Sri Lanka is a-changin'

New eating & retail development in Colombo's Old Dutch Hospital

I've recently been lucky enough to spend a month in Sri Lanka. I do love it there- well it is kind of home. So what are the changes that the end of the war have brought about?

Very interesting to see a so-called dictator in action! One the one hand there are the human rights abuses  that the UNHRC and Channel 4 (amongst others) are battling to put right. On the other hand Mr Rajapaksa's regime seems to be improving the country.


Very clever tactic- distract people's attention by giving them what they want.
So what's he giving them?

• All roads lead to Hambantota (which is, oh guess what, his home town and never been that important) Till now. Now it's got an world-class sports stadium, though we didn't get the Commonwealth Games and soon an airport and a highway reaching it from Colombo. Well a similar thing happened in Spain with the President Aznar building an AVE (high speed train) route from Madrid to his hometown of Seville.

• Colombo's getting healthier: Cleaner and greener, it's also got more health-focused.The beach access at Galleface has been opened up which is lovely. No need to trek to Mount Lavinia to walk on the beach, now you can in the city centre. Around Independence Square is a great fitness and walking area where Colombo 7 residents can burn off their excess wattalapans and pastry-laden, deep fried short-eats. 
• The Colombo- Galle highway: this new toll-road means it's now just one instead of three hours to get down to the South coast, to the amazing Lankan beaches.

• Large visible new Performing Arts Centre: The Chinese, as well as lending the government arms to end the war, have paid for a huge performing arts centre in the city. In the shape of a giant lotus, no less.  
• Large visible Buddhist cultural institutions: there's a large Buddhist TV station, a Buddhist Cultural Centre (promoting yoga which is great to see) and many more. I also heard this Buddhist building push continues in Tamil majority areas. Could be dangerous given the origins of the war? 
• East coast development: tourism in  the county is on the up and the majority-Tamil areas are the next new tourist attractions. It was very hard, even in Feb, to get a seat on a flight from Colombo to London or a hotel room in the country! We used all our contacts to book a room at Malu Malu, a hotel in Pasikudah, a little known fishing village on the East Coast, near Batticoloa. This had been off tourists' radars ever since the war started in 1983. Next door to this hotel the building work had started- all night and day, even on Poya holidays it continued, as a government deadline to develop this area with tourism has been set. 

Malu Malu hotel, Pasikudah

The creative scene is going strong. I was suitably impressed by:

Colombo Fashion Week: been running for a number of years now by Ajai Vir Singh (an Indian who's based in Sri Lanka whose beach label Arugam Bay is going strong). Although it's called 'week' seemed to be more of a weekend. Loved seeing Acushla and Buddhi push batik silk printing on saris further.

Acushla

Buddhi Batiks 

Buddhi Batiks

(Source all images: Ishara S. Kodikara/STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Good to see a mix of international and local designers. Incredible that a country who produce a sizable chunk of the world's garments has yet to really form a fashion design industry. But it seems to be in the making.

Colombo Art Biennale: strictly should  be called a triennale as the first one was 3 years ago, but who's counting? Organised this time by an Anoushka Hempel who's been living on the island for many years, the Biennale had an interesting mix of local and international artists across visual and video mediums. The new JD Perera gallery next to the Art College is impressive as  was the exhibition in Maradana Warehouse, I've never seen art for community done so well. The ethos being: anyone can borrow any of the exhibits for free as long as they get seen and interacted with by the public.

Pradeep Thalawatte

Digital projection onto underwear
(Artist unknown by me)
at Maradana Warehouse Project

Pradeep Thalawatte (detail)

Video art at Park St Mews

Galle Lit Fest: I missed this but heard of course that some writers boycotted due to the regime. Again. This is truly sad. Apart from that, the festival seemed to be a success and is growing year on year.

Perhaps a post-conflict, rebuilding nation needs a dictator? If I go missing soon, you'll know this post was the reason why....

Colombo City Tour Bus