that seem attractive at first but in reality means a royal ass-[expletive deleted], by the company.

Whew, well getting that off my chest I’ll continue my Sri Lankan cell phone experience, so the cell phone with activation came to Rs. 4000/ which is roughly $40 CAD, and for per minute usage it is Rs. 5-7/ $0.05-0.07 CAD per minute (with per second billing) and the expiry date of the minutes is 6 months! As well there is IDD (International Direct Dialing) from the cell, so I can call Canada for only $0.20 CAD per minute! It is cheaper to call Canada from Sri Lanka by cell that it is to use a cell in Canada for local calls! The mind literally implodes from the absurdity of the whole thing. (Of course I’m aware of labour costs, market forces and such… still there is a bit of a point here)

In any event I now have a cell phone and if anyone feels like calling me up the local number is 071 9022989, not sure what the country codes for Sri Lanka are but in any event for the price of one month of cell service in Canada I can buy a cell and also purchase enough minutes to comfortably last for about 3 months here, it doesn’t make sense but then again the world really doesn’t make much sense in general – and if it did we would all lead rather boring lives.

Unfortunately ran out of time to continue with other observations and confusions, such as seeing a Buddhist monk buying a hands free set – consider for a moment the image of a Buddhist monk as one giving up worldly possessions and living a life dedicated to reaching enlightenment as well as helping others reaching said status. Now consider why a monk would need a hands free cell phone attachment… no good reason comes to mind but I’ll expand on the subject at a later time, so much to write about and so little time (and internet).