the motherland

Back in Colombo after ten whole months! The last two days has been such a blur. Friday night was a friend’s birthday. Turned out not to be a drunken mess. Had a decent time because some old school friends were in town for a few days and it was brilliant to catch up drunkenly in those few hours. Saturday only picked up in the evening when I met up with a few friends for some shopping (bought The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri!!), dinner and eventually Russell Peters. The show was good shit and although I was not rolling down the aisles, it was some good entertainment. Went bowling after and won both games! Haha. Not particularly something to be crazy-happy about but impending dread was washing over me at that time, so winning was, admittedly, a mood raiser. Would I miss being in Singapore? Would I miss my friends? I hope I won’t cry etc. etc. Hope home is alright, hope sister and mother are getting along, hope everyone’s health is good, hope the dynamic with school friends is not fucked up… Ugh.

Anyway, being back has been pretty decent, so far. I got a grand welcome from my sister who somehow managed to keep the whole thing a surprise for my mum. Cake, flowers and a welcome home banner, the whole works! I am such a spoilt, ungrateful brat. I really do not deserve a family like this. Grandmother and grand aunt were completely bewildered to see me and kept saying, ‘why in hell did you want to surprise us?’

So far I’ve met up with a few friends (actually all of whom I planned to meet), eaten two Chinese take out dinners, two bona-fide Sindhi meals, had two cups of tea, had two B&H smokes (heaven!), had one mocha classic (resignedly accepted by me when original order of latte classic was messed up) and had one fight each with both mum and sister.

Oh yes, Colombo looks like and feels war torn at night. We cannot park our cars on the sides of roads anymore (even in previously designated parking spaces) because of random claymore bombs being planted in unmanned vehicles and thereby representing a threat to the public. The cops are swarming everywhere. During a short 40 minute drive with a friend, got copped a total of 4 times. The Galle Face Green has been fenced in so that no one can enter (apparently it’s a danger for the army camp situated right opposite Galle Face). Depressing alright but there’s something about Colombo that still refreshes me and I am glad for that.

Fuck world peace! As long as my country gets the peace it deserves, I will be happy.

Apologies for such a harried, what-is-the-point kind of post.