Ayubowan, bitches.
I love wearing sarong. It’s so fresh and so clean clean. In Sri Lanka everybody wears sarong, though the more city types juss wear it around the house. Regardless, I can wear a sarong all weekend without attracting attention – unless I go out at night. Then every bouncer at every club is looking at my feet like I pooped on the floor. I don’t bother with security, I just pretend to know the owner or something and walk in. Mahinda wears a sarong and they can bite me. I’m not talking threadbare house sarongs either, I have some Odel and Barefoot sarongs which are, IMHO, pretty fucking fly. This weekend, however, I kept getting kicked out of Colombo Rowing Club. I heard later that they kicked Manik and Arjuna Ranatunga out for the same offense. Downstairs you can sorta wear sarong, but I’m upstairs eating some rice (with my fingers) and they tell me to leave. Rock back the same evening for a party in full national dress with a Mahinda scarf. National is acceptable I know, I can wear national to work and any establishment has to give you service. Walk upstairs, give them the two handed ayubowan and promptly get kicked out again. Bloody colonial hangover.
Rowing Club
I don’t know much about the Colombo Rowing Club. I used to row the 2k and 6k in high-school but it was incredibly painful and I don’t really miss it. I’ve been there for a few mediocre parties that I only remember (generally embarrassing) bits of. Anyways, wake up late on Saturday and I’m freaking starving. Holler at my boy to see where he is. He says he’s at the Rowing Club and to knock up for the buffet, sarong should be OK.
Take One
So I go upstairs, get a few gal looks from the men, which I’m used to. And anyways, they can bite me cause I’m fucking fly and the only birds they have are a dumpling and what looks like a Chinese hooker. I’m wearing a tie-dyed sarong, Urban Thongs, and a white tee from House of Fashion. I’m just hungry so my member friend shows me the buffet and I sit down to a bonafide nosh. Basmati, Chicken Kurma, Rs 150. Not bad.
I’m eating with my fingers when some perturbed looking dude comes and asks me who I’m with. I swallow and mentioned my friend. Then this guy – who is not fly at all – says ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you can’t wear sarong in here. Please leave in 5 minutes.’ It’s his club or whatever, but I still think he’s a cunt. ‘Can I finish my meal?’ I ask, cause Sri Lankans are usually hospitable about food. ‘OK, but please leave.’ So whatever, I finish my meal and leave. Somebody’s pulling their Ferarri out of the parking lot. Wearing pants I presume.
Take Two
Now, as mentioned, I don’t wear pants on the weekend. I don’t care where we’re going, I’m not wearing pants. If I go out I go out in sarong and I don’t take any shit from bouncers. However, given my past experience at Rowing Club I decide to play it safe. Put on a full national dress and borrow a shawl from my girl Wednesday. I look like Mahinda, except skinnier and not a fucking cunt. Figure there’s no way they can kick me out now. I understand that sarongs can be slovenly, but national dress is national dress. It’s accepted in my company’s strict dress code and both of my grandfathers wore it every day of their working lives. It’s national dress, so you have the right to wear it anywhere in this nation.
Apparently, however, the Colombo Rowing Club is still a colony. The party is downstairs where nobody checks, but I heard a friend of mine was upstairs. So I go up to look. Three men in black immediately block my path. My one rule with security guards is to ignore them cause they don’t have guns and they can’t actually do anything. I just walk by, looking for my boy. Machang, the gal looks I get from these pot-bellied bar denizens upstairs. You’d think I’m a proper fucking serf. I’m rocking the full Mahinda, but they’re all up in arms. ‘He can’t be up here my God, go downstairs.’ ‘Harumph harumph harump, we’ll have a talk with [X] about this.’ This being any other night I would have told them to suck my salty Sinhalese balls. Out of respect for the friend who invited me, I just say whatever and go downstairs. Two guys in black follow me all the way to the dance floor.
So, I guess you can’t wear national dress at the Colombo Rowing Club. Interesting, because my grandfathers wore national dress every day, and I respect them more than anybody. Most Presidents (including this one) and national representatives wear National Dress. I guess all these people aren’t good enough for the Rowing Club to break bread with. If they’re going to kick me out while I got food in my mouth I guess they wouldn’t care. I understand club rules, but I do think a club should respect the nation it is in. This is Sri Lanka. The whitewashed guys hanging out in the bar may be club members, but they are also Sri Lankans. I am Sri Lankan, and I can wear national dress anywhere I damn please. Especially if I’m dressed exactly like Mahinda Rajapakse and look fucking hilarious. But whatever. I went downstairs and drank some arrack and ice. I’m still not wearing pants on weekends. It’s a national issue.
This is the real Colombo wastrel. I at least spend my own money.
The Colombo Rowing Club is a private members club. Its like your home in that sense. The members therefore decide what type of rules that should prevail. For example in a nudist club you dont wear any clothes at all. If you turn up in a sarong you would be told to leave. So it is an explicit understanding when you visit a private members club that you adhere to the rules of that club.
The second incident I am afraid is an unfortunate co incidence. On certain nights where the club host public functions in the lawn, the club house upstairs is restricted to members only. I suspect this is what happened. The club rules do allow for the national dress any time of the day.
BTW just in case you decide to visit the club again, please note that shorts are not allowed after 7.30pm.
Also we dont generally need armed guards at the club because it is patronized by ladies and gentlmen. The guards are there only to inform them of any restrictions and those restrictions are respected by them. Armed guards are needed only to control spoilt brats who run around trying to break rules just to prove something.
hi, i too am terribly bugged that wearing national – or a sarong is not allowed in most places. even a dingy place like the old thomian’s swimming club doesnt let you wear it. i too intend on wearing a sarong to work. becoz its soo comfortable and it suits or climate etc etc etc….haha. AND if people try to restrict and cause problems lets use some higher influence to make sure that people respect our dress or else get that place shut down for good.
: ) good luck indi! i ll need some too.
He he… good one… I recall an incident where a bunch of us ended up in Kandy, and thought we’d hit the Le-Garage (Night Club at the Le-Kandiyan..now Amaya Hills I think.. anyways)… and to be unique we decide to all go in Sarong! And after a long bloody drive around that hill, we get turned down.. I’m not sure whether it was the sarong or was it that they expected us to wear shoes with sarong… but either way it was ridiculous.. and we had to hang around in their lobby for 2-3 hours to get another cabby to come pick us up… so all in all Kandy the Sri Lankan heritage city.. the last kingdom balh blah.. does not enjoy sarongs.. atleast in its night clubs.. so we found out! (Ask Hetti 4 da details)
I am hoping that picture will be your Facebook profile photo from now on. Fucking hilarious, man.
On topic: I haven’t worn a sarong since I was 10. The last time I wore a sarong and went to sleep, I had rolled around and fell out of bed, leaving the sarong on the bed.
Sarath, all your points make sense, except for the spoilt brat bit. I am certainly a brat, but are you insinuating that Rowing Club members aren’t? I’m pretty sure the guards are there to protect the delicate sensibilities of the spoilt brats inside. This is an intra-brat conflict.
Generic sarong rule makes sense to me any time of the day, but I have a national right to wear national dress. This is Sri Lanka. I know the Rowing Club was founded by the British, but they need respect the culture and rules of this nation. My grandfather wore national dress every day of his life. Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne of Sarvodaya wears national dress every day. Mahinda Rajapakse and half the Parliament wear national everyday. Except for the latter, these are all people I have great respect for. I’m proud to wear what my grandfather wore. If it’s a choice between my grandfather’s style and the quirks of any Colombo club I’ll get kicked out with pride.
I have a right to wear national dress anywhere in this country, whether spoilt clubs acknowledge it or not. They’re free to kick me out, but I will still wear national dress with pride. If it’s a choice between being accepted by a club or being accepted by Sri Lanka I’ll choose Sri Lanka any day.
Hummm, Sarath I understand your point. But that does not mean others can’t criticize these rules and customs of a “private members club”. If you are a member of that particular club, you too better criticize this outrageous rule from within. It’s worth doing further studies on these “members clubs”, their rules and regulations and colonialist logic that govern their cultures :-)
By posting this, Indi hasn’t tried to break into your club wearing a sarong. But he has criticized one of the significant aspects of this culture. I remember another occasion when Colombo lawyers(oops that’s too general – a certain group of Colombo lawyers) made a huge fuss when the minister (also attorney at law) Jeyaraj Fernandopulle went to courts with the intention of appearing as a lawyer, wearing this “national dress”.
Yeah, well, these clubs can be pretty anal. I personally don’t care about sarongs since I never wear skirts, so it doesn’t affect me. But I love T-shirts, and it’s really annoying that the Golf Club won’t let you in after 8pm if you are in one, and whisper politely to you to bugger off if you’re already there. They allow polo/golf shirts though, ‘cos they’ve got collars. And they do allow sarongs I think. I was at Otters once and there was aa fight in one corner between some drivers and construction workers (yeah, it’s a pretty exclusive place) and when the cops eventually showed up and walked in toting T56s, some of the older members around were complaining thaat cops shouldn’t be allowed in ‘cos they aaren’t members aand no ne had signed them in as guests.
Regardless of the fact that a club’s private property, it should adhere to both national law and public sentiment. For example, you can’t say I won’t let Tamils in ‘cos that’s the club rules.
Off topic comments :
Nice dress Indi, two important parts are missing, as a result of which they wont give you the ticket for the next election.
1) you need to put on that grin as if you are about to brush your teeth(without a brush)
This is how to put on the grin like a politician: Place a tooth brush between your lips the same way you do when brushing teeth, brush for a few seconds and remove it as soon as you’re ready for the pic.
2) THE mustache to prove that you are a MAN ;-)
Just to re – confirm, National dress is allowed at all times.
Not in my experience. I went upstairs to see a non-member who was sitting quite peaceably at the bar. Your members looked at my national dress and specifically told me that I couldn’t come up there ‘like that’. I understand that non-members are often not allowed up, but non-members were there and my member ‘sponsor’ was there. I was verbally told that I couldn’t wear what I was wearing upstairs. I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like ‘He can’t be upstairs like that’. Not ‘He can’t be up here as a non-member’. At no point was I asked if I was a member or not, it wasn’t the issue at all. They simply looked at me and told me to leave. Based on what I was wearing. The older guy didn’t even really make eye contact.
I don’t know what the written policy is, but I was (verbally) kicked out for wearing national dress.
How sad that you can’t wear the national dress in certain places in Sri Lanka itself. This is certainly a colonial hangover, I guess these days they can’t hang the “Europeans only” sign outside along with this silly rule of not being able to wear national dress. I think the national newspapers should bring this up. I don’t think that would be overreacting. If people can’t see the error of their ways, then maybe they need to be shamed into changing.
I can only imagine how they would have treated someone who spoke no English!
If someone had kicked you out for wering the Nationl dress I would be the first one to agree that it is wrong. But it would be the fault of who ever did it and not of the club since the club rules are very explicit on this. Shame to the person who did it and my apologies on behalf of the CRC (even though I am not on the committee or any such thing-just a long standing memeber who loves the club and the sport of rowing).
As for spoilt brats we do have more than our share of them barging in with their body gaurds and what not and wanting everything to be opened just for them. Didnt actualy mean to say that you were one of them. My apologies once again.
But as we get older it is sometimes nice for each of us to have some place to crawl to, that hasnt changed over the years. Thats why we try to keep the CRC just as it was and not allow it to be modernized whether or not its good to attract more people or politically correct.
You have cunningly made fun at our Mahinda Mama indi,hope he would read this,ha ha……good work….this work is very creative….sarong is good when you are at home,i used to sleep wearing sarong,but never woke up with that intact….once (when i was in the university),i woke up in the morning to find a girl in my room typing something in the computer,to my horror i found out that my sarong was missing and all i had around me was the bed cloth,i spent another hour or so pretending to be sleeping,praying her to leave soon.(since she was a friends girl friend ,i was unable to turn that situation in to any productive out come ha ha ha)
All good man, thanks for contributing to a civilized debate.
I totally agree that these clubs have the right to their own culture and rules, just as I maintain certain rules on this blog or in my own house. National, however, is national and I do think that should be respected. That said, I was dressed like Mahinda and probably looked an ass. I can understand why someone would kick me out, but I like to think that national dress in general would be respected.
Anyways, no disrespect to your club. Peace in the middle east.
some of the hotels down south still don’t allow “locals”…
and also the casinos say “foreigners only”…
is that legal in your sri Lanka…?
what a country… they allow their own people to be discriminated against in favor of the white man…
crazy…
chiller out of curiousity which hotels down south? I’ve only ever seen one casino that says ‘foreigners only’ which pisses the hell out of me…but never heard of hotels down south?
I think Bally’s and that other one near the Milk Bar are foreigners only. I went once (with a white friend). It’s all cracked out looking Chinese women in a far too bright atmosphere. Hotels I dunno.
One thing I do know is that it is very difficult to rent an apartment as a Sri Lankan. I’ve called tens of places to be told, ‘No, sorry, foreigners only.’ I guess it makes sense cause Sri Lankans can be squatters, but it sucks that it’s so hard to rent a place in your own country.
i’ve heard of some hotels in the weligama, mirissa areas which do not take too kindly to locals, don’t have names but i might find out in a couple of weeks bc planning on going that way.
Some hotels have good reasons to ban locals,sometimes Sri Lankans don’t know where they are after 2 shots,and become a menace to the foreign tourists that brings larger revenues to hotels ,Tourist come hear to have a nice and relaxing vacation ,not to get bugged buy drunken idiots or to see fightings (Like Some political sons of bitches did few year ago). I think this kinds of problems could be solved if some Sri Lankans learn to behave decently. Hotel industry is all about customer satisfaction,i know this because i’m in this industry. If i own a hotel,if foreigners are more, i may compelled to make it foreigners only,because its just a wise business decision.
Err…yes Poojitha foreigners just come and fuck our kids (well some of them at least)…lets bring some more of em in…the simple solution is have a code of conduct. If a person (regardless of skin colour, sexual propensity, etc) breaks it they’re out…its a bit silly to say all Sri Lankans are a menace when drunk (have you ever been on the streets in Britain after pubs have closed btw?). Try not to think of things in such simple terms, it might hurt and take a bit more time but it should help.
Well, politically incorrect as it may sound, the fact is that most of the fighting and bad behaviour is by Sri Lankan louts, not foreign tourists, most of whom are quiet, middle-aged couples just here for a quiet time (and no they’re not all fucking our kids, BTW, most child abuse in SL is by Sri Lankans). The drunks on the streets of Britain are all in Amsterdam or Ibiza for their hols, not here. If it was so easy to chuck out anyone who acted like a ruffian, Colombo won’t be as fucked up as it is. Quite ofen you can throw someone out only to have them come back a few hours later with some politician’s thugs and smash up your establishment. I’m not surprised hotels and landlords prefer foreigners — they’re quieter, better behaved, and more importantly — spend more.
blacker, ur right.
it’s full of boards saying only foreigners. open ur eyes and u will see them (u all probably dont care, coz u can go in, u have money/caste/culture/big car et al right?, so ur not going to make a point about it are u? just accept it, who caes, its not about you, and carry on…. btw, personally I dont go to places which have this notice on principle.)
about local drunks, blacker is right again. they are a pain in the ass to every restaurant owner on the beach, unless tehy know them well they won’t alllow them in. just look at the behaviour every w/end/poya (!) etc. in una, near the temple (!). it’s a disgrace. woulkd u want such ppl in your establishment? i think not.
about fuckin ur children, it’s the parents (sri lankans) who are very happy to send them, u know, fast bucks? or do u think u can just pick up a child, unnoticed, walk off with it and fuck it? especially in a village the foreigner walkin around witha local kid would just go totally unnnoticed right?!??! grow up. welcome to salli salli world.
(btw, we beat pedos up in una nowadays). of course, as usual, the disclaimer, (yawn)coz being a foeigner, before anyone starts the crap, yes there are disgusting foreign bastards who abuse children sexually thay should be stopped/arrested etc etc etc.
i got into the rythm and blues in a sarong once, the bouncer at the door tried to stop me, another one actually said “national dress” let him in.
indi: why such fuss? if u go to a pijama party and ur not wearing a pijama, u cant’ get in. it’s a rule.
“Comment by ddm
2007-07-31 15:32:13
i’ve heard of some hotels in the weligama, mirissa areas which do not take too kindly to locals, don’t have names but i might find out in a couple of weeks bc planning on going that way. History”
now this is a diferent case (pathetci, typical story), the reason for this is because of the surfing in these areas. they want to “catch the tourists” themselves, without interference from outsiders (as if the average foreign surfer is rich??!!). i mean they dont want ppl from hikkaduwa/una (local surfers) invading “their” territory/surf spot so they can milk the japanese/israeli/ozzie/brit surfers and surf with less crowd. it is called “localism”, it’s crap, ask any decent surfer. they get nasty too, like dogs when another dog enters the garden…..but u know, salli salli, right? again who cares about hospitality, kindness, etc. the pillars of our society! or was it money? mmmmm cant remember…..
blacker, ur right.
it’s full of boards saying only foreigners. open ur eyes and u will see them (u all probably dont care, coz u can go in, u have money/caste/culture/big car et al right?, so ur not going to make a point about it are u? just accept it, who caes, its not about you, and carry on…. btw, personally I dont go to places which have this notice on principle.)
about local drunks, blacker is right again. they are a pain in the ass to every restaurant owner on the beach, unless tehy know them well they won’t alllow them in. just look at the behaviour every w/end/poya (!) etc. in una, near the temple (!). it’s a disgrace. woulkd u want such ppl in your establishment? i think not.
about fuckin ur children, it’s the parents (sri lankans) who are very happy to send them, u know, fast bucks? or do u think u can just pick up a child, unnoticed, walk off with it and fuck it? especially in a village the foreigner walkin around witha local kid would just go totally unnnoticed right?!??! grow up. welcome to salli salli world.
(btw, we beat pedos up in una nowadays). of course, as usual, the disclaimer, (yawn)coz being a foeigner, before anyone starts the crap, yes there are disgusting foreign bastards who abuse children sexually thay should be stopped/arrested etc etc etc.
i got into the rythm and blues in a sarong once, the bouncer at the door tried to stop me, another one actually said “national dress” let him in.
indi: why such fuss? if u go to a pijama party and ur not wearing a pijama, u cant’ get in. it’s a rule.
“Comment by ddm
2007-07-31 15:32:13
i’ve heard of some hotels in the weligama, mirissa areas which do not take too kindly to locals, don’t have names but i might find out in a couple of weeks bc planning on going that way. History”
now this is a diferent case (pathetci, typical story), the reason for this is because of the surfing in these areas. they want to “catch the tourists” themselves, without interference from outsiders (as if the average foreign surfer is rich??!!). i mean they dont want ppl from hikkaduwa/una (local surfers) invading “their” territory/surf spot so they can milk the japanese/israeli/ozzie/brit surfers and surf with less crowd. it is called “localism”, it’s crap, ask any decent surfer. they get nasty too, like dogs when another dog enters the garden…..but u know, salli salli, right? again who cares about hospitality, kindness, etc. the pillars of our society! or was it money? mmmmm cant remember…..
hey i have an idea, let’s not call all whites paedos and let’s not call all locals louts….deal…bloody self haters
Personally, I haven’t seen any such signs down south or been turned away from any place, and no, I didn’t have always have a car.
this is the problem with sri lanka… people like poojitha,
rather than ban or kick out a PERSON for bad behaviour… they instead come up with the idea to ban the entire group (ie. sri lankans from hotels)…
this is the view that has led to the ethnic conflict…
agreed, and it’s also an indication of a deep sense of self hatred and insecurity which manifests in different sorts of ways, not least among them the willingness to let the West dictate terms in relation to almost everything.
Rubbish. I was wondering when this post was going to be connected to the ethnic conflict, and Chiller never fails to deliver. I for one (and I think Poojitha as well) am not advocating the ban on Sri Lankans (and as I said I’ve not come across it down south), but I can understand it. As I already pointed out, if it’s so simple to just chuck out a trouble-maker SL would be a law-abiding nation. But it’s not. The law rarely has any meaning in everyday life. Chuck out a lout and he’ll come back with his poitically-backed thug friends and smash your hotel.
It’s not self-hate but self-preservation. And if the average white tourist is cleaner, quieter, and better behaved than the average Sri Lankan, isn’t it time to stop calling ourselves self-haters and take a good look at the way the average Sri Lankan behaves?
If you’ve seen the casual damage done to a hotel by Sri Lankans on say an office outing, we wouldn’t be even having this discussion.
David, you keep reinforcing and validating those who call you a rascist…
no matter what 99% of any race or group do, you can not “ban” the whole group…
could you imagine if hotels in the US wouldn’t allow black americans etc to stay in hotels
or
if all those in LA who “didn’t have a reason to be there” were sent back to where they were from…?
all the hotties from all over the world aspiring to be actress would be sent out…
this is sri lanka’s problem… and why there is the conflict…
after independance the sinhala’s said that the tamils had too many govt jobs…
solution?
punish all tamils and implement sinhala only…
then, they said there were too many tamils in the university
solution:
punish the tamils by making them score higher…
that’s why we need our own country…
where all will be equal: tamil, sinhala, muslim…
except if you’re in Tamil Eelam due to GoSL sponsored or aided colonization… those lands will be given back to the rightful tamils who were thrown off their lands..
I think you’re barking up the wrong palmyrah, Ducky.
“no matter what 99% of any race or group do, you can not “ban†the whole group…”
Where did I say that ANYONE should be banned? I said I understood the sentiments of the hoteliers, who are free to refuse business to anyone they please. Racial profiling is sadly a very real reaction to the behaviour of the few who then tar the many. Every time I travel to Europe I get singled out for special checks at the airport. I don’t waste my time jumping up and down crying “racist!” but quickly convince them that I’m not who they’re looking for. Similarly, instead of getting heavy with the hoteliers who are merely protecting their businesses, we should be getting up the nose of the authorities who allow hooliganism on a wide scale.
Oh, and how exactly am I racist, when I myself am Sri Lankan, you moron?
And trying to connect this to racism in LA or the Pettah evictions is the usual purile attempt to connect every online discussion from the price of milk powder to camouflaged thongs with the war.
“that’s why we need our own country…”
Why, because Sinhalese hooligans are banned from hotels Down South. Maybe you should call yourselves the Liberation Hooligans of Sinhala Down South (LSHDS).
Geez. I have to agree with Chiller on this one. Collective punishment is cowardly and evil and dumb.
Sure, but so’s hooliganism.
Where did this start – where has it ended!
Don’t take it too badly N. I believe that the casino in Monte-Carlo is also not open to locals. And considering who the locals are there, I’d say we’re in some fairly fancy company.
Indi, when you refer to your grandfather, you don’t mean Ainsley Samarajeeva, do you?
Well actually the ‘foreigners come and fuck our kids” comment was tongue in cheek, what I mean was because some come and fuck our kids doesn’t mean that all do (I think the comment most abuse in SL is by Sri Lankans is irrelevent btw, that would be true for all countries…but Sri Lanka is a known child sex destination).
actually in terms of spending more I remember seeing in LBO that Indian tourists are the highest spenders per capita in SL…most of the tourists who come are blue-collar middle aged couples who have saved for years to afford a holiday in a ‘exotic’ place and are pretty cheap. But of course that’s another discussion about the types of tourists that we should be targeting.
Personally I just have issues if some fool refuses me or provides me poor service because I’m Sri Lankan/brown…and tend to make that abundantly clear..
yup
First, your Mahinda national dress, that’s great….. LOL
Secondly, I think I’m in love with David Black….. Liberation Hooligans of Sinhala Down South…. LOL!
Actually, the comment about foreign paedos vs local ones is relevant here, because we Sri Lankans are so bloody tolerant of paedophelia. It’s practically institutionalised in our schools, where the younger boys are abused by the older ones, and eventually it spills over into adulthood, be it in the Army, where sexual abuse of recruits in training is rife, or in civilian life where we see daily headlines about fathers raping daughters and grandfathers fucking 7-year-old granddaughters. Foreign paedos are a drop in the bucket. So pointing the finger at foreign sex tourists is laughable.
And yeah, I too have issues about Sri Lankans being turned away from local hotels, just as I have issues about racial profiling at European airports. But I understand it — it’s a reaction to abuse of the system. Stop that abuse and the unfair reaction of the system will stop too.
Hmm, I’ve seen your grandfather go to work in trousers.