Sri Lanka, my neighbor
country, closer to us even more than many parts of my native land, had been
present at many parts of my life even without my recognition.
Lanka, the
golden city of Ravana always fascinated me through the bedtime stories of my
grandmother. She used to narrate Ramayana in elaborate details and the Lanka,
with its opulent palaces, rich gardens like 'Ashoka Vani', and golden
coastlines poured many colors in my imagination. I often travelled to the
country in the wings of imaginary "Pushpaka Vimana." (Flying Chariot
of Ravana)
The devoted
followers of RSS (Rashtriya Swaymasevaka Sangh) in my village, later enlightened
me that the Adam’s Bridge in the Indian Ocean is none other than the 'Sethhu
Bandha' constructed by Lord Rama. Even when my logical mind argued against them,
my imaginary mind agreed with them. I often dreamt on crossing the ocean to Lanka
as a drop on that naturally built Limestone Bridge.
Even before I
could grow out of these childhood fantasies, Lanka broke its appeal with a
severe bomb blast in my country. We lost our then Prime Minister along with
many innocent lives in an attack by LTTE. I was not at an age to realize the
difference between LTTE and the Sri Lankans and my innocent attractions towards
the country started to fade away with the event.
Sri Lanka, later came back to my life with its
lion like warriors in the cricket field. Arjuna Ranathunge, Muthaiah
Muraleedharan, and Sanat Jayasurya challenged our cricket heroes. They became
our rivals as well as heroes at the same time.
When Sri Lanka claimed the victory against us in the 1999 World cup Cricket
Semifinals, I despised and admired them at the same time.
Life took me
away from my country to join the global community. People from many countries and races became
part of my life too. It stopped to surprise me when they greeted me as Sri
Lankan owing to my name. In a foreign land, I thus started to represent many of
neighboring countries too.
It was at this
time that our friend Naveen started his visits to Sri Lanka. He sketched the
beauty of the country and its friendly people in vivid words. The re-readings
of Ramayana presented altered version of the epic where Ravana was portrayed as
the mighty King, who loved his people and Sri Lanka as a Dravidian country who
had resisted the Aryan invasion. To top
it all, the Mani Ratnam movie Kannathil
Muthamittal melted my heart even toward the LTTE militants. The feather
touch of empathy and tolerance swiped over my life.
Sri Lanka, once
again came into my life, this time with powerful attractions. The golden
coastlines of the country entranced my sister during a vacation and she got
into a zealous search for her retirement home at the coastlines of Kerala. She
maintains that she hasn’t yet found a location that matches the heavenly
coastline at Sri Lanka.
I am a person
who believes in godsends in life. It might have been a sheer chance that our
publisher asked me to visit a Roadshow by Sri Lankan Tourism Board at Bahrain. The
event revealed a land reflecting my own land in many ways. More than that, I
woke up in the next morning with the insight me that Sri Lanka had a silent
call for me all through my life.
Sooner, I will
be visiting the country and until then Ayubowan
to a great country.
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