Life is like this in Sri Lanka

I am posting more pictures of my trip to Sri Lanka as promised. Enjoy!

The Red Mosque, Pettah, Colombo.

One of the entrances to the Red Mosque.

A petrol station in Colombo.

The homeless in Colombo.

Sri Lanka is a paradise for those who love gems.

I love the strong aura of the past in this part of Colombo. See pictures below.

I was curious about the Malays in Sri Lanka. Click here.

A market on Malay Street.

A Sri Lankan Malay with his son.

You can find nice cotton materials in Colombo.

Historic buildings, such as this one, will appeal to those who study the past.

Young women in uniform. I don't know if they are policewomen.

A kiosk that sells lottery tickets.

A tea plantation in Nuwara Eliya. Click here for more on the tea industry.

Tea and cake. It was the perfect ending to the perfect stay in Nuwara Eliya.

Comments

In the waiting room

People are always waiting for something. They could be waiting for the train, an opportunity, promises to be fulfilled or the return of a loved one. But "what does waiting mean in our lives and what is life without waiting?" That question was posed by Danny Castillones Sillada in his article "What is Life without Waiting?" (The Metaphysics of Waiting). The passing of the old year demands another round of gloomy introspection and Sillada's article came at the right time, given the value of waiting in our lives. "Waiting," he explains, is "an emotional and mental state, which is preconditioned to anticipate someone or something to arrive at a particular time and place". Sillada tells us that there are two types of waiting: empirical and metaphysical. The empirical form of waiting is "where the certainty of the waited and the occurrence of event are tangibly expected to happen within a particular time and place of the waite...

Earning your second chance

People rarely get second chances. When we make a serious mistake we seldom get an opportunity for a do-over. Those we have hurt will remember our transgressions for a long time. Maybe forever. Published accounts remind us of the agony of former prisoners and rehabilitated drug addicts who are denied jobs, housing and other services on account of past convictions. They want desperately to clear their records of past crimes however minor these might seem. They want to take a path towards a new start that will help them improve their circumstances. Quite simply, they need a second chance. They want to have a shot at a normal life. But there are conditions attached to the privilege of being bestowed a second chance. Offenders must take full responsibility for their actions and honestly regret what they have done. Islam's concept of taubat (repentance) states that wrongdoers must demonstrate sincere remorse, sorrow and guilt, promise not to repeat their mistakes and do g...

Eat your meal before the fast

A simple sahur meal of cereal, dates and water. Picture by Jehan Mohd. Non-Muslims often bombard me with this question: how can you eat so early in the morning? They are referring to sahur , the pre-dawn meal practising Muslims take before the fast during Ramadan. That is an easy one. Actually, I have no problem consuming food at that time. The tough part is getting up at 5am or earlier for the sahur meal. That's why in previous years I have always eaten this meal at around 1am and turn in half an hour later. I have changed the routine this year and sahur is now at 5am. I struggled on the first day; getting up at 6am is bad enough. It takes a lot of willpower and discipline to drag myself out of bed at 5am, head straight to the kitchen and fix the very early breakfast. But as Zafar Nomani aptly puts it: "To follow the spirit of Ramadan and other fasting traditions, discipline, control and behavioural change are critical." The reason for making the swi...

a fleeting stay ...

Search This Blog