1. The year 1989, sailing in Sri Lankan territorial waters, helping Indian troops into Trincomalee harbour amidst fear of being shot by LTTE cadre or stepping over explosives, fear of the unknown and determination to succeed - was all in my mind as a young naval officer serving onboard an Indian frigate deployed with Indian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF). The repeated visits on Srilankan soil gave me insights into death, destruction and the harm caused to the populace of the island nation. It looked like a never-ending saga with a dim perspective of that nation's future.
2. Subsequently, after 30 years in the month of November 2018, I visited Sri Lanka again. This time on a vacation with my family, with memories of 1989 fresh in my mind. The visit started with a warm smile at Colombo airport from our guide Mr Hemchandra Punchihewa that set the tone for the vacation. As a matter of fate, the guide happened to be an ex – Sri Lankan Air force person and on learning that I participated in IPKF ops, he displayed remarkable courtesy in terms of respect and introducing me as Indian peacekeeping force veteran to people at various places we visited.
3. Sri Lanka, also known as Ceylon during the British era, is an island nation in the Indian ocean. It has a similar history of Portuguese rule and British colonization like India. Post-independence on 04 February 1948 it went through the LTTE conflict and has complete democracy restored as on date.
4. Today Srilanka is a peaceful country with main religion being Buddhism and part populace being
Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The coexistence of all is worth experiencing in person. Hardly any crime rate except in Colombo being a Metropolitan city.
5. I would like to touch upon a few things that others may like to imbibe from this Island nation. For instance, the entire nation, populace looks healthy and a feeling of contentment can be felt seeing the citizens on streets. Our guide when enquired upon this aspect said yes, it is true that nations citizen are very mindful of their health are generally contented with what they have and hence happy with hardly any corruption. To substantiate he gave instances -
a. The Apollo clinic opened a Heart hospital in Colombo which was closed down in six months due to insufficient number of patients.
b. There were no beggars to be seen. It was difficult to believe no beggars on roads, all looked contented.
c. N0 CORRUPTION, the guide told us proudly. As an example, he cited, if a traffic cops ask for money without a receipt for your traffic offence, you are not sure if he is testing your integrity or actually demanding bribe money, hence you prefer not to pay.
6. The guide asked us to pick anyone with facial acne or baldness amongst people in Sri Lanka. We had to make efforts to spot one. It was attributed to the factors like:-
a. Organic farming eating habits
b. People practising natural remedies for healthy living
c. Pollution Free environment
7. The government of Sri Lanka against all odds has made the following exceptional considerations for nation building:-
a. Medicals - All citizens get medicals free of cost throughout their lifetime.
b. Schooling - Education for all is free and compulsory till plus 2
c. Elder Shelter - If you are above sixty and no money you have
govt shelters to stay in without cost
d. Smoking - Is totally prohibited for less than 20yrs and above 40 yrs.
e. Other Tobacco Cancerous materials – Is a total no no!
f. Two-wheeler riding helmet is compulsory for rider and pillion/car seat belt is compulsory for front seats
g. Cleanliness Public Places - If found littering heavy fines are imposed
8. There are penalties on parents who do not send their wards to school. If you smoke outside the permissible age, the smoker and the seller both get punished. When asked why people do not honk on the road, the guide explained that by honking the people living closer to roads get disturbed hence best avoided. During the traffic jam, all wait patiently without honking…. is worth emulating. Not a single soul on-road riding two-wheeler is seen without helmets despite less traffic; police seen on roads. Citizens seem hygiene/cleanliness conscious as no littering on streets visible any time of the day. Early morning and at noon sea of school children in white uniform are seen shuttling to & fro - from home to school and back.
9. Our tour was also a unique experience which took us to exotic bio-reserves, conservation of turtles, elephant orphanages, tea gardens and so on... in Sri Lanka. The attitude and warmth of people throughout the travel around touched our hearts. To conclude, I would say- Sri Lanka is a beautiful country which has contentment, health, happiness & hospitality factors which are worth imbibing.
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