Home from the 1960's - Sri Lanka

Down past Balangoda, passing the high hills of greens and greens, we hit the main Galle Road going south. Kilometers later, it was on this Galle Road we then took a stop between a couple of alleys to view what used to be my dad's home back in the early 1960's.

Our van parked in front of that home, we saw dad's eyes light up. And as he started reminiscing, we listened and reminisced along with him. He spoke of the garden we saw in front of us; where him and his brother used to play cricket, and the window from which their father called out to them, 'Boys stay still, there's a snake behind you!'.

We saw the gate to the house. Dad said it hadn't changed a bit, the same old, white, metal gate that stood there today was what he used to swing himself over when he was just a boy.
He spoke of the downstairs, right corner in the house that used to be his mother's stitching shop. Here, my grandmother and her fellow seamstresses would get together to stitch up the most adorable victorian dresses for little girls.

And then the window by the side of that stitching room; the window dad and his brother would sneak out from in the afternoons while their mummy napped, to play yet some more cricket!

Young and delightful, my grandparents lived elegant lives on that Ratmalana street alongside neighbors who live there till date. The karyavasans, dad told us a little about them and how the families were in and out of each other's homes.

We all drifted to the 1960s, what life would have been like back then. When he was just a boy. My dad.

A game of Jenga - Sri Lanka

Some crab and six big prawns later, we sit around a big square coffee table over an intended game of jenga. Lilting music floats through the room. The french windows open to the garden now dark with night, the sea only a few meters away with its roaring waves so daunting, so serene all at once - we sit over that intended game of jenga.

Round 6 and the fort holds strong, each one of us making the most careful effort to pull pieces so as not to topple fort.

Round 9, we're now wondering whether it is the wind from the sea that sweeps through this room, that will shift the jenga tower we have now made fairly rickety with our each maneuver.

Round 11, back to me. Here's a combination of knowing this is the end yet giving it that one last heck of an attempt. Human nature really that brings about this hope even in moments of hopelessness.

That was that. The intended game of jenga, now an experience of beautiful music mingled with the sound of the waves, the company of gorgeous people and laughter so tickling upon a finally toppled jenga tower!

In the hammock - Sri Lanka

Lazy day, the sun a warm glow with the breeze softly breezing through the Maggona gardens. I lay in the hammock, a book in hand and a few pages in; with the breeze in my hair &sun playing twinkles on my skin, my eyes surrendered to the sweetest slumber.