Sleeping rough outside the Dreamland Bar, Nippon Hotel, Slave Island
I walk around a lot, trying to get home. Along the way, I see a lot of homeless people. At the Rosmead Place petrol station there are at least six people every night. At Vihara Maha Devi Park, people essentially live and wash their clothes. When the city sleeps, people sleep on it, on the streets, behind boards, in lean-tos, under awnings, wrapped in burlap bags like sacks of potatoes.
Usually people just sleep on a bit of cardboard, or nothing. They cover themselves from head to toe with a sheet (as it were), so from a distance they look like bags of goods or something. The gentleman above, however, has actually erected a sorta lean-to in a vacant lot in Bambalapitiya. In lieu of a door there’s a bit of cardboard. And a bit of a raised bed. Like most homeless people I’ve seen, he doesn’t seem to stretch out. If I have nothing but a sarong that’s how I sleep, in the fetal position to protect from mosquitos and stuff.
You can’t really see, but there’s a man in this trishaw, his crutches below him. A trishaw is another place you can’t stretch out in. He’s sleeping in front of the best public restroom/aviary in Colombo. This is Slave Island.
These guys aren’t homeless but I just thought it was an exceedingly odd moment. It was literally the blind leading the blind. One guy with a white cane was leading another guy with a white cane. I think they were both blind. This is Slave Island.
Nice one Indi!
Shows a side of Colombo that most don’t see.. or ignore.
Enjoyed reading it.
good investigative article.