Colombo has a perahera (elephant, fire and awesome parade). Well everywhere has a perahera, but Gangarama Temple in the city has a boss one. Briefly interrupted by war, the colorful Podi Hamduruwo has brought it back in style. I attended for the first time and it was pretty awesome, and well organized. The Kandy Perahera is a bit of an endurance event, but this one was more modern.

Colombo’s somewhat eccentric Gangarama Temple is holding a grand procession near the Beira Lake. Basically everything around the Daily Mirror office and the Beira Lake will be closed to traffic, besides elephant, dancer and fire-bearing traffic (route list, of sorts).

Today is Sri Lanka’s 64th Independence anniversary, which marks a milestone in computer if not human memory. Here’s an excerpt of something coming out in the Nation this Saturday. This is one of the first times that Sri Lanka is both independent of the British and not at war with itself. Which is nice. Happy Independence Day. I’m going out of town.

Sixteen years ago, yesterday, a 440 pound bomb tore through downtown Colombo. It killed 91 people, injured 1,400 and left at least 100 people blind. It also made the city recoil from itself, leaving the city center largely abandoned, only to slowly emerge today. It also made tourism drop by 40%, a figure that is also only now recovering, post war. More than anything, however, it just left people stumbling, bloody and reeling, onto the shattered streets of Colombo.

The last king of Sri Lanka was actually a Tamil. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha died in exile on January 30th, 1832. You can visit a memorial of sorts in the Ceylinco parking lot. Right now you can also watch the dubious heir to the Jaffna Kingdom on a TLC reality dating show.

The Island has posted an douchey response to this film – Kerosene. Sometimes you have knee-jerk reactions so much that you end up kicking everything – the chair, the cat, the coil. Too many people (on whatever side) put their agenda before what’s in front of them, and that’s what the Island is doing here. They’re accusing Kannan of targeting the government, but he’s just telling stories. In this case, literally transmitting the voices of old taxi drivers and mechanics in Jaffna.

An AFP story about Sri Lankan eye donations has been making the rounds. Around Colombo 7 there’s a sign that says ‘eye donations this way’, which I always found a bit odd. There’s also old images like the above, of a Bodhisattva donating an eye (in Mulkirigala). Turns out its not so odd after all, Sri Lanka is among the top cornea providers in the world.

Every now and then I have to use the postal service. It’s always an ordeal. It honestly feels like climbing inside a computer and moving bits around. It’s hot, bothersome and feels entirely unnecessary.

Many Sri Lankans have two names, as do most Sri Lankan roads. My name is Indrajit, but everybody calls me Indi, or Jit. The Galle Road is either the Galle Road or the Colombo road, depending on which way you’re going. The Colombo Plan Road – along the coast – is still called Marine Drive. It’s a beautiful stretch.

This is what I hear. Apparently the cops tried to do a spot search for drugs and the prisoners got pissed. The place is overcrowded and open, so the cops and guards are always outnumbered. Anyways, all hell breaks loose and there’s prisoners on the roof, also throwing rocks on the road. Some journalists get onto a balcony across the street and they hear gunfire.