an american in sri lanka

"thambili is good for a hangover" said i, sagely, to evelyn.

evelyn's an american blogging pal of angelo and is on a visit to sri lanka to check out, i think, how the tsunami rehabilitation is going in our part of the world. angelo had suggested that she would be interested in what kind of work that was being done and so i took her down to kahawe to look at the company project there. it was one of those hot and muggy tropical days and we were sitting underneath some cinnamon trees overlooking the work site. evelyn was a wee bit bushed.

i asked her what she was doing in sri lanka and she said that she had been holidaying on a beach in thailand when the tsunami struck. she told me she wanted to see what had happened after the disaster.

" the wave was a little bit over the height of that sea wall" she said unimpressed by the new barriers that have come up on some sections of the galle road bordering the sea. i told her they were built by the u s marines.

a couple of trucks rumble by blowing clouds of red dust in our faces. "but", she asked, still puzzled, " what has happened to all the money?". trust the yanks to ask the tough questions. i hedge. i tell her about the camps, the roads built, the temporary bridges, electrification.

"yes, but what's the confusion about this 100 meter no build zone?". i discover that there is a limit to my patriotism.

a little later we go look at the infamous train. it sits sad and battered on some side tracks at the peraliya station. someone has pasted some election posters on it. other's, it seems, have a limit to decency. evelyn was silent.

check out evelyn's blog site link