Day one in the Village

On Tuesday I boarded the 5:45 train from the Colombo Fort train station for the Northern city of Anuradhapura. I had a second class reserved seat (no first class on this train) and I managed to get to my seat without a problem. Many people have told me horror stories about the Sri Lankan trains. I have heard that it’s unsafe for a woman to travel alone, that I was bound to get harassed, and that people would try to steal my stuff in Anuradhapura. I took the usual precautions by dressing conservatively and not attracting attention and the trip went off without a hitch. In fact, people in the compartment were quite nice and when the soldier came around and checked my passport, people asked if I was an Indian and we chatted for a bit. I was also able to find my stop based on the help of other passengers.

Radhika, my student host from Mahavilachchiya was at the train station to get me, as was her father. We loaded up the rental van and got on our way. Radhika has been studying English for the past 9 years, she is currently 18 years old, and while her English is good, it’s not quite what I would call fluent. She is able to understand and reply in a basic to intermediate conversation but it’s tough for her to explain things using multiple adjectives and verbs. We chatted about her interests in Indian dancing, Bollywood movies, and Indian teledramas. It seems that nobody in MV is even slightly interested in the fact that I am an American; they are very excited that I am an Indian and keep asking me questions about Indian and Indian actors and actresses.

We made a quick stop at the Horizon Lanka building which is the headquarters of the Horizon Lanka NGO, the group responsible for bringing English and computer education to the village and also the group that worked with a number of other organizations, including mine, to set up wireless internet in the village. The building was brightly painted and located in a nice big compound with a playground and many small shelters built for outdoor classes. The center serves the purpose of an after-school center as the village kids come to the center after school to participate in activities such as karate, dancing, computer lessons, and English lessons. The center also boasts a small library of films and books, gym equipment, and 20 or so state of the art computers. There is also a small printing and fax facility available at cost.

I briefly saw the center and then headed to Radhika’s house for lunch. I don’t know quite what I was expecting in terms of accommodation in the village. I can only thank the girl scouts and my parents for making me prepared for all kinds of living environments. Radhika lives in a small brick house with a large courtyard and garden. There are lots of fruit trees in the garden and an internet tower with one of the nodes. Her house consists of her bedroom, her parent’s bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Radhika’s dad, like everyone else in the village, is a farmer. While their house isn’t large, it’s quite comfortable and clean and they are able to afford some creature comforts. There is a tap out back of running water and an Asian-style outhouse. They are probably in a low income bracket but are not what I would consider poor. They have nice clothes, good plentiful food, and seem to be very happy and content.

I am once again struck by the kindness of the Sri Lankan people. Whatever people have, they generously give to others and they don’t have that suspiciousness and slyness that we Indians sometimes possess. Perhaps it’s a city vs. village thing but it’s nice to feel truly out of the rat race and among people who are just chilled out and content with life. Content would be the best way to describe people here. They are just very happy with what they have a good lesson for someone like me who is never quite satisfied. Radhika's parents are very kind and welcoming and though they don’t speak English, have made me at home here.

After arriving at her house we sat down for a delicious lunch of rice and curry and a boney lake fish that was deep fried whole. Rice is the staple diet here and is served for all three meals with some kind of coconut product. Example: breakfast of hoppers and grated coconut chutney, lunch of rice and vegetables in coconut curry, dinner of rice noodles and vegetables cooked with grated coconut. Dessert is usually bananas. It’s all so fattening but so delicious.

Lunch was followed by a nap and then a bath. To bathe we went down to a canal which is near the paddy fields. I think the canal is used for irrigation. There was fish and tadpoles and things swimming in it with us. To take a bath in the canal we had to first wear sarongs. The bath is taken while wearing the sarong so that people passing from the road don’t see anything. While bathing, people wash their clothes as well. I soaped up and jumped in and then spent a good deal of time manipulating the wet sarong and my dry clothes so that I could get dressed.

In the afternoon people visited Radhika’s house and dropped by to say hello to me. Most people didn’t speak much English but as it is a village, they were interested in meeting the visitor from India. Indian culture is very popular here so people seemed happy to meet me. After it got dark we had dinner and sat down to watch Tamil soap operas. The best were the Hindi soap operas, dubbed in Tamil, and subtitled in Sinhalese! I went to sleep under my mosquito net early at 9:30 as people tend to maximize daylight hours here and wake up really early.