back from arugam bay
I just returned from Arugam Bay, and although I went there for entirely selfish purposes, I could not help but be reminded of the stark contrast between their lives there and our lives here and how easy it is sometimes to forget that such a difference exists. Especially for us.
Travelling with those that may never have travelled to that part of Sri Lanka before, I was made aware of how ignorant people can become of what lies just outside their door. Do people not know, or do they choose to ignore? Living in Colombo, it is very easy to become like frogs in a well. But I was shocked at how shocked they were by the people in Pottuvil. Sure they stared at us. Sure they stole from us. They tried to cause trouble and ripped us off at any given opportunity. They behaved as though they didn’t want us there. But is their behaviour really so difficult to understand? Wouldn’t you stare if you lived in a situation where electricity was a fickle luxury that could disappear at any moment, and a bunch of people turned up in a tourist coach, wore bikinis and danced to weird music for two days straight? Wouldn’t you be angry and bitter if you had a hard life, and some people turned up in your village, and had a party?
Arugam Bay is not Hikkaduwa. It is still very much a village. And it is for this very reason that it is so great for us; because it is so pristine and untouched, and not commercialized like Hikkaduwa. But for many it is just a place called home.
It is this ignorance that I fear will be the downfall of Sri Lanka. This refusal of the educated and the elite to understand the lifestyle of the average Sri Lankan. To see that this life we live in Colombo is very, very different from the life of other Sri Lankans, and that we make up only a tiny minority.
Sometimes I am very, very afraid of how little we know, and how much we can so easily forget.
very ture…
Comment by TheWhacksteR — July 22, 2008 @ 5:11 am
Hey Electra,
Saw your posting on the EG blog and I agree with the sentiment of not feeding trolls like the one strutting on their blog, and in fact I’ve mentioned the same to the folks at EG that very morning, however, I’ve nothing to loose by putting my identity out there (and I have no issues with going public with my name
) for the lost soul and the baseless threats, at the very least, I’ve given the person an opportunity to come forward and let go of the hate speech and pointless rants online 
Am aware of the white vehicle culture out here and the like, well, I’ve nothing to loose so have extended a warm invitation to the not-so-polite person in good faith
Going forward however, it is definitely not worth feeding the trolls on blogs around the place
I do agree with you 
Comment by ange Embuldeniya — July 25, 2008 @ 10:57 am
Thanks for your comment Ange.
Comment by electra — July 25, 2008 @ 11:06 am