Sunday, August 26, 2007

The Emerald Isle Diaries - 1

As I sit writing this piece inside the plush (and wi-fi enabled) hotel room facing the Indian Ocean on the famous Emerald Isle sipping on a Bordeaux, I say to myself, ‘This is good life’. And the fact that, this is just the beginning makes this ‘good life’ even better. I am in Sri Lanka for a month on work and the nature of this project requires me to travel across the island!

The first sight of the island, as the aircraft was lowering on the city of Colombo was enough to make me happy. It was as if we were landing on a sea of greenery with the palm and coconut trees serving as the waves. It was pleasantly different from the kind of sight I am used to while landing (think Bombay).

The next aspect which added to my happiness was the manner in which Sri Lankans speak. It began with a very well made Sri Lankan movie I saw before coming to the island and continues with every interaction with the folks out here. They don’t talk…they sing! In Sinhalese and in English and perhaps any other language they will speak. In fact, I never knew English can sound so melodious!

So, one and a half day old in the island and as a popular TV commercial puts it, ‘Im loving it.’ Yesterday was extremely eventful, with work in the first half of the day and roaming around the city to check out the famous shopping arcades of Colombo, in the second. The evening, had other things in store for me.

It brought three beautiful Sri Lankan ladies dressed up in very pretty Saris to my hotel to pick me up (thanks to one of them who is my colleague at the workplace). The objective was to show me the famous night-life of Colombo. And what a night-life we had! First to a karaoke bar called ‘The Sopranos’ where two of my three ladies gave a smashing performance, then to a huge nightclub called ‘H20/Sugar’’ followed by a loud and authentic disc called ‘D’s’ where the ‘one who did not sing’ at the Karaoke bar, gave a smashing performance on the dance floor (despite the Sari). Rest of the night was spent in getting a car out of the way, my colleague getting booked for holding an expiry Driving Licence and feeding ourselves with a nice chicken-cheese roll at a local joint.

Today, being a cloudy Sunday has been lazy and easy so far. Morning saw me having some good conversation at the breakfast table with my client. We are working closely on this project.

And, that is the view from my room.

Will keep filling this space with more from the Emerald Isle. Ayubowan!

14 comments:

theoldgentleman said...

well dude! What else can I say :)
Enjoy and have fun!

Two With Nature said...

ah...the good times!

it is a beautiful city - make as much of it as you can!

meraj said...

its a beautiful country and thanks to my work requirements, i shall make the most of it.

Anonymous said...

What you have savoured is just the tip of the iceburg. Our endeavour would be to entice you with the magical charm of this emerald isle to make you stay back...

Pooja Nair said...

Enchanting... waiting to read more!

Brown Weed said...

Quando paramucho mi amore de felice carathon
mundo paparazzi mi amore cicce verdi parasol
questo abrigado tantamucho que canite carousel..

Anonymous said...

Yeah it was indeed a eventful night Yeah it was indeed an eventful night. Most of the times you get hassled by the Sri Lankan security points – especially when you are with pretty girls like me and my friends.... (Lol) I hope the Army Security check point fellows near Taj Samudra do remember us next time and let us go. But apart from those incidents I hope the rest of the night was fun. Well my dear this is just the start wait till you get to travel to Kandy, Down South, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

alien said...

"AIRTEL" ????

meraj said...

alien, yes its Airtel.

thiyagi, am looking forward to all of it. many thanks in advance.

bojangles, my friend...its true, everybody's laughing on this island

farhan, would love to have the complete iceberg...

Anonymous said...

Good to know that u r njoying..n yeah its a good way of keeping all of us informed about ur well being...Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi Meraj, I am glad you are enjoying the wonderful nights that SL has to offer.
The funny thing is I was born on this beautiful Island but live abroad. I too went to H2O for the first time...the music was great.
Great blogg!! keep it coming...

Cheers Matey
R
P.s. reply to this message and let me know if you are in Colombo for much longer. I am here until 5/9

P.p.s :)

meraj said...

hey Matey! thanks for appreciating my blog. am in the Isle till the 24th of this month...perhaps we can catch up. am staying at Taj Samudra, Room No 211 (cant recall my local mobile no.)

cheers!
m

Anonymous said...

Hi Meraj,

How are you? Thank you for replying to my message on your Blogg. I will try to call you tomorrow (4/9/07). I am really sorry, but will be flying back to London on 5/9/07!! Damn shame...I wish we could have met up and perhaps gone for a drink (Arrak of course...just kidding, whatever takes your fancy!)
Why dont you post your email address here and I will write to you. I am so jealous that you are in SL until the 24th!!! I plan to make another trip over here in December, failing that for a couple of months next year.
I wish I could stay for longer...
You are so right about the SL hospitality (not because I am from here) & warmth...Another country I noticed this is in Thailand.
Anyway, I hope to hear from you, until then take care...
Keep writing...its a great read
Thanks
R

meraj said...

hey R,

you can call up on my mobile @ +94774436215. thanks for the appreciation and we will catch up someday over a drink (maybe Arrack)or two.

cheers!
m