Serendipity in Sri Lanka Part - II

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Serendipity in Sri Lanka (2004)-Part II

Ratnapura

I went to Ratnapura alone on a bus, and at the bus-stand, hired an auto rickshaw for the half day that I was going to spend there, visiting the gems shops and the gems mines and an authentic National Gem Museum (This last is actually a Government-owned scientific museum, not a shop masquerading as one.)

Ratnapura is a very lovely village, surrounded by lovely blue hills, and dark, green forests. The gem-mine that I visited looked like our own coconut groves, in the midst of which was the dry pit. The water for washing the dirt came from a pipe, and was diverted away from the pit.

The gems mines of Ratnapura are still worked in the most traditional fashion. They are practically deep, dry wells dug into the earth. If they find a vein or ‘mother-lode’, then they dig transversely or horizontally, and line these transverse or horizontal shafts with wooden planks, so that they would not cave in. Once the vein or the mother-lode is worked, they abandon the shaft.

This primitive working of the mines has the positive effect that because of their limitations, they cannot dig too deep or too far and so the accidents and cave-ins leading to the death of workers, hardly ever happen.

The mining mainly consists of scooping of the earth from the bottom of the well and washing it over fine sieves in running water. The residue of the stones in the sieve is then minutely examined to find if they have a gemstone in them.

http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/asia/sri_lanka_and_the_maldives/ratnupara_gems.php

http://www.rootsweb.com/~lkawgw/sapphire.htm

Small topazes are fairly common. From the pit that I visited, and where I saw them washing the dirt, a small yellow topaz the size of a ‘rai’ seed (i.e. 0.5 mm) was retrieved. It was practically worthless, and so they offered it to me as a memento, totally free. However, I declined the offer, because, I knew I would lose it in no time at all, and I had planned to buy something better as a memento.

Among the stones mined at Ratnapura, the large blue sapphire shown in the film ‘Titanic’ is most famous.

I was basically searching for a ‘star sapphire’. There were any number of start sapphires and star rubies in the various shops of Ratnapura, but they were a little more expensive than those in Colombo.

So, I came back to Colombo from Ratnapura without buying a single ‘ratna’ (gem) and earned the epithet ‘ratna’ (sort of ‘lovable crackpot character’) from Avi. Ultimately, I bought my star sapphires in Colombo which I was searching for in Kathmandu and Ratnapura.

That is Serendipity for you.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry in Ratnapura carries a handful of stones in his pockets and lies in wait for the unwary tourist. My auto driver, while taking me back to the bus-stand
‘psst’ed me and asked in a barely audible whisper, whether I would like to buy top quality blue sapphires from him at half the price. In a clandestine manner, he also showed me the stones that he was carrying in his pocket. When I asked him how he came by such large, valuable stones, he said that they were a legacy from his grandfather.

Legacy from grandfather my foot!

Avi is smart. He had sent me to Ratnapura with a credit card but very little cash. That way, he was sure that if at all I bought some gems, they would be from a regular shop and not from some tout. The sort of knowledge that we have about gemstones can fit in a ‘rai’ sized topaz, with ample space to spare. So, I could very easily get cheated by touts passing me colored glass-pieces as blue sapphires.

In fact, I HAD thought that the blue sapphire in Titanic was a blue colored glass piece.

Galle

http://www.rootsweb.com/~lkawgw/gallefort.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galle

They spell it as Galle and pronounce it as ‘Gaul’. Why? Are Dutch as bad as French, as far as the spelling and pronunciation is concerned? In French, it seems to be a rule that the consonants in a word are just decorative and can be substituted by any other handy consonant, and the vowels can be silent or vocal depending upon their own mood. Moreover, some consonants and vowels are not on talking terms with each other and still live in the same word. (This is familiar territory. French words appear to be just like a HUF or Hindu Undivided Family, whose members may be at loggerheads with each other but still stay under the same roof.) How else do you explain the words like ‘rendezvous’ or ‘chandelier’?

The Dutch also used to spell Jakarta as Djakarta. I suggest that we should spell Dutch as Jdutch as a retaliation.

The Dutch might be awful spellers, but they were very good architects and builders. The fort that they have built/fortified at Galle is very strong and beautiful.

For a long time I have been searching for a decorative coral block, and I found it in the Galle fort. To my chagrin, I found that the whole foundation of the fort is coral. I mean the fort was built on coral, not on rocks. However, the coral is about as strong as rocks. Obviously, I could not dig out or dislodge even a small piece of the coral from the foundation, so my dream is unfulfilled as yet.

Galle Fort is surrounded by the sea except for a small strip of land which connects it to the shore, thus giving scenic views all around.

There is (Was?) a nice sports stadium near the fort. I do not know whether it still stands today (Or the fort either) after the tsunami of 26 Dec. 2004.

Hikkaduwa

The coral gardens of Hikkaduwa are very famous but we were highly disappointed with them, especially because we had visited Phuket just 3-4 months back and had snorkeled there. I will tell you about my snorkeling experience some time in future, but I had loved what I had seen of the coral. No land-based garden can compete with the beauty of a coral garden. However, I had decided that at Hikkaduwa, we will not snorkel, but see the coral through the glass-bottom of a boat.

The glass-bottomed boat that we took and others like that, leaked diesel all over the so-called the coral garden. The sailors that manned the boat were maniacs for speed and churned the sea all around. The noise of the propellers scared away all marine life. No wonder the coral at Hikkaduwa is all DEAD. It is no longer a coral garden, but a coral cemetery.

I looked at those boatmen with intense dislike. They were the ones who had killed off all the coral, though they blamed it on El Nino.

“I wish I was a mermaid” I said to Avi.

He just lifted his eyebrows and looked at me quizzically. I immediately knew what was going on in his mind, and so I said hastily,

“I mean a fully-clothed one, and lure those boatmen to death”

“If you are a fully-clothed mermaid, you won’t be able to lure anyone” he said, picking holes in my statement. “I know you have a fixation about fish-tails. You wanted to see Machhapuchhare, I showed it to you, you want to go to Machu Picchu, OK, I will take you there some day, but now you also want to have a fish-tail yourself?”

As usual, he was ‘playing’ me, and I swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

“If I am a mermaid, (and of course, I will be the youngest, most beautiful and most gifted princess) I will gather all my sea-people like whales and sharks and squids and kill those boatmen” I pursued my chain of thought.

“Why?” asked Avi.

“Because they have killed all ‘our’ coral.”

“Pshw! What are a few corals here and there” said Avi.

Now my blood (cold?) was up. “It is this attitude of you land-people that has led to the extinction of dinosaurs, Moas and Dodos, and others. In our sea-realm, we do not hunt a species to extinction. Even that fish, with a name that sound like Coca Cola or Amaranth is not extinct in OUR domain” I said triumphantly.

Now Avi was totally puzzled. “In what way are these two words are similar?” he asked.

“They are.” I was still trying to remember the fish’s name. “Coke, no, yes, I got it! Yes, even Coelacanth is not extinct in our kingdom, and that proves that we sea-people are far superior to you land-people.”

Avi’s patience snapped. This is what happens when he is losing an argument.

“My dear girl, if you want to be a mermaid, OK, but then please leave me alone and get lost in the sea.” He said. “I do not want a fish for a wife or even a fishwife for a wife, so, I will divorce you.”

I was puzzled. “Why will you divorce me?” I asked.

“Because then you will SMELL like a fish, and you know I can’t stand fish-smell.” He said.

That put an altogether new perspective on the whole thing. Even I can’t stand the fish-smell. “Eeeeeeeek! I don’t want to be a mermaid.” I said.

He laughed. “What? You do not want to be a mermaid and protect the ‘Sea-peoples’? What happened to your lofty ideas of the preservation of species? Just the fish-smell is going to put you off?”

“No, I do not want to be a mermaid” I said shuddering at the thought. “A few dead corals here and there do not matter.”

“I am sure the Sea-people are rejoicing at your decision.” He said with his lop-sided grin.

Nasty!!!!

P.S. : Bunny’s no-nonsense definition of a mermaid “half girl, half fish”. She is a great one for synopsis and short forms.

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Photos

"Impressionist" photo of fish
Avi is a Monet with camera, not the brush.

Hikkadua -1
Hikkadua coast

Hikkadua - 2
Hikkadua sea

Hikkadua - 3
Famous Hikkadua hotel

Galle Stadium
Famous cricket stadium

Galle Sea
The calm sea

Wall of Galle Fort
The strong wall of Galle Fort

The clock tower
The clock tower inside the fort

The outer wall
The outer wall of the Galle fort