Portrait

i havent blogged in awhile. i’ve been busy, if not uninspired.

sunday : ru, indi and i went for the alien accent concert at the bishop’s college auditorium. alien accent has always been one of the more professional and better local bands around town. their originals are tasteful, their covers are justifiable. the two times i’ve seen them perform before that night, its always been to much smaller audience, and on a vert different stage. both times, i’ve seen them perform acousitc sets. dillain joseph, the feisty female lead vocalist, has a phenomenal voice. the three of them combined, pull off the finest of harmonies. their choice of covers are always clever and brilliant, the originals have thoughtful lyrics. besides the trio itself, they had a great bunch of musicians backing them up, people on flutes and violins, thablas and electric guitars, and two drummers. there was even a little boy who drummed for two songs, so little you could barely see him behind the kit. it was a show of good local talent, after a considerably long time. ru and indi are pretty cool. i am just getting over how pretty ru is. she’s great, all motherly and talks alot. indi is not at all like i imagined he would be, and that’s a good thing. very chilled, genuinely nice people.

monday : it was issa’s 20th birthday. issa is one of the few people that i’ve literally known and loved for as long as i can remember. we, not so intelligently, turned up at hus house at 10 pm with enough coke, cake and unhealthy food of that type to last a month atleast, opened the doors, let ourselves in, and waited for him to come back from the family dinner being held at his aunt’s for his birthday. we did not foresee having to wait for HOURS for the loser to turn up, and finally decided to call him and tell him not so kindly that there were 10 of his very best friends (who fel like dropping this title more and more as the night wore on) at his house trying very hard to throw him a surprise after-party. when he came, we were sprawled all over, some sleeping, some, just about. it was him yelling ’surprise’, followed by our angry war cries and dejan’s drugged ’someone just kill the bugger now’. all in all, it was unconventional but fun. we did the usual mad things we seem compelled to do when flocked together. i looked around, and like i always do, realized what wonderful friends i have been blessed with. there was smrit and D, with their wild dance moves, who always know exactly how i feel, who always know exactly what to do and say and when, who knew why i suddenly burst itno tears that night, on a perfecly happy ocassion, and better yet, who knew not to ask, not to question, but just to draw each other into a girl-group-hug. there was stephen, with his hippie look carried out to perfection, guppy with his weird goatie and even weirder lip ring, sean and tash (happily engaged) with their beyond-understanding compatibility that keeps reminding me that people just need to try to get along with everyone else, dejan with his pipe and gu with the endless bad humour. issa drove me back with gu in the backseat. good ole reliable humphrey is still a good ride. we listened to the dhol foundation really loud with the shutters down.

tuesday : up and left (as someone aptly put it) with friends to yapahuwa. slept the whole way there. the climb was long and reasonably tiring, but the view was fantastic. kind of a smaller version of sigiriya. detoured to arang kale (amazing, green and quiet) and then to dambadeniya (3rd capital of ceylon) with stops for lunch and drinks on the way, and headed back to colombo. got home past 11. i love how lush and paradise-ish sri lanka looks from miles above the ground. how infinite and never-ending things seem, how every trivial issue just vanishes with the blowing wind. i love my girl friends. dambadeniya was nice, the peak is nice and private, and we sat there for a long time, watching the sun set and noting the changing colours of the sky. we drove back with the stars and landscape rushing by, the windows down and listening the soppiest music ever, in a large tangle of arms and legs, one on top of another. talking about boys, problems (usually connected) drinking, literature and politics, and singling along when required, i felt the best of love and friendship in hands and feet and toes and thumbs.

today was a chilled day, making up for yesterday’s exhaustion. slept alot, stayed in the whole day and read my book. went later to the wendt with shazz to watch a staging of the sinhala translated version of henrik ibsen’s master builder. interesting, all in all. i dont really feel up to a full review just now.

another post when there’s anything worth saying…