When we first came to dive at Kalpitiya, a couple of years ago, it was like love at first sight. Its not all about diving, but people, culture and slow life what we started to admire. Day to day life of most are closely connected to church in a good way. Life was slow.
Then I knew this is going to be an annual ritualistic visit. Since we wanted to connect more with the people, I suggested Niro and Devana about my plans to host a party after diving. They accepted my plan but none of us knew the scale or the format.
First thing first! I packed all my gear and headed to Kalpitiya in a bus which was a very hectic one. Especially with all my gear, it wasn't a good choice. When I reached my beach hut I was hungry and exhausted.
Without further wasting of time, I wanted to start diving next day. Shanaka who is the owner of our diving station welcomed me as always and made all the necessary arrangements. This time I was introduced to two young guys Ashen and Hasitha who are trainee dive masters to help with my plan. They had seen my underwater photos but never seen me in person. Actually Hasitha too was an underwater photographer with some history of working for media companies.
As I faced bad luck in east in last expedition, this time too sea conditions were not in my favor. Though I had a lot of plans to shoot underwater, it ended up being a challenge that tried my endurance. Once we were drifted with the current about 1.2 km. Luckily we had deployed a surface marker so the experienced boatman could track our path. Each dive we conducted in challenging conditions add more confidence to our portfolio of experiences.
Though murky and rough water doesn't give much chance to do wide angel photography, it leaves little chance to capitalize if you are creative in macro. Against all odds I managed to shoot one long awaited abstract shot of a soft coral.
One night, Shanaka invited me to his home for dinner. This was unexpected. It was very joyful catchup with his crew. Shanaka's wife was a great cook and great host. Party was full of seafood delicacies which will cost you a fortune in Colombo. What I enjoyed most was the connection they have with crew members. Shanaka and his wife were treating crew just like their own siblings. There were few young Muslim boys from same neighborhood who operates dolphin watching boats. (some of them wanted to keep our mobile phones camera's away while they have a drink!) As I learned, party in Kalpitiya was never complete without a session of Karaoke after drinks. In fact, before finishing the party we all started to sing a blend of Jothipala to Clarance and few Tamil songs. I thanked for everything and invited them all for our beach party planned to host in couple days.
Last day of diving, as we were back on shore and cleaned the gear, Niro's van appeared with full stack of sound equipment those he use in DJ parities and clubs in Colombo. I was sure, none of our invitees would have expected professions music of this level. Following day we drew to nearest town which is Kalpitiya to buy the needful: Some liquor and food for the party. Also bought more fish from a local fisherman and arranged them to be prepared through Ramesh who is the manager of the beach hut. He actually arranged a very motherly local lady to cook them in the evening.
By the evening, we felt bit nervous since we didn't know how we arrange and proceed. Most of all, we didn't know how this neighborhood would react. Anyway, Ramesh seems to be waiting to see how we go with this. After waiting a while we decided to start whatever the consequences could be. Then came the fun; people around us were in jaw dropping state when see state-of-art music equipment we unload and connect. It was like, OMG, this bestarred seems to have meant a real party!
Then we started the music and it was "The Party" we could ever imagined! Ramesh asked if we mind if some guests join us and we said No Problem. Then it was going in full swing. Apart from us, diving team there were some locals and also a team of kite surfers from Spain on the beach dancing to one and only Niro's DJ music. We realized Shanaka was not only a diving instructor but a great singer while he sang a couple of songs. In fact, he has been in a band when he was young. Everything was going in great rhythm. I danced like no one is looking! I imagined of this party, the very first time I came to Kalpitiya.
Following day we left Kalpitiya just like a group of celebrities leaving a town after a successful show!
