closing time
yes, everything in colombo shuts at two am now. i’m serious. all the bars, the nightlubs, the pubs, even to our surprise, the coffee shops, and pretty much any place that was a hot spot for colombo’s teenagers and youngsters (with considerable amounts of money) shuts at 2 am. forget partying till dawn. forget drinking till 5 am, forget waiting till blue shuts down and going to glow for the after-party. you either go home at 2 am, or go to pilla’s which seemed to be the only place that remained open that was worth going to. it was amazing. it was amusing. seeing all the same people you see every weekend whose friday begins at about 2 am, not knowing where to go, not knowing what to do with the rest of their night, not knowing how to deal with the trauma of not being able to drink themselves into a stupor at glow or blue. we were at mkop, it was shutting at 2, so we headed to clancy’s, which was also shutting down. some of my friends had been at glow, which had also shut down, and some at hilton who also confirmed that blue was closing at 2 along with everything else. we go to the colombo plaza, to the ever famous coffee stop who also tells us that they were instructed to stop serving at 2 am. when did coffee become a safety hazzard?! my first thought was WTF? but then once i’d calmed down, i realized that maybe the only way to go to keep a hold on the mostly outrageous behaviour of young, frustrated and drunken people was to be extreme. if the rest of us who just want to have fun have to pay, maybe i’m willing.
last night was undoubtedly frustrating. what a ruined night. there were all the doors pretty much shutting in everyone’s faces, there was that run-in to someone i wasn’t altogether prepared to run in to, and NO COFFEE. but once we came home, issa and i stayed up talking for a long time, as we haven’t done in absoloutely ages. too long. this was when i actually got filled in on the royal park murder scenario, that i only heard about when i was in london. at that time, everything on the web was kind of vague. apparently her head had been dashed agaisnt the steps, bloodied to a pulp and then she’d been starngled with her own pants. they had to have a closed casket. what was the point in her being beautiful, as i have been told she was. she was so bashed up, they had to keep the casket shut. how screwed up is that? how wrong is that? now that guy is one royally fucked up piece of shit with some serious issues. apparently when he made his confession to the cops he was on e, so he wasn’t making any sense and they couldn’t count on his credibility. what a crime of passion. its like a movie. you can’t imagine how scary this is, to be a girl, and know that if someone isn’t in their senses and is feeling particularly violent, all it takes is one tiny fight and to be alone. as if yvonne knew she as going to die. even when they were arguing, even when he started bashing her head in, she probably didn’t think she was going to die. when i heard the details, i was disgusted, scared, and worried. what is this guy’s mentality? how many more people like that are there in the world? i dont remember being so genuinely scared in a long time. like ’shit, everyone is vulnerable to shit like that. even me.’ i mean you think you hang out with well bred kids. from good schools, good families, i bet yvonne never thought twice about the people she hangs out with. these are english speaking, rich kids who go to international schools. not some desperately poverty stricken druggie walking on the road. what kind of sickness does he suffer from? not to sounds like a snob, but you always expect people who move in that particular circle of what we called well bred to have some values, some principles instilled in them. they have pretty much everything they want. this is the problem. they have too much.
its so unacceptable. things like this just hit home how unbelievably well we accept many totally unacceptable things. i have a feeling that shutting everything down isn’t going to make things that much better. i actually have this fear that its going to increase the amount of frustrated minister’s sons and the likes with nowhere to go and nothing to do, just spoling for fights out of pure boredom and desperation. but at the same time, i cant help understanding this decision, that to make sure you’re night gets cut short in time means it may prove helpful in an increasingly helpless situation. in a vicious cycle that’s fast spinning out of control, that has become everyday to us. maybe sobering up a little isn’t so bad.
yep..this is what I was telling u about earlier…forgot that u missed all the hysteria…it’s obviously very scary and as u say it hits home much much harder coz these are rich kids from upper middle class or upper class families…the social class that a majority of us belong to…
That murder was an eye opener to a lot of people…now the papers are filled with the drunk driving accidents that happen on weekend nights,drugs,underage drinking/clubbing etc etc…(refer last sunday’s newspapers)…and things have become more stringent since then…god knows for how long,but anyway…..
Even though these things have reduced my night life considerably…sometimes I really dont blame my parents for doing so…..
Comment by Savi — July 16, 2005 @ 5:45 pm
Well… I guess its hard, I wud never know of course, Imusually fast asleep at 12midnight on Fridays
Comment by kulendra — July 16, 2005 @ 6:32 pm
interesting the 2am closing time on weekends.. is that a new rule or wat? as savi says we dont know how long this will last.. but the recent events hv been a definite eye opener for ‘elite’ colombo’s parents and children.. i’ve been following some interesting comments on the topic of this murder at lankanewspapers.com
Comment by savi3 — July 16, 2005 @ 8:40 pm
btw… all these places were kept open after 2 a.m. on saturday night… but there is a restriction on selling liquor after 1.30 or so…
Comment by SpectralCentroid — July 18, 2005 @ 4:33 am
Its not whether the clubs or the pubs close early. In fact it might increase the number of drunk driving accidents, as by two everyone’s pretty much at their peak and they have to drive home. No Sri Lankan rich possie is going to take a cab home cause its degrading (or something). They have to drive their daddy’s cars.
What needs to be done is for these kids to have parents. Not two people who appear to be glorified slaves who answer to their beck and call. Not financial institutions that hand out any amount of money at the blink of an eye. Parents who ought to instill some values, some morals and some etiquette in to these kids. Parents who’ll punish wrong and make sure these spoilt idiots know the difference between right and wrong…
Comment by Scourge — July 18, 2005 @ 7:57 am
more than the alcohol i find the growing drug problem amongst these kids in cmb extremely worrying..
Comment by savi3 — July 18, 2005 @ 1:38 pm
this is sorta like banning vehicles because road accidents happens..
Comment by SpectralCentroid — July 19, 2005 @ 8:13 am
I couldn’t have come up with a better example SpectralCentroid…
Comment by Scourge — July 19, 2005 @ 12:34 pm
I heard abt Yvonne Jonsson’s murder…it was one gruesome killing that gave me goosebumps in years…it was shocking that few minutes of unnecessary temper can put an end to a young life in such a barbaric way…that too at the hands of a wealthy, well-educated and supposedly well-brought up guy. I agree with u…I cant imgaine how many more Shamanthas r out there n what a sad world we live in. Yvonne and her family were brutally stolen of her life, rights and moments with one another that can nverbe replaced by a any amount of apology or jail terms…
Keshi.
Comment by Keshi — July 20, 2005 @ 12:34 pm
never be** (correction in the previous comment)
Comment by Keshi — July 20, 2005 @ 12:36 pm
Yvonne Jonsson’s murder seemed to open the eyes of a lot of people. A lot of people who were oblivious or ignorant about what their kids were upto. However how long is this going to last? After everything is finished it’ll just become old news, just like everything else that happened. Now, today they will close the clubs at 2. Excise will close down two or three pubs and clubs. In another month or two they will open again. They will be paid off and everything will be the same as they were before. This issue runs far deeper that laws or politics or money….
Comment by Scourge — July 21, 2005 @ 3:13 pm
yup corrupt little hole colombo is wat to do
Comment by savi3 — July 22, 2005 @ 10:25 am
Hw stupid can the law in Sri Lank get? i mean the guys and girls who are behind the these “awsome” decions are a bunch of dickheads anyway! how stupid is to shut down Clubs and Pubs just because some rich spoiled dick of a teen did something stupid? Why is the whole of Sri Lanka to blame? especially those jus looking for a good night out with their friends. The only thing good in SL was the Superb night life. Soon all those who come to Sri Lanka for holidays will start going eslewhere. And as we all know, tourism into the country is one of our main forms of national Income. So when this disappears, I’d like to see our smart ass polticians working towards a “better future”. The one sane thing they could have done is to have an age limit of some sort. Like 21. How is closing everything at 2 A.M helping anyone? I always thought Sri Lanka was on its way “up”, economically. but once again,i’m proved very wrong! to all those people out there, who are somewhat frustrated by the new laws, don’t blame the clubs, blame the “brilliant” GOVERNMENT we have.
Comment by joe — August 12, 2005 @ 8:09 am
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Comment by testanchor426 — October 16, 2005 @ 2:03 am
Was there when the murder happened, left before the crackdown, was disapointed in the egotistically run dirty nightclubs all along. Colombo’s clubs are scary, for a female. Saddly, most Colombo city slickers do not appreiciate what their island has to offer. Half-assed night clubs vs. the most amazing nature and hospitality Earth has to offer? Why do all of you waste your weekend in Colombo when paradise is an hour’s drive away?
You all need to explore your island more!
Comment by American Girli — June 20, 2006 @ 8:34 am
This specifically indicates the misuse of teenage freedom given by their parents. Yvonne Jonsson’s definitely had a bright future, which was ruined by a wealthy donkey, who did not know what to do with his money. This really is a vital lesson for all the teenagers
Comment by Jeevaka Sangakkara — September 19, 2009 @ 9:24 am