Lanka Diary - Day 1 & 2

The Sri Lankan holiday was a much awaited one - it'd been over an year since I travelled even a few kilometers for vacation. And, a real vacation was something I'd forgotten. In that sense, this was refreshing & an eagerly anticipated break.

Planned two months in advance, it was a pain to pass through the penultimate week at work. After putting in place a few contingency plans for the next week, it was Saturday afternoon - FINALLY! The excitement was palpable and a stranger who saw me from a mile would attest.

A travel journey/holiday is often marked by incidents which you tend to carry along as a story. At the Shantinagar bus stand, was waiting for the Chennai Volvo at 2:30 pm. A decently well dressed bloke was seated next to me at the bus stop. We picked up a conversation and it seemed like he was another Techie ( In Bangalore, you take a second step and bump into a techie !) . He claimed to be joining 'iSoft' in Whitefield and had over 4-5 years of experience in Networking ( Cisco stuff etc). He claimed that his dad was with the Air Force. He claimed to be a mallu but could not speak a word. And, finally pleaded for some money. Well. Hmm.

A pleasant surprise by KSRTC was in the offing, for the volvo deployed on the route was a brand new multi-axle bus service launched on the very day. Reached Chennai in 5 hours. They distributed chocolates in a KSRTC bus! Service, you've got a new friend at KSRTC.

Another surprise was to meet Vivek at the Chennai airport. I'd expected him to join me at the Colombo airport. Merry making gods were on our side in this trip.

After landing at the Bandaranayike Intl airport at Katunayake (45km off Colombo), we waited 3 hours for our man Friday, Ranga. With no sleep on Sat nite, we crashed on a table at the nescafe outlet while muching some chocolate wafers. Ranga landed up at the promised time and we were off to begin our holiday in a neat Nissan sedan.

We'd set our goals clear a month ago - Beaches & adventure. First halt was at Bentota, which was a very peaceful beach. Gulped a couple of beers and tried jogging on the beach. But, Lion strong beer in Lanka lives upto its name! It'd affected my feet-soul coordination. Soul wanted to run. Feet refused. So, I fell flat on the sand. And, then someone flicked my new floaters.

The rest of the day passed in haze as I was driven to Hikkaduwa, Galle & Unawatuna. Great roads, smooth driver, lion strong & I didn’t know what passed by. For a moment, it was like Dev D.