Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Trials and Tribulations: Part 2

I have never been a patriot by any sense of the means and I've always played down my cultural heritage. I spent majority of my childhood in Indonesia and I gotta admit we had it pretty good while we lived there. We lived in the "priveleged" part of Jakarta along with all the other expatriots. We had a fountain in front of our house, maids, drivers, hell I even had my own maid. Travelling was pretty common for me even back then but even then we still lived in comfort. Before we moved to Australia we spent a year in Sri Lanka. I guess that was my first taste of the real world.

When your young you seem to just accept things for what they are, you never question them. Looking back on that year I had a hell of a childhood. We had a pretty shotty house compared to the one back in Indonesia. I remember one day going to the cupboard to grab a towel so I could have a bath. I stuck my little hand in the dark cupboard and pulled on something fleshy. Turns out it was a fat ass rat, rabies and all. It tried to bite me, but my ninja reflexes saved me hahaha. Amongst the rats, there were constant blackouts and floods. I remember looking out the window one day to see a cow floating down the street and yes I thought that was a normal sight.

There would be military at the entrance to every suburb, every store. They were bloody everywhere. Stories of bombs, death and corruption filled the newspapers everyday.


Yet I don't think anything has affected Sri Lanka more than the 2004 tsunami. There was no family that wasn't affected in some way. That photo was taken in 2008, on the same beach that the tsunami struck and to this day it remains unused and abandoned in light of what happened all those years ago.

I never, ever speak of my Sri Lankan heritage but I guess for anybody that can take the time to read my blog its only courtesy to share. I am from the mountainous region of Kandy, in central Sri Lanka as well as the Southern coastal region of Galle(where photo was taken). I come from a long line of hardworking farmers. There are sides to Sri Lanka I adore, yet most I abhor. I guess I just don't mix well with Sri Lankan culture. One thing I learnt from that beach and one thing I am proud to say is that Sri Lankan people will always wear a smile, even in the face of adversity and since that day I've done my best to do the same.

Later Days
Sukhi

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