Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: Sri Lanka

Dancing To The Beat Of A Different Drum

I can remember the first time I saw Kandyan dancing. It was back in 1982 when my Mum and my Dad, who was the President of the Sri Lankan Association of Victoria at the time, organised for a troupe of Kandyan dancers to come to Melbourne. The Sri Lankan High Commission had brought them out from Sri Lanka to appear at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

They were billeted in the homes of the Sri Lankan community in Melbourne and while they were here Mum and Dad organised for them to do some sightseeing around Melbourne when they weren’t performing. Dad also appeared with them on television on the Graeme Kennedy show. A special set was built for their tv appearances and Dad organised for it to be borrowed for their performances. I can remember going out late at night, to illegally paste posters advertising the performances on street walls and telegraph poles around Melbourne!

Kandyan dancing reminds me of elements of Indian and Balinese dancing. It’s graceful with bare feet stepping the boards and elegant hand gestures. The costumes of Kandyan dancing are incredibly colourful and the dancers dance to live drumming. The beat of the drums is very different to what my Western ears are used to.

When my folks brought me to Sri Lanka for the first time in 1984 we visited Kandy and saw the dancers performing at the government sponsored Kandyan Cultural Centre on the edge of the lake in Kandy. I loved the acrobatics and was mesmerised by the fire walking at the end. Seeing those bare feet dancing through the flames was incredible.

Last night my girls got to experience Kandyan dancing for the first time and in Kandy too – a real authentic experience! I remembered all the dances – the harvest dance and the peacock dance. The incredible plate spinning and the acrobatics. The devil dance of the cobra being chased by the garuda. The comedy act and the drummers. And the fire – the twirling, dancing, breathing and walking. It was just as spectacular as it was when I was twelve and my girls loved it as much as I did.

To top off the evening we got a tuk-tuk back to our hotel because Miss Twelve has been wanting a ride in one ever since we first got here. And who can blame her? Riding around the streets in a dodgem car is the best fun ever!

December 9, 2022
On the Rails Again

Trains are still very much a part of daily life here in Sri Lanka with not many people owning a car. There are loads of tuk-tks, motorbikes and small vans on the streets as well as people riding bicycles and huge buses packed with commuters. Family sedans are much more rare.

The train from Colombo to Badulla passes through some of the most spectacular scenery and the section from Kandy to Ella is known as one of the best train journeys in the world. A month ago, back home, Mum and Dad got online to book us tickets in the observation car at the back this train. This car is the last one on the train and has huge windows at the back that overlook the track and the scenery going past. I won’t say zooming or whizzing as this train isn’t particularly fast but that’s okay because there’s so much to see and you can get a halfway decent shot from the moving train.

The carriage has fans in the ceiling which I think is a genius idea. Coupled with the open windows and the moving train, it’s pretty effective air-conditioning. Being in the observation car with reserved seats means it’s not packed wth bodies so it didn’t get too hot either.

This morning we got the train to Peradeniya Junction which is just outside Kandy and were met by our driver Anura and his van. A good thing really as we have so much baggage. I tried really hard to pack light, honest I did, but with the economic crisis it was hard to know what we would be able to buy here and what wouldn’t be available. So I packed us one of everything just to be on the safe side. So far everything seems available so hopefully things are improving for the Sri Lankan people.

December 6, 2022
Street Life

Dad and I walked in to the village of Wadduwa this morning to do some banking and buy our train tickets to Colombo for this afternoon. My cousin is going to drive Mum and the girls plus our luggage to our hotel in Colombo where we’re spending the night before heading for the hills. It's wonderful to be in a foreign country and have family close by. Such a novel experience.

After a very long, wet, drab and grey Melbourne spring, it’s like a shot of caffeine straight to the heart to be walking along the dusty village streets in Sri Lanka. There’s so much colour and life. I don’t know if it’s the stalls perched on the shoulder, spilling out on to the road or something about the air and light making all the colours pop like in a technicolour movie.

Whatever it is, I just can’t get enough of it. There are so many people, going about their lives, on foot or by bike, tuk-tuk, bus, train or very occasionally, car. It feels good to be part of something, even if it’s a crowd. Back home our streets are so empty and lifeless.

Ever since my first ride in a tuk-tuk back in Bangkok in 2000, I've had a soft spot for these dodgem cars that are allowed on the streets. It's so much fun riding the back of one. This one is pretty well looked after.

When we walked out of the bank, we bumped into my cousin. It made me feel almost like a local to run into someone I know on the street. That hasn’t happened to me since I lived in St Kilda four years ago. I miss that feeling a lot! I know the planet is overcrowded but there’s something comforting about being in the midst of your own species and seeing a familiar face.

When we bought our tickets at the station, Dad was told that the train was going to be twenty minutes late. And true to form it was. Luckily for us because we rushing to get there on time and my cousin ended up driving us to the tracks at the end of the station where we sleeper hopped our way on to the platform. A little while later we spied the van filled with the rest of the family wending its way over the tracks on its way to Colombo.

We managed to get a seat on the train with some other people at the start of the journey which in itself was a real eye opener. In the hour and a bit we spent on the train there was a woman standing in the aisle, giving a very long and passionate speech in Sinhala (when I asked Dad about it later he said she was detailing her long and tragic life story) a man playing a tambourine and singing and a woman with a bandage over one eye, walking through, begging for money. It’s not all coconuts and palm trees in this island paradise.

December 6, 2022
Temples And Flowers

Everything is so colourful here in the tropics. The entrance to this village temple is adorned with paintings depicting the story of the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in 236 BC.

The one on the left shows the Lankan King who was hunting a deer in the forest when he was visited by flying monks from India. The monk at the front is the son of Asoka. The painting on the right hand side of the gate depicts Asoka's daughter who was also a monk doing something holy I suppose only I can't remember what it was!

On either side of the arch are two temple guardians modelled one the ones at Polonaruwa which we will be seeing in a coupe of weeks time. Above on the left you can see a rabbit and a moon. It's referring to a Buddhist story Dad used to tell me when I was a kid. All the animals in the forest had gathered to meetthe Lord Buddha. Each had brought him a gift which they offered as they came forward one at a time to greet him. The rabbit did not have a gift, so it threw itself into the fire and offered its life instead. The Lord Buddha then sent it to the moon where you can see it today if you look

Me with my second favourite flower – jasmine. At first I was excited and thought was seaplika but that only flowers at night and by morning, the flowers are carpeting the ground.

December 4, 2022
Trains And Trade

I'm really enjoying going on mini adventures with Dad while my girls hang out at the villa, spending some quality time with their Nana. She lives in Canberra and we live in Melbourne so they don't get to see her regularly.

Dad wanted to check out the village market today so we walked from the villa along the train tracks and into town. My grandfather was a train guard so Dad grew up around trains and knows all about them. As we were walking along he showed me the points which determine which track the train will take when there's a choice. There's something liberating about being able to just walk along the rails and then cross over them to get to the platform. It's so casual and no-fuss.

In spite of the sign saying otherwise, we were able to wander along the platform and out the other side to the local market.

It's great travelling with Dad. He points out the vegetables he used to eat when he was a kid and tells me their medicinal properties. He chats and barters with the vendors in Sinhala. Sometimes they think he's Indian – maybe because he's so fair (he's called suddu bappa, the fair uncle, by the family) or because he's always speaking English to me. I have no idea what they make of me but I'm wearing a cap with a kangaroo on it so maybe they figure I'm an Australian. I'd so love to be able to speak and understand Sinhala so I'm doing my best to absorb as much of it as I can.

I told Dad we should bring a bag and he wanted to know what for. Apparently he wasn't going to be buying anything. I knew better and we came back laden with vegetables for Naden to cook for our lunch. We got the leaves of the root that we ate yesterday as well as some sprats to go with bitter gourd. I’m not a huge fish fan but I'm going to dive right into being here and give it a try. What are you trying that's new and different?

December 4, 2022
Serenity Villas, Wadduwa

When I was lazing in the pool this morning under the frangipani tree (cue first world privilege tinged with buckets of gratitude) I had a brain wave. I wanted to buy some land wth my Dad and build a holiday house that we can come back to again and again. I so badly want to own a piece of this paradise. To have a tangible connection, a thing to say 'Yes, you are a part of this'.

It wasn't about belonging, it was more about being tethered, here. Having a magnet to draw me back, again and again. This longing was so intense, I shared the idea with my Dad. "Hey – let's buy some land and build a place. Then the girls can have an inheritance as well'. I wanted to step inside this moment and inhabit it forever. Stretch out the feeling of being in this place and make a home from it.

It was partly because the place we are staying in is so amazing. It has a swimming pool set in a large garden fringed with frangipani trees (my second favourite flower). As well as an incredible undercover outdoor dining/living area with four enormous day beds. When the unseasonal monsoon rains come calling at 5 o'clock every afternoon, we pull down the plastic awnings and stay cosy and dry. There are four bedrooms, each of which has its own bathroom and double bed.

To top it all off, there's a couple of live-in caretakers who take the ingredients we provide and make all the amazing curries my dad remembers from his childhood. Or they hop on a bike and ride off to buy us hoppers or sting hoppers from a street stall. I booked this place to start our trip and it's the first time my folks have stayed in an airbnb. Dad loves it so much he's planning on coming back and staying here for a month.

But the best part? Some of my cousins and their families, aunts and uncles are a mere twenty minute drive away and we can invite them to come over for dinner.

December 4, 2022
Sand And Surf

The people who own the villa we are staying in also own a piece of land across the road. Anura, the gardener and one of the caretakers took us to see the garden today. When they said garden I was imagining lawns, trees and bushes. Like something from back home. I was wrong. Think sandy floor with towering coconut palms fronting the beach and the Indian ocean crashing into the sand.

Dad asked Anura to organise someone to come and pick some coconuts for us so we could see how its done and also have fresh coconuts to eat! While we waited for him to arrive, we went for a walk on the sand and saw lines of people up and down the beach pulling on ropes that ran into the water. They were doing a call and response chant of some kind to keep in time as they hauled in the net for the morning's catch. Dad said it was going to take them at least half an hour so after taking some photos we went back to the garden to wait in the shade for the coconut man. And wait. And wait. When it's this hot, no-one moves fast.

In fact, it took so long that we were able to go back down the beach and see the catch of the day being tipped into baskets for sale.

Watching the guy climbing the coconut palm with a t-shirt wrapped around his ankles to grip the trunk brought back so many memories. Dad organised for me to see the exact same thing when I was a kid!

The man scaled the palm in no time and then came the delicate operation of cutting off a bundle / cacophony (what's the plural non for a bunch of coconuts? I have no idea!) of nuts. A machete was tied to a piece of rope and hauled up to the palms crown. An enormous leaf was sawn, the machete stowed in the back of the shorts while the leaf was torn from the tree and dumped on the ground. Then rope was tied to the coconuts. They usually just cut and drop them but Dad wanted them to be undamaged so we could drink the coconut water inside. Finally, the coconuts were severed from their home and lowered to the ground. The machete was thrown to the ground not far from where we were standing (no OH&S here!) before he climbed down.

December 3, 2022
Local Knowledge

I'm currently Sri Lanka with my two daughters and my parents. My Dad grew up in Sri Lanka and he's planned the most amazing trip for us. It's the first time the girls have been here and we're so excited to be travelling with their Seeya. It's like having your very own local tour guide with you at all times.

'What's that sign say?' (put your rubbish in the bin)

'What's this fruit?' (dandan)

'How do you say goodnight?' (suba rathriyak)

I feel like I'm getting a second chance to see and experience all the things I didn't appreciate on my first visit as a twelve year old who just wanted to be at home watching Ghostbusters on the last day of Grade 6 with a bunch of kids who didn't even like me.

And I'm drinking it all in. Asking all the questions about everything, ever. Eating all the food – even the sprats. Learning language (and being constantly corrected by my girls who have been attending Sinhala school back home for the last year! It's a phonetic language and they can read and write the complex script already which is a huge achievement They can understand a little and know how to pronounce the alphabet with its too hundred and something symbols).

It feels so good to be here. The humidity is like an enormous hug that slows you down, forces you to be present in the moment. To embrace local time.

The streets are filled with life. Mothers standing at their gate, holding toddlers call out as we pass by. Men on bicycles dinking their friends down the road wave as they pass. Tuk tuts carrying metal poles balanced precariously on their roofs honk to tell us to step aside. Women walking to the village carry umbrellas to protect them from the glare of the sun.

And now I get to walk them too.

December 3, 2022
Food, Glorious Food

One of my favourite things to do when travelling to some place new, is to check out the local supermarket and see what's the same and what's different. Every country has its own aesthetic and style. The pictures and labels on the products are different, sometimes the packaging is too – in South America you can buy fresh milk in sealed plastic bags! Luckily for me, the very first thing I did on my first proper day in Sri Lanka was to visit a local supermarket with my Dad and my cousin who drove us from our villa to the village shops.

There were so many different kinds of fruit I'd never seen or heard of before. Grains in bins that could be bought by weight. Lots of fresh fish waiting to be fried. And more brands of coconut oil than I'd ever seen in one place. It's obvious what the oil of choice is around here! The green mangoes we bought were incredible! My second favourite find was the onion flavoured chips made from rice and chickpea flour.

After the supermarket, Perera & Daughter went to the Perera & Sons bakery to buy some short eats for lunch. They've been baking for the locals for 117 years! I bought chicken rotti and vegetable pan rolls for the girls for lunch. Miss 16 is usually a chilli queen like her dad but even she found the chicken rotti too spicy! As my cousin used to say, 'If there's no chilli, where's the flavour?'

December 2, 2022
Tropical Rice Pudding

I've loved messing about in the kitchen, baking, ever since I was a kid. Now that I am an adult who can't eat wheat or dairy and chooses alternatives to sugar, I have even more of a reason to bake. When you have to read the ingredients labels on food like I do, you realise that there is a whole lot of extra crap in there. Yet more reasons to make-it yourself!

I came up with this recipe a few years back when I had a sudden yen for rice pudding. Since I can't have milk I replaced it with coconut milk. Drawing on my Sri Lankan heritage, I then added in some tropical spices to compliment the coconut milk. Coconuts are huge in Sri Lanka. They are used for everything – in cooking, building walls in the garden and even as a loofah when giving an elephant a bath in the river. True story – saw it with my own eyes!

I really love the creamy and zesty taste of this pudding. You can substitute quinoa for the rice which I did for this one. It would make it lower GI and add some protein to the mix. If you don't have kitul palm treacle, agave syrup and maple syrup also work well.

Tropical Rice Pudding
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
3 cardamom pods
1.5cm strip lemon zest
1/4 cup kitul palm treacle
Shake cinnamon
1/4 cup arborio rice

Preheat oven to 140 C (248 F).
Mix the coconut milk, cardamom, lemon zest, treacle and cinnamon together in an oven proof dish with a lid.
Add rice and stir.
Put on lid and cook for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This makes four smallish serves but you may not want to share as it is super delicious.

Enjoy!

July 6, 2015