Colombo Darling,
I address you as such because I intensely love you. Every time I think of you, I am reminded of my first visit to the City in 1984. I was there to attend an educational conference. I had stayed at the Hotel Taprobane facing the busy harbour. It was an old Hotel of the Colonial days of which you and I are quite familiar. The Waiters at the Hotel were serving us breakfast, lunch, dinner with the customary courtesy and promptness. They had bare body , with a Sarong and a clean white short towel on their shoulder. It was similar to my State Orissa, where in good old days in village Hotels, we used to be served food in similar fashion. You simply charmed me with your glittering Saphires, Rubies and Diamonds. In other Hotels your typical Dosha, unlike the crisp ones one eats in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, is very similar to Orissa’s Chakuli Pitha. Your Mulguttani Soup is just like our Kanji, and the ingredients used in both are the same. Your City is the Headquaters of the Worldview International Foundation, an international media organisation, of which I am a Vice-President. This means that I have a permanent bond developed between us. Gowrie, Tina, Lal, Mahiya and Mr. & Mrs. Faleel of WIF are more than my close relatives. With them I have shared my personal joys and sorrows as well as professional matters.
Your people are very well dressed , well behaved and love to be friendly with people from India. Your Airways and Indian Airlines are two sisters, one adding credits to the wings of the other. When you cross the seas to come to India, what is the name of the Ocean ? Again the symbol of a very strong aznd permanent bond to last for ever. Your University is a famous one and your Distance Education Centre is very similar to that of ours. The Market is customer friendly. Those who speak Sinhala, your dominant language, are the people who originally went to your land from Orissa and Bengal. And you remember that we had sent Sushree Sanghamitra, Ashoka’s daughter to preach Buddhism in your land. Another historical symbol of everlasting relationship. All around you are the important places - Kandy, Anuradhapura, Moratuwa, and the like. You have some of the best Hotels of the World, two of them are by Indian Business Houses - Lanka Oberoi, and Taj Samudra. Once I had stayed at Taj Samudra. Your Television Rupavahini is my favourite. I like the way in which Rupavahini telecasts the morning news in an informal style unlike the BBC. And your Community Radio, the Mahawali Community Radio is an envy of the Third World. In leather works, your craftsmen are as skilled as their counterparts in Tagore’s Santiniketan. I have to stop now, as it is lunch time. Today is our Republic Day. With our Republic Day Greetings to you, I remain,
Yours always,
BBMOHANTY