2025: AI is like teen sex

In early September 2025, I returned to Perth and ended up staying in the same place where I had stayed before. Interestingly, Fred was still there. He seemed alright but didn't have a job, which was bit concerning. I noticed that he had become somewhat addicted to TV dramas, probably because he had nothing to do during the day. As we used to, we had lengthy conversations about geopolitical issues, the future of mankind, and all sorts of other topics. Anyway, he was planning to return to Brazil and spend some time with his family, which I felt was the best thing for him at that time.

This was the time when artificial intelligence was rapidly propagating and had become a buzzword in high-tech conversations among techies, and also a term people used to show off their futuristic knowledge. It reminded me of a funny conversation I had long ago with Gareth Visser, one of my clients and also a friend.

Back in days, I was reporting to Gareth, who was the project manager for a large travel company in Sydney, where I worked for the technical consulting team for their CRM implementation. That was also the time when everybody had started talking about Big Data. Even though the actual technical ecosystem was still poor, the company kept talking about Big Data and all sorts of trendy technologies.

One day, Gareth was heading to a “Big Data” meeting. I told him, “Big Data is like teenage sex!” When he asked me why, I replied, “It’s just like teenage sex because nobody wants to admit they don’t know it, since they think others do.”

We also visited Vain, who was living in a different place with his family. His health condition (cancer) wasn’t showing any signs of healing, but Vain was facing the ordeal bravely with the support of his family. I learned that Fred was giving him a great deal of moral support, particularly through his own religious practices, such as praying together.

For a change, we had a flatmate with a completely different character: a young Malaysian guy studying to become a veterinary nurse. He was a former weightlifting champion and a snake enthusiast whose pet back home in Malaysia was a king cobra!

As usual, I visited Prasanna’s place and spent a pleasant evening with drinks, dinner, and many nostalgic memories.

By that time, I received the news that two of my photographs had been selected for the final round of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in Sri Lanka. They were exhibited at a gallery in Colombo. One of the photographs was the bait ball I captured near the Cargo Wreck off the coast of Colombo, which remains one of the best wide-angle photographs I have ever had the pleasure of capturing.

Although neither of the photographs won a title, they clearly attracted the attention of viewers. Many people contacted me through social media, and among them was Dr. Vinod, who won a prestigious BBC award the previous year. Although he wasn’t an underwater photographer, he was planning to experiment with split-level photography in shallow water and wanted to discuss it with me.

I also had the chance to meet Kuldeep at his new place, located a bit far from Joondalup, where we had a quick drink of Grant’s, our common favorite. After participating in the 20th anniversary party of my company, I flew back to Sri Lanka in early November to attend the alms-giving ceremony organized for the first death anniversary of my father-in-law.

Back in Sri Lanka - Ditwah gonna change plans

Before long, I started seeing some alarming weather predictions that were being discussed among members of the diving club, who naturally checked the weather frequently. It sounded serious, and the rest was history.

Cyclone Ditwah was extremely unkind to Sri Lanka. The impact on the mountainous regions and the areas surrounding reservoirs and other water sources was unimaginably massive and devastating. Some villages vanished from the map forever. The economic impact was said to be four times greater than that of the 2006 tsunami.

This made our plans for “good times back in Sri Lanka” seem like a distant dream. I organized some local-level assistance for the affected people. Given my history with leptospirosis, I reluctantly refrained from volunteering in the actual disaster zones. I still don’t feel good about it.

We had already planned a family visit to Dubai in December. Although Cyclone Ditwah had changed our mood for fun, we had to proceed since everything, including the flights, had already been booked.

It turned out to be a good family trip. To be honest, I wasn’t in the best health condition throughout the journey, but it wasn’t a major obstacle to the fun the girls were looking forward to having. My friend Aminda — the twin brother of Ulinda, who has been mentioned many times in my posts — lives in Dubai and spent an entire day showing us the attractions and other highlights of the city.

Dubai is very much an icon of modern development, full of modern amenities, skyscrapers, and enormous shopping malls. For some reason, though, I felt it was a bit noisy and perhaps a little too fast-moving. What I liked most was the historical district, which beautifully reflected traditional Arabic life.

On the 31st of December, we attended an interesting wedding held on Tangalle Beach. Hasith, a young diver I met in Kalpitiya, got married to his Polish girlfriend, Ewelina. It was an interesting wedding, particularly because of the Polish crowd who had come down to Sri Lanka and turned it into the king of all parties. It was truly a mix of cultures.

Most of the Polish guests didn’t even know English, and there was no common language to communicate in except alcohol and dance, which somehow minimized the gap between everyone.

Quick outing to Galgamuwa (ගල්ගමුව)

For some reason, even after Cyclone Ditwah, we were not in a good mood. I couldn’t believe we didn’t do much hiking or outdoor activities, apart from one quick trip to Galgamuwa.

Our main intention for the Galgamuwa trip was to see the large herds of elephants in that area, but it didn’t work out, as the rainy weather was not helpful. However, this gave us the opportunity to visit two lesser-known historical sites instead: Hachchikuttiya (හච්චිකුට්ටිය) and Arankale (අරං කැලේ).  Both were exceptionally good sites.

This time, Ulinda also joined our group, which was great. Overall, it was a very relaxing, short outing that we used as a mood fixer.

Some more catchups

There were a couple of catch-ups at my home. Apart from my friends, we hosted a couple of dinners for Sunil Mama and Mala Punchi, who were back in Sri Lanka on vacation. Ananda Mama and Champa Punchi also joined the dinner, which made it special.

Sadly, I couldn’t take them on any serious trips, except for a day trip to Beruwala to visit my mother’s relatives. That definitely gave Punchi and Amma a nostalgic time.

I also had the privilege of participating in the starting ceremony of a movie produced by Asitha. This time, he had chosen one of the best directors in the country, Jayantha Chandrasiri. I was very happy about this selection, as the previous movie was focused mainly on younger audience, and I didn’t see much artistic value in it.

Interestingly, one of our school classmates had been selected as the lead actor, Buddhika Jayaratne. I have high hopes for this production. Aruna Shantha was also present at the ceremony, as he too had come back to Sri Lanka for a short visit.

Aruna Padmal made a quick visit to Sri Lanka, and I made it a point to catch up with him and have a lengthy chat about life in Australia and what to plan next, among other things. He was a very close friend with whom I shared many good and bad times back in Sydney.

Most of all, Aruna is like an open book and is always ready to conquer something new. Talking to him always made me feel excited and thrilled. There was no judging, and we both shared the same crazy ideas—some of which we dont even agreed upon.

Returning to Colombo Shipwrecks after two years

Same laziness spread out to my diving as well. Though I dived Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa, my usual dive spots, there wasn't anything special. Had to cancel the annual Kalpitiya diving trip since I didn't have much funds, time or mostly right mindset.

By the end of the season, I managed to explore some of the shipwrecks in Colombo, and they did not disappoint me. I even dived at the Thermopylae Sierra after a couple of years. It wasn’t actually my choice; due to a lack of fuel (by this time, the US–Iran war had started and fuel was becoming a problem), the boatmen were not keen to go far for deeper wrecks.

What thrilled me most was diving the Cargo Wreck again and diving the Salviva wreck for the first time. It was a comparatively small wreck and full of lionfish. I had never seen so many lionfish in one place before.

Back to Australia

Given that the project I had been working on for the past three years had officially ended, I faced a period of uncertainty, and I knew I needed to return to head office to engage with leadership and understand what assignments lay ahead for me.

Before heading back, I had a small catch-up with Dara, where we discussed the usual social and political matters. We also reflected on the life and tragic circumstances of our comrade Premapala Hewabatage, an activist who passed away a few years ago.

Though we talked about him and his life in great deal, this time Dara mentioned a couple of thinks that Shaked me.

One is after the death of comrade Premapala, his wife had called Dara and asked him to come and take the massive collection of books about Politics, Philosophy etc. She had claimed Dara is the only person she could think of who would value them. More than anything, she gets really angered to look at those books which costs them all.

අයියා මැරුනට පස්සෙ මේ පොත් වලින් වැඩක් නැ. මල්ලි මේවා අරං යන්න මොකද මල්ලි විතරයි මං දන්නෙ මේ පොත් කියවන කෙනෙකුට. ඇනික මට මේ පොත් දැක්කම කේන්ති යනවා. 

These books were the only fortune of Premapala Aiya.

Just before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year of 2026, I was on a Malaysia Airlines flight heading to Australia via Kuala Lumpur, knowing that I would be spending most of the winter there. 

Once apon a time in Hikka

When going through nostalgic memories, Hikka (or Hikkaduwa / හික්කඩුව) is a memorable stop even today. All beings in Hikka! If you are an ocean lover, beach nerd, or a diver, Hikka would have been your go-to place at one stage of your life. It's the same for me. When I was at university, together with Kusum, I jumped onto a Galle intercity bus and went to Hikka for snorkeling, which instantly infected us with the enthusiasm to explore more. As I remember, at first we hired some masks and snorkels from Sunil Aiya and just jumped into the ocean and started swimming here and there. Then we heard Sunil Aiya yelling from afar, "What are you guys doing? The reef is on the other side!"

"ඔය කොහෙ පීනනවද.. කොරල් පරේ ආං අහරෙ.."

Then we went in that direction and dipped into the water. Once we came up, we couldn't believe our eyes: could the underwater world be this beautiful? That was a moment of serendipity for us! We both knew we had just been infected by a virus that was going to stay with us forever. It was not just the ocean, but also the uniqueness of the surroundings, the easy-going beach dwellers, and the local culture that impressed our young minds. So we started coming more frequently, and we both knew it was not enough—we wanted to dive and see the beauties of much deeper waters.

This should have been the late nineties: the war was still on, and there were not many tourists. The coral reefs were very much alive, and fish were everywhere.

Diving for the first time

As soon as we started earning, Roshan, Devana, and I came to Hikka for our first diving certification. At that time, diving was not popular among locals at all. The idea of three dudes jumping off a bus, walking into a diving station, and saying, "We want to do the course," was kind of unheard of. We may have been looked like three idiots, but we soon settled into the community very well. We enjoyed the beach culture and everything that was going on there.

Diving was added to our lifestyle. Later on, Roshan bought a classis Mitsubishi jeep (4DR5), and coming in the jeep added even more fun to the experience. We used to stop at Sinharaja Hotel at Aluth Gama (i.e. අලුත් ගම) for breakfast. If not, we would go to a small café near Hikka town for a quick brekky, where the cashier was a pretty girl whom we called J.Lo. Actually, she had something of Jennifer Lopez about her. Our lunch was usually at Jadi Kade (ජාඩි කඩේ), which was later destroyed by the tsunami.

Kalu, or Kalu Aiya (කලු අයියා!), was the owner of the diving center called Blue Deep, where we started our diver training. Another remarkable person was Menaka, a dive master (now Instructor) who conducted most of the diving operations. At that time, Sri Lanka did not have many diving instructors, so European instructors would come for the season, have a great time, and sign off on certifications.

I can remember the Finnish diving instructor Eric, who was our instructor for the PADI Open Water course. He was a very handsome guy, as I can still remember.

I still do at least a couple of dives in Hikka each season, reliving all my memories. Sadly, the Hikka reef is not as rich as it used to be. As a photographer, I hardly find anything interesting nowadays, but my Hikka trips are actually dedicated to something emotional—a connection to our good old diving days. Nowadays, you can dive in Hikka in the morning and be home for evening tea, thanks to the Southern Highway.

One sad memory is the untimely death of Nalaka, who was another youthful dive master. He had tried kitesurfing on the beach with an unsuitable belt (correct harness allow you to be released in case of emergency, but this is not) attached, which was the fatal mistake he made. A sudden gale threw him toward a concrete pillar by the beach, causing his sudden death.

We went to his house to pay our last respects, and it felt like a sudden realization of reality beneath the nonstop party mode that usually defines the southern beach towns.

Eventful Rescue Diver training

It was only a few days before my wedding, and I decided to complete my rescue diving certification. I was in a hurry since I knew it could take a long time to return to my diving life after getting married. So Dive Instructor Lakshman Muthukuda, Muthukuda Master, as he is called, was arranged to conduct the training.

What I learned from Muthukuda Master was discipline more than anything. He started training early in the morning and was there sharp at the agreed time.

Mr. Muthukuda was a mature and experienced diving instructor (one of the few in the country at that time), who had also done commercial diving in the Middle East, as I heard.

An interesting fact about him was the way he first tried diving. He was working for the police at that time. He had seen Arthur C. Clarke and a few other divers setting up to dive in Galle, and he, along with others, curiously joined the crowd to see what was going on. As this was considered a nuisance by the divers, they chased the crowd away.

Young Muthukuda was agitated and went away, but later returned in his uniform to inform them that he was going to take legal action against whatever they were doing there. Then Arthur C. Clarke’s team realized this was going to be a problem and asked him what he needed in order not to proceed.

Without hesitation, he said he wanted to try what they were doing using their diving gear. The rest is history—he ended up as one of the pioneering PADI dive instructors in the country.

After realizing his experience and his willingness to share it with young people, we arranged for him to conduct an AWARE Program at the University of Colombo. He was very pleased with the opportunity. Sometime later, he even authored a book in Sinhala on the introduction to diving, and Professor Nihal Dayawansha, who was a close friend of mine, ended up writing the preface.

He always stayed in touch with me. He actually passed away a couple of years ago.  

My rescue diver training had more amusing memories. Given that Muthukuda Master started the training early in the morning, I didn’t have time to travel from Colombo. So I stayed in a cheap hotel in Hikkaduwa called Blue Fin Hotel. The rooms were very dark and basic. Unless you used the mosquito net provided, a cloud of mosquitoes would suck your blood to death. The owning family of the hotel lived in an adjacent section of the old-looking house, part of which had been converted into the hotel.

I was actually a bit sick during the course, but I didn’t want to give up since I was quite adamant at that time. Ironically, the rescue course consists of all the safety measures of diving, including identifying when not to dive—such as when you are not well!

One night, the guys from the diving station invited me to a cocktail party held in one of the bungalows at Narigama (නාරිගම), a nearby town. It was owned by another guy we knew, Sugath, who lived mostly in Switzerland since he was married to a Swiss lady. It was a remarkably beautiful mansion. It was a good party, and I was careful not to drink too much since I was not well and also needed to dive early the next morning.

When I came back just after midnight, the gate of the Blue Fin Hotel was closed. Then I recalled the house rules: the gates would be closed at 11 p.m., and no one was allowed to leave or enter afterwards. I was wondering what options I had at that point.

Another guest of the hotel appeared from the dark road, and I could recognize him as the French guy I had met at the hotel in the morning. He was a rather unorthodox guest who always wore a sarong—only a sarong. He had returned from somewhere after having a joint with locals. You could say he was hardly in this world.

Whatever the case, we both had the same problem. We made a plan: one of us would hold the gate while the other climbed the tall grill gate carefully and jumped inside. As agreed, I held the gate while he climbed first. He successfully landed on the other side.

Now it was my turn. I climbed carefully, and when I was coming down on the other side, I jumped from halfway but landed on the poor Frenchman’s feet. He was shocked and screamed in agony. Then the hotel family woke up and was very angry and unhappy with both of us. We both went to our respective rooms like kids sneaking back into naughty corners.

Trinco - a new beginning! 

As the war ended, new avenues opened for divers to explore the east. No infrastructure was ready at the time. In 2010, I went to Trinco with Devana by bus and met Menaka, who was operating diving with Poseidon. Not many hotels were available; a very basic hotel called Shahira was the place we stayed.

Apart from us, there was a Russian photographer and a young girl from Switzerland—the only other divers present. I also remember seeing one of the most remarkable sunrises on the beach near Irrakkandy (ඉරක්කන්ඩි). 

Many years later, I did another certification under Menaka, who had earned instructor status by then. It was in Trincomalee. Even at that time, I guess around 2015, Trincomalee did not have much infrastructure for tourists, so Devana and I stayed in a nice little bungalow owned by a local doctor.

While we were changing in the bungalow, Menaka walked to the nearby lagoon, caught a fish, and gave it to the caretaker, who prepared amazing meals for the next couple of days.

We needed to use enriched air (increased oxygen concentration) for the training. Since those facilities were not available locally, they were sent from Hikkaduwa day before by passenger bus as special cargo.

Nostalgia!

Kalu is now old. He never married. Actually, now I dive with Kalu's nephew. Kalu just sits at the center, directing and advising. Some of the guys I dive with today were not even born when we first visited Hikka in our youth.

Menaka is still active. He became an award-winning underwater cameraman and moved ahead in life in a different direction after marrying his Japanese girlfriend. They have two daughters and live in Japan.

Menaka comes for the season in the east and mostly operates a couple of whale-watching boats, along with some diving activities. He is also very experienced in whales in the field. I had the opportunity to dive with Menaka as recently as the 2025 Trinco season. It is amazing to see him with the same youthful spirit and physique. Not only that he still participates Kandy Perahera as he used to be.

Whenever I dive with Menaka, I always learn a couple of new photography tips from him.

All these nostalgic memories came to my mind recently after I watched a very nice movie called Ayu that shows beach life, its vibrance, and also its hidden tragedy. This took me back to the people I met on the beach in my youth and how their lives changed over time. It also made me reflect on how our own lives have changed.

From the three “idiots” who initially went to Hikka as joyful youngsters, Roshan is now living in New Zealand. Apart from his day job, he does hiking and street photography. In Summery he volunteers to train snorkelers. I have returned to the country after a long stay in Australia. We both are family men and, of course, become more responsible people. Devana is more interested in wildlife, history, and indigenous medicine. He help Dept. of Wildlife to train their new rangers. He lives a very simple life. Although Devana does not dive much anymore, still he helps my underwater photography activities more frequently.

People we met in the early days of this journey are now old. Some are gone forever. We don’t know the whereabouts of most others—maybe Je Lo is now a mature woman with children who do not know that three guys from Colombo once admired her beauty many decades ago.

I keep on returning to Hikka and ocean reminds me of past..

In a way, it allows me ponder about life.. How everything change..

Ocean before me remains same... like a wise old man who knows the deepest secrets of life!

Expedition to unchartered terrain

Though I wasn't actively involved in the research, others had been kept on studying the whereabouts and feasibility of reaching another lesser known historical site, hidden within the vast jungle of Kumana (කුමන). Its called Vihara Gal Kanda OR Weheragala Kanda (i.e. විහාර ගල් කන්ද / වෙහෙරගල කන්ද). We were not even sure if these two names are for the same place or if there are two sites. As we heard there are no motorable road to reach this. Also we couldn't find anyone who been to the place, but few clues about its location.

Nihal Fernando had mentioned about this in one of his books and that had ignited the interest within our gang to explore the site. Ven. Ellawala Medhananda thero (එල්ලාවල මේධානන්ද හිමි) said to have had knowledge about this too. Only credible recent record was from Takashi, who is a Japanese archeologist conducted a lot of explorations about ruins of Sri Lanka. He too had reported he visited the place. Niro, Channa and Devana had started their research only with these handful of misty details.

A few years ago our guys (I wasn't in the country, hence couldn't join) managed to reach Thalaguruhela (i.e. තලගුරුහෙල) in the same way with a team of Wildlife officers, which was a success. It had been reported as one of the hardest to reach, that disappointed many well-prepared and well-equipped explorers for decades. 

Anyway, there is no much chance civilians would penetrate the area of Vihara Gal Kanda area since it  is within a national park. In other hand, we cannot rely on illegal hunters who would know the area since its national park. Taking them to guide us could be asking for unwanted trouble. 

When I attended first few discussions to summaries the information gathered by each other and especially the thorough location studies done by Niro based on latest maps and stellate images, it was evident we knew next to nothing about the site. Importantly, Channa and Niro had found one individual who claimed to have gone to the location recently. When ever we try to agree on something it got further complex. Our analysis showed Nihal Fernando's details are not exactly matching with Takashi's location details. Are we talking about two places or one?

Anyway, our enthusiasm pushed us to organize the expedition with all these doubts because there were no other source that would give us a better picture. Though we informed about our expedition to few officers of Department of Wildlife (though not formally!) we didn't inform Forest Department since we were pretty sure getting permissions could be a nightmare. 

As planned, route was going inline with famous Kebiliththe (කැබිලිත්ත) road, then had to divert and start penetrating through the forest at least 8 kms just using direction compose and GPS. Until starting point of the terrain we had to use a tractor from Kotiyagala (කොටියාගල) which is the nearest village where we can prepare ourselves. No other 4WD vehicle will match a tractor in this terrain. 

Using our contacts, we managed to arrange a tractor from Kotiyagala. We decided our points of drop off and pick up in three days. Guy who owns the tractor and also going to drop/ pick us was called Upali, a family man from Kotiyagala, also agreed to allow us using his home to spend the previous night.   

Apart from obstacles we were getting ready to face, I personally had a health issue. Given the weather in Colombo wasn't the best at the time, my feet had serious cracks. When I say serious they were ok to deal with day to day city life, but definitely not for a challenging hike in unchartered terrain. So even before staring the hike I was on antibiotics!

We reached Upali's home by night. Upali was a very pleasant man. So is his wife who was more than helpful with everything she could. After some dinner we started to discuss the plan. Particularly the route was explained to Upali.. where to drop and where to pick up. Our plan was to leave Kotiyagala before sunrise. This will allow us more day time for the expedition before getting dark.

We started the journey early morning. Upali was joined by another young guy called Sandaruwan. First stretch was on a motorable road and sitting on the tailor of the tractor wasn't that bad. Once we entered the rough terrain of the real jungle, it made us realize how difficult to just sit on the tailor of the tractor. In no time, our hips started to pain, due to the jerk. We always had to bend our heads to protect us from thorny branches came on our way, when tractor sneaking through the bush like a noisy monster. 

On the way, there were few wild elephants who were looking at us curiously and ran due to the noise of the tractor engine when go closer. Anyway, this route is not someone would usually go. Given Kabiliththe season was just beginning, no paths nor land marks were clearly visible. At last we ended up going towards a heard of water buffaloes who were been kept for grassing by few cattlemen. Though it is illegal, this has been practiced by cattle owners. They build a temporary shelter and live close to where there cattle is grassing and spending night. One of the cattlemen volunteered to come with us until we are directed to the correct path which was a great help at the time.

On the way we stopped and had the parceled lunch made by Upali's wife. Further we go into the jungle it got thicker. With my limited experience with Kumana National park, I was under the impression we would go through a lot of bushy plains. Thick jungles were also accompanied by stream where tractor had to use all its power to penetrate through. Anyway, at last tractor got stuck in the mud of one of the gorges, called Veli aara (වැලි ආර). Though Uapli and his helper used their own kind of technique to drag out the tractor from the mud, it was evident that we gonna face same again and again. Reluctantly, we decided to start the hike from there, adding more Kms to the hike. After wishing us a safe expedition Upali and his assistant left in the tractor. Now it almost noon and we all are already exhausted. Mammoth task is still to be begun!

I was more concerned about the hike given the terrain is so thick. We should be careful with wild animals in this kind of surrounding since we cannot see far and not easy to run in case of sudden encounter. We didn't have a gun. To be honest, I knew I am not even in my fittest-self.

Anyway, we started hiking through the jungle. We all had to carry a lot. Apart from all our belongings, food and camping equipment, each had to carry at least 5 liters of water. Devana was leading from the front since his instincts are good and Niro frequently checked the GPS and corrected the direction. Biggest hurdle was, we couldn't proceed in the direction we wanted to, since jungle was so thick and thorny, or else is obstructed by a boulder. In some point we came to a small plain with a couple of water holes in near vicinity. While we rest there I told Niro to save the coordinates of the place, if we fail to reach our destination this is a place to stay the night: a plan B. 

After hiking further without much progress, both Channa and Devana too agreed with me of my Plan B. We are not going to make it! We should divert to the little plain and prepare for the night stay. 

A couple of hours before sunset we reached the plain and arranged firewood and had a bath with not so appealing water from one of the water holes. A couple of  bonfires were protecting us but we all decided to stay in alert. Then we were set to spend one of the darkest and nervous nights in the wild. Niro was bit disappointed since we couldn't reach the point he was aiming to. Even in the late night he was studying the map with a light of the torch. We were in tense but night was peaceful.

By the morning, freshly, we all started to discuss our options. Niro was convinced we should penetrate the thick forest and reach our original target which is Vihara Gal Kanda, but none of us felt its feasible. Going ten twenty kilometers in known plain terrain is a different story. Our analysis showed, to go 1 km we may have gone more than 2 - 3 kms in different directions due to obstacles. Even if we make an attempt, it could make further delays and will not be able to meet Upali coming in the tractor to pick us. At last we had to give up the original objective. 

Given we dont have ambitious goal anymore, we now have more room to roam around and see the jungle. After some breakfast we started to walk towards another gorge call Alakola aara (අලකොල ආර). This actually a tribute of Kumbukkan Oya. This was a much peaceful and stress-free hike. Jungle was beautiful and most of all, we were in a position to appreciate it. On the way, we stopped in one place to prepare Tea and also light lunch of Rotti. Alakola aara had been half dried. Bank was wide and specious. 

After spending some time enjoying the beautiful surrounding, we realized sandy floor is the best place to spend that night. For that we should make sure we have bonfires to stop wild animals. Obviously, wild animals could come in search of water. We already saw fresh steps of bears and elephants nearby. In fact, we used one of the special water holes (called Poo wala, i.e පූ වල) made by elephants to fetch water draining below the surface. I can remember we depended on water of poo wala even before in many dry zone hikes including Nuwaragala hike. Once you start carefully digging the poo wala, it starts to pour clean water where you have to collect for drinking and cooking purposes. Later on, it will be filled with water, but not that clean, to be used for bathing and cleaning. Given, water we carried was already finished, this was the only available option.

It was a relatively comfortable night. We collected enough firewood and managed to have three bonfires in three directions those are exposed to wild animals. Though its not ideal for a great camping experience, we hang a powerful battery operated light from a branch above us so we can see any approaching wild animals. So we spent time talking about literature history and what not, as usual. 

After we went to sleep, by around 1.30 am, we heard some human voices and got up to realize we were actually surrounded by armed officers of forest department. They seemed angry as well as surprised of our appearance. Our camp setting would show them we are well prepared campers. Our cool attitude and respectful talking would have implied we are not here for any illegal activity. Staying here without any firearm may have surprised with the quest either we are very brave or very stupid. Anyway, we are in a tertiary under their legal protection without a permit.

We accepted our wrong doing but explained that we (except me) are actually advisors for department of wildlife in many ways and we are not just random hikers barge into a jungle. After talking a bit they were convinced we are not here with any hidden agenda. Niro also showed our maps and GPS locations etc. to prove that our intention was to reach a lesser known archeological site. Anyway, they said they are here to check for illegal poachers since some villagers had complained them about a gun shot they heard while ago. In fact we too heard that from a far. They went deeper into the forest for their mission leaving us.

One guy even showed his surprise that we came without any weapon.

මෙහෙමත් එනවද මේ වගේ ගමං ආයුධයක් වත් නැතුව..

Given we are awake in middle of the night, we had another round of tea before going back to sleep. This time we slept until the sunrise.

Following day, we reached the location that Upli's tractor going to pickup as planned. They had already come. We were very pleased with their professionalism. They had also brought some lunch for us to enjoy on the way. Then we started the hip breaking journey back on the tractor trailer. We were tired but relaxed to be back without major injury or incident considering the scale of risk we took in this mission. Niro wasn't very convinced with the fact we couldn't reach the site given navigation is usually his main task in this kind of expeditions. Seems he takes it personally. Anyway, this is the reality of work we do with nature. 

We reached Upali's place by afternoon. After a wash and tea we started drive back to Colombo. We thanked Upli and his wife for their support which is invaluable. They are in deed some of the nicest people we ever met in this kind of journey. They showed true hospitality of a traditional Sri Lankan villager which is sadly vanishing with commoditization. They are not wealthy but their simple life had taught how to live everyday happily. We all agreed that we should return to their warm home one day.

It was already dark when we entered the highway from Mattale interchange. Both Niro and Devana was exhausted and not sure how they will manage to drive back to Colombo. Once, Devana stopped the van aside the highway just to refresh himself. I never seen that and I found it as a signal he is not fit to drive with this level of exhaustion. Given everybody was more or less sleeping I tried my best to talk by the side of the driver to keep him awake. Luckily we got our consciousness back after fueling with dosage of caffeine through Espresso from a coffee shop at rest area. I was amazed with the magic caffeine can do! We all were back with life. 

We lightly talked about the hike and what went wrong in few occasions afterwards. Like modern day air crash, its due to multiple small errors. Assumption about the nature of the terrain seems to be the biggest obstacle among many. 

Starting from Kotiyagala: we lost some valuable time because we lost the direction at the beginning. Then tractor got stuck in mud leaving us no option but to add extra few miles to already ambitious plan of the day one. Anyway, even all goes well, three days is too ambitious for the mission. What ever it is it tried out resilience and endurance, given all of us are pretty old blokes with Channa turned sixty same year!

Story just don't finishes there.. While we are back in home, it started to feel the outcome of tick bites. Leeches in wet zone are saints with compared with dry zone ticks. It started itchiness and then started the pain. Patches started to appear in places. Pain and itchiness could come in different parts of the body day by day. It lasted for more than a month. Nor ointment could cure them. I could count 38 such places with tick bites - as a souvenir for the memorable expedition in Kumana!

Back to the cold waters

I wasn't pleased with the fact, Nipuna didn't return my precious books even after few reminders. I was about to explode. One of the books was actually a copy signed by its author, none other than Dr. Craig Challen whom I met at Maritime Museum of Western Australia. 

Then one fine day Nipuna's truck, usually go for his commercial diving jobs, parked in front of my home. He not just returned my books, but lent me two more books, which were on the favorite subject we both shared: Tham Luang cave rescue. They were the books written by two British Cave divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, those who played the most crucial role in rescue operation. I was angry with Nipuna, but now I am more than thankful!

I packed both books in my hand luggage so that I can read them back in Australia during my next stay. It was great to land in Perth in mid of the Summer 2025. Sunny days means I am happy. It was exceptionally hot, but that's what I really enjoy than cold gloomy days. 

By the meantime Dharshana Jayawardena sent a message offering me to become an Administrator of the Facebook group: Sri Lankan Underwater Photographers and Videographers, which I accepted willingly. Who else would do that job better than me! 

Back to the cold waters

Given it was the middle of the summer, diving Rottnest Island seems to be the right choice for weekends though I didn't have any plans. Reason for not planning any diving was the bad experience I had last time. Anyway, giving up things is not in my vocabulary! I was careful enough not to hire gear from Perth Ocean Diving who gave me malfunctioning BCD that put me into a danger. I know its not Ian's fault but I didn't like the fact he took the incident very lightly. We still connect in social media and comment on each others photos.

Eventually I contacted a new dive team called Bucket List Diver. They were a small business, smaller team and equipment seemed reliable. I enjoyed diving in much relaxed atmosphere, than in massive boat Blue Destiny: Mcdonald's in diving world!

Australians usually do sports and hobbies by heart. When I first join the crew at Fremantle, boat was in the marina, divers reversing trucks full of diving gear closer, so unloading them directly to the boat is possible. Given diving wasn't in my plan initially, I didn't take any gear to Australia this time hence I was just going with my office bag! All were looking at me like What the heck this skinny Indian think he is doing in this diving boat! In no time we started chatting and realized most of them were just beginners and was interested in knowing more about my work. 

Diving in these conditions are nothing but an exercise that tested my endurance in cold water. As I get old, cold water became much more challenging. I explored few sites around Rottnest which had caves and a lot of life. Visibility wasn't bad and I was disappointed that I didn't carry my camera.  In one dive I was almost getting hypothermia due to unbearably cold water. Still, I was pleased to be in cold water again. Cold water diving is like a girlfriend I love and hate at the sometime! 

In March, Perth diving community was shaken with the news of two divers those were left behind in ocean during a recreational dive. For our surprise it was revealed Perth Diving Academy as the irresponsible operator. Few of my friends called me to check if I am one of the two! A news article revealed the names of the victims and one was called Ian which rang bells. So I was wondering, if this was good old Ian Jones my previous diving buddy. Later revealed its not him and he is just fine. He had been frustrated by number of phone calls he got from friends and relatives asking if he is ok. In fact, he ended up posting a public message in Facebook saying "I am OK. Diver got stranded in water is a different Ian" 

My flat mates

I was pleased to join my old flat mate Fred this time too.  We both wanted to visit Renee who was living about 200km south of Perth by then, but couldn't do due to our busy schedules. 

Apart from Fred's company, full of late night chats about life and new world trends, my flat was a reflection of dark side of human life. That's due to the sad plights of other two mates living with us. 

One of them was a Australian guy called Jo. He was going through a painful divorce. Listening to his story was an agony. Given Australian law is crazy around these kind of things, he is loosing most of his lifelong earning, leaving him to live in a flat. He wasn't allowed to live in house he built for the family. His favorite daughter wasn't talking to him anymore and sons too are getting away from his life. He often go to Footy ground to see from a distance how his younger son playing. Jo had three tattoos to symbolize his three children. 

By the way, Jo liked eating my Sri Lankan flavoured food. As I write today, I don't know where he is and how he is doing.

Other one is Vince, guy from Myanmar, who lived with wife, baby and his mother. Vince was suffering from a rare cancer. I feel very sorry for him about his unfortunate situation. He has been doing pretty well before the sickness. He often stayed days in hospital. Sometime come home and stay in agony for days. Fred and I always tried to cheer him up yet we all knew his situation was bad.

When I cook Sri Lankan food, especially curries, he used to come, see and say that looks delicious. I always offer some. Somedays he says No thanks and leave... sometimes, he come back and says hey I would like some for my Mum who cannot resist that amazing aroma. 

As I write, I know Vince is fighting back with his cancer bravely and Fred is helping him by all means, particularly with the most needed moral support. I wish him recovery!

With all his misfortune, he was further upset by the news about the earthquake that hit Myanmar in April. He was busy checking if his relatives and friends are safe.

I was humbled when my poor flat mates organized a small party with a birthday cake on my birthday. It was so special. I ordered Pizza for dinner. In spite of usual gloominess, we all spent the evening with laugher and good vibes.

Back in pearl for Sinhala New Year

After completing the work I promised, I hurried back home for Sinhala New Year of 2025. Just to mention, world was going to a chaos with Ukraine war and Trump imposing jaw dropping tariffs for everybody they deal with, giving world economy a shake!

Catching up with Dara was special, obviously due to his character and our history that cross paths in pretty unorthodox manner, as activists. As usual, we met at rooftop of City Hotel at Colombo. He actually came with another comrade who was a young Muslim guy with quite progressive ideas. So we started talking about our good old days and also politics in the country. 

සහෝදරයා දන්නවනෙ මගේ ආර්තිකය එතරම් හොඳ නොවන බව... හරි බන් බිල මම බලාගන්නම්..

Dhara started his activism as a hard core leftist but by now he is changed a lot in terms of ideology. From the bar we were having drinks we could see hundred and eighty degree view of Colombo. When it gets darker, we saw the glittering lights of hotels and other sky high buildings of Colombo. In other side we could see lights of ships approaching Colombo harbor. Night sky of Colombo is like an untold story for many of us. Its like an mysterious old man who knew everything about you!

He told how much he enjoy that scenery in his raw words. 

මං සහෝදරයා ආසාවෙන් රස විඳිනවා ධනවාදී සමාජයන් විසින් ගොඩනඟලා තියෙන මේ ආශ්චර්ය.. 

He also presented me a book about Richard De Soyza. Also we three discussed in detail about extra ordinary life of Richard de soyza and particularly about his tragic assassination. 

Though Dara and I worked in the same group long ago, we rarely agreed on one thing. He also showed me his diary entry, about 25 - 30 years old, he mentioned about an argument he had with me. It was a detail account with exact words we used that day. Though we didn't have any digital devices those days some memory can stay in physical books.. hmm!

Without much planning I joined Devana and Niro to visit Buddhika's pepper plantation in Badalkumbura (බඩල්කුඹුර). This is one special area that produced some of the best pepper in entire world. It was a good experience on understanding challenges of running a plantation. Monkeys had become the number one pest. To tell the scale of the problem, some people had given up the planting anything in some areas of the country just because there is no way harvest can be protected from monkeys. In Buddhika's case, his main crop is pepper and its comparatively safe from monkeys. For his other crops like Banana and papaya its an unending battle. Interestingly, there is a kind locally made guns to chase monkeys away.

While walking in the village, we noticed an abandoned house. Buddhika explained its story. Someone from Colombo, who had found guilty for a foul play, had come to this area and lived hidden in the forest adjoining river Manik. By the time goes, he had built this small house of clay and started living with his wife, while his grown up children lived in Colombo. Later on, no one cared about his past and he was doing pretty good with farming etc. and then he built a proper modern looking house in near by land. After moving to new home, for some fateful reason, this man died. His wife couldn't survive in this harsh conditions, she moved to Colombo, to one of her children's place. Now this house becoming a relic day by day.. this reminds me of Beddegama (බැද්දේගම) of famous Village by the jungle book (by Leonard wolf), a village reclaimed by jungle.

By the night, we spent hours and hours talking about history of that area etc. while enjoying some dry gin. It was a good session. Devana also exposed us some of the interesting stories and his experiences during his stay at UN office of Sri Lanka.

Anyway, I didn't forget to return the cave diving books back to Nipuna. For that I visited him with Indhi at his workshop where all the commercial diving operations are handled. So we had the opportunity of seeing the Sri Lanka's only privately owned hyperbaric chamber. Anyway, I wish to complete my diving journey without seeing a hyperbaric/ decompression chamber from inside!

Made a couple of family trips too: one to Tissa and other one to Kuruvita. Tissamaharamaya one was much more relaxing. We also done a quick day safari to Yala which was fun. We enjoyed watching some birds, spotted deer, Jackal etc. Our safari driver was trying to show us a leopard and it was such a disaster, not because we couldn't see one but because of the aggressive way jeep drivers tried to be in best placed to see a leopard. It was very strenuous, both Indhi and Vipuli suggested go somewhere else and watch some birds than chasing damn leopard, in such an unethical pursuit. 

Kuruvita trip would have been a great one of spending time in total tranquility, but party with loud speakers in a near by villa made it a total nightmare. 

While I was busy packing my stuff to next leg of my work in Australia, Shanjeewan sent me the happy message saying he climbed the Mount Elbrus of Russia successfully.. So this guy is really on his way to climb the seven summits!

Memorable end of year catchups

Some of the travel photos I posted in this blog have been captured by Kusum (aka Roshan). He was my partner in crime: we were in same path in studies to professions to outdoor activities. When I first moved to Australia he moved to New Zealand. I came back in 2018 and eventually pursued my hybrid life. Last time I met him in Sydney. That's because he (and Nilantha from Melbourne) paid a visit when I said I am going back to Sri Lanka for good. We spent few days with nostalgic memories. Now in 2024, Kusum said he is coming to SL for a holiday after seven years! I asked what you want to do.. he said everything! Hiking, wildlife photography, diving and chilling.. It wasn't easy to convince someone coming out of the country how difficult to do all you plan in Sri Lanka in limited time.

In fact, I have a absurd feeling that time would have a un-invented property that would control how many things you can do during a given period of time. If such thing exists, that number is low in Sri Lanka! 

Few decades ago, myself and Kusum was outdoor addicts. We did camping, hiking and what not. In university times, once we get the Mahapola (i.e. මහපොල) scholarship money, we got into a bus to Hikkaduwa and spend days snorkeling the reef. After obtaining the PADI license we (along with Devana) extended our expeditions to much deeper waters. This outdoor craze also put foundation to much wider group.  

Nilantha too came on a holiday by end of the year. What really didn't work was the timing of Asitha. Due to his business plans, he had to make his very short trip just before Kusum and Nilantha.

Asitha was investing on a Sinhala movie in Sri Lanka and was busy with that project. I too was invited for the inauguration ceremony of the movie at Waters Edge. It was an event full of Actors, Actresses and media personals. In some point I felt I am in a place that I am not belong to. Anyway, I liked the experience. I spoke to a couple of pretty girls and learned they are the most famous actresses of young generation today. As a new producer, Asitha caught the attention of everybody. A lot of media personals were trying to corner him for a short interview. 

More than anything I felt bit emotional contemplating Asitha's journey and where we all started at schooling time sharing same tea at Salgao bakery. He wasn't born with silver spoon in hand, but he conquered the world to achieve what he wanted. He was always target oriented person. High achiever who obtained the degree from the University of Life!

Same evening we had the school get-to-gather which had been organized in grand scale since its the 50th birthday for our batch mates. It was an extravaganza.

It was great to see Kusum after a long time and a lot to update; personal stuff and passions we share. I arranged a dinner at my home and it was an amazing catchup. Among the usual invitees, I invited Indunil who was a batch mate from school. Though we didn't have much connections in recent past, he was in our gang and was crazy in outdoor activities as much as we did. Indunil too was so pleased to have a reunion at my place with good old friends. 

Kusum brought me a very special gift which is two high quality photo prints. Those were captured by him in two different occasions in my presence. 

First one was a portrait of a man who is actually a hunter called Vijey (i.e. විජේ). He was our guide when we hiked Nuwaragala in 2002. At that time, hiking Nuwara Gala wasn't a joke since no one knew if there are land-mines or area is occupied by terrorists groups. We used the window opened with the ceasefire agreement in between LTTE terrorists and SL government to make our move. Vijey was a peculiar and a strange character who reminded me Silindu (i.e. සිලිඳු) of novel Beddegama (i.e. බැද්දේගම) by Leonard Woolf. Often he spoke to himself. His instinct about the jungle was wonderful. I have never seen anyone who read the minute changes of jungle and predict things so accurately. Vijey's portrait taken by Kusum was a photo I admired always and it reminded me of the adventurous hike to Nuwara-gala. 

Second one was taken in Sydney when we met last time in 2018. One of the unique pubs in Sydney was the The Botanist. Myself, Kusum and Nilantha was walking to the pub that evening. There was a pretty girl awaiting by the side with a bunch of flowers and Kusum picked it as a great subject to photograph. After getting consent, he captured few great street photographs of her with flowers. I liked that one too.

Chamila (aka KK) too was in the country. He comes on vacation every yearend. An outing to Weheragala (i.e. වෙහෙරගල) (technically Block 5 of Yala National Park) had already been organized by Devana. It was great. Mornings were spent searching for wildlife and photographing. Nights were full of fun: drinks and chilling. Kusum was thrilled since he managed to photograph a leopard.

I also brought Kusum for a couple of dives in Unawatuna. Anyway, conditions were not the best. As I observed, Kusum hasn't done much diving recently resulting air consumption underwater to be poor which is far cry from his real diving times. This made dives shorter. 

Nilantha also invited us to a party he organized for his 50th Birthday. Like cherry on the cake it went very well and caught up with a lot of old friends who we went to pubs and night clubs in our youth self. Nilantha and I too have a lot of history in that department. While we both worked in WTC Colombo, in most Fridays we started boozing in Deli Market or SSC and ended in Rhythm and Blues night club. Some of the Nilantha's friends of travel trade became my friends and vice versa. So it was great to see some of them after a couple of decades. Life had changed us significantly. Some of the stupid things I did in my past usually had a connection with Nilantha somehow. One expedition nearly killed me of Leptospirosis. I narrowly escaped since my family doctor new about my outdoor lifestyle which helped early diagnosis. I owe Dr. Pani Somarathne a great deal of gratitude for saving my life. I still see him regularly and get medical advises relevant to me in this age.

Ironically, myself and Nilantha also had the taste of changing the world and thirst to go after different political groups, particularly in socialist stream. This is where I met Dara (pseudo name).

Dara is the most honest civil activist I had the pleasure of working with. I don't comment on practicality of his ideas though. I will write a different post on his story of courage and narrow escapes from government led paramilitary groups due to his voice against unjust. After I lost connections with him, his life had been real roller-coaster ride. Given he protested against drama of killing of detainees, he became a primary target. At last he fled the country with his wife for his own protection and had a unimaginable life in India and Malaysia. I heard all these stories of Dara only when I came to Sri Lanka in 2018. Now we stay in touch and talk about life, society and politics once a while. Our usual spot of meeting is the rooftop of Colombo City Hotel. Dara still believe in a fair society and working towards it in his scale. 

One notable characters Dara introduced to me was Premapala Hewabatage. Prem Aiya is close comrade of Wijeweera and had been in same cell in prison after unsuccessful coupe in 1971. He was a living encyclopedia and a man with a golden heart. When we met him his ideas were different from JVP but still fighting for social justice, living in poverty. Life do bad things for good people! Connections can go on and on...

Whatever said and done.., Nilantha is the one who introduced me to Dara.

Anyway, after all those nostalgic catchups Kusum had to head back to Auckland and Nilantha to Melbourne. Before long I too was given the indication that I am required in my clients office to plan next phase of the project. With heavy heart I left the Island in early January 2025. It was the Summer in down under. In fact that summer was extra-sunny and long.

Borella never change!

I was so relieved to be back at home because I was experiencing the bitterness of winter, in Melbourne, at its best. We really should be admiring the sunlight we enjoy in tropics. In other hand, Sri Lanka was experiencing un-ending rainy season. 

I started my life as usual. I spent some days at my coworker place near Borellla. Though Borella is an important hub within the heart of Colombo, it hasn't changed for few decades. Look and feel was just like the times we were going to school passing the same roads. 

Given there are no many options, I used to drop in by Ananda Bhavan (i.e. ආනන්ද භවන්) or Mihiri bath kade (i.e. මිහිරි බත් කඩේ) for lunch during my work. It was quite a contrast to the Swedish cafe, called Miss Maud, which I go for coffee while I spend time in Perth. Though its not reasonable to compare, I always think of the contrast of flavors of south Asian and Western food. Given we have all the best spices of the world, getting flavor in a dish is no drama. In fact, we used to demand it since childhood. When a westerner eat them, they get overwhelmed. Sometimes I cook fish curry, but with minimum available spices and serve my Australian friends. They start admiring its taste, but for me they are below average in terms of flavors.  

This time I organized a family trip to Anuradhapura. Since girls had already studied about ancient kingdoms of Sri Lanka, they had a good time exploring ruins and etc. As I guessed they liked Jethawanaya and Abayagiriya, since those venues are much more peaceful and the structures remain as real historical monuments without any modern touchups or colors. I too like less crowded places. Anuradhapura is a gem for someone like history and Buddhist heritage of Sri Lanka. You can spend months watching different historical sites.

We also visited Soma Nanda's (i.e. සෝමා නැන්දා) place. She was my mothers close friend (a relation too) in schooling time. Soma aunty has a great romantic story. She had run away with her boyfriend to start a new family in Anuradhapura. So why Anuradhapura? because both of them had read a lot of novels written based on historical events of Anuradhapura. So both of them were obsessed with those stories as well as Anuradhapura city itself! Isn't it an interesting story? Her "romantic" husband, Newton uncle was seen feeble and aged, but happy. I have also heard that he was once abducted by LTTE terrorists during his carrier as a guard in CGR (Ceylon Government Railway). Guard is the head (like captain) of a train. When we were leaving their place, he was impatiently waiting to see next Cricket match in television: his time passing activity of old age. Life happens! 

Shanjeewan from top of Kilimanjaro!

May be I told you previously, the strange way I came to know Shanjeewan. I simply bashed into his jeep while reversing my car after few drinks in the Christmas Party of Sub Aqua Club! Our connection was built in spite of an unorthodox (..an embarrassing!) way we met. For some reason I guess I am among first few people he talked to, when he laid his plan of Summit Sustainability project. I was bit surprised as well as thrilled to see his super human ambition. I was like ..you bugger really going to climb 7 summits! He said Yes Aiya..I will try. I not only encouraged the project but supported financially too.

By the time goes and didn't here anything from him, I simply felt may be its too much of a challenge for this young lad. All in a sudden Shanjeewan messaged me saying he made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. He has also thought of me for my support and decided to take a photo of my picture within the background of the mountain. Such a nice way of gratitude. I felt so proud of this beautiful soul. I wished him all the luck for coming challenges including mighty Everest! 

Diving at Trincomalee

I was too lazy and wasn't too sure of what to do for eastern diving season this time. Usually I sketch a rough plan in my mind before any season and this time it didn't happen for some reason. Perhaps I wasn't very happy with the diving experience in last season. Most of all I was in utter confusion on identifying the best time for underwater shooting in east coast. Both diving excursions planed last year to Trinco and Kalpitiya were not as good as I expected. When I say not good, its about my wrong judgment of sea conditions.

I had only small window which I could afford to go out due to various reasons. Top on that, there was a forecast of a hurricane in bay of Bengal. This made my decision much more difficult. I ended up calling department of metrology to find out more. Well, in tropics predictions are pretty much a complex equation of probability, only statistician would understand.

Some relate visibility of ocean in Trincomalee area with the sediments carried by mass of waters flow from Mahaweli river. This connects inland rainfall to conditions of diving sites in east. Some deny this theory categorically since its not that significant. 

I made my mind, called Devana and said I am heading to Trinco this week for diving with least expectations. First he wasn't interested, but when I said I am catching a train for a change. So it was quite an experience to go in the train to Trincomalee. It was faster than we expected. 

Since it was a short stay, we decided not to go to Nilaweli side but to do a couple of dives with Ashen near Trincomalee town. First I was bit nervous to see boatman struggled to locate the site to anchor the boat, but it ended up quite well. Visibility wasn't great, so I was restricted to shoot macros. I was also thrilled to dive Swami Rock historical site for the second time.

Once I ascend to the surface after a dive, I noticed a familiar looking boat passing with foreign divers which I recognized as the dive boat of Blue Deep. Blue Deep diving station is like my home and most of the crew knew me. I was staying and diving with them last season for days. If they see me in water at this moment they would think what the heck Sumedha Aiya doing here without telling us. I felt bit guilty. Without much thought I covered my face with the mask again and dip underwater until they go to a descent distance! Moral of the story.. you can encounter a known person even when you are in sea nowadays.. behave yourself!

Once I was casually roaming around the beach, I saw a familiar looking guy passing by. Then  I recognized Ram who is a diver and photographer running a small diving operation in Trinco. We both knew each other through social media but this was the first time we had the chance of chatting to each other in person.

Last day of diving I felt like having a drink. After telling my desire, Ashen arranged everything for a great beach catchup. He arranged us an upstairs of a modern looking apartment facing the ocean with all what we needed. Buddhika who is a dive master from Kalpitiya who was freelancing in Trinco for the season also joined us for drinks. It was a great catchup and good way to finish the quick diving trip to east. We headed back to Colombo in a bus.

To my surprise one of my macro shots of a clownfish captured near Middle reef got a lot of attention and was commented as a good shot.  

Guru Geethaya film with Bada

When I heard Guru Geetha movie is out, one who came to my mind was Bada aiya (බඩා අයියා), namely Sanath Hittiarachchi. Sanath has been in senior batch while I was a university student and we had pretty similar taste about arts and literature. Actually we two had to plan and execute most of the cultural and art programs those days. Sanath was the biggest fan of the book Gurugeethaya (The first Teacher by Chinghiz Aitmatov). Devana was the one who always did the hard part when Sanath come up with a big idea. So after many decades we three got together to see the movie.

More than the movie, meeting three of us to see the movie of our most loved book was quite a nostalgic feeling. Movie was good and we really enjoyed the evening.

Afterwards we spent sometime in Galle Face green eating Isso Vade (ඉස්සො වඩේ) and drinking cardamom tea, talking about literature and good old days within the vicinity of lights of five star hotels nearby. We also talked about how life happened to us with the rat race, started after finishing our studies. Talking about your plight with like-minded friend itself is a healing.

Matters at home.. & tough times to face

Matters at home were going ok. We  had a party for Amma's eightieth birthday. I couldn't believe she is eighthly. Since she wasn't a traditional mum, it is always difficult to imagine her old version. Though she turned 80 she is active as she used to be. My brother and I were struggling to keep her in right balance in terms of activities since we knew her character. Just stay at home and go to temple is not her. That's a far cry from her style. In contrast, though mind is youthful, too much action in old age can be bad. Anyway, it was quite a nice party we held at home with her favorited relations and friends.

All other things came to a halt, when Sawanthi had to go through a surgical procedure to remove a stone in kidney. More than anything recovery process wasn't as smooth as doctor promised. She was going through a massive pain and there was only little we could do about it. When she recovers her father got critically sick which shook all our lives. After spending one month in hospital, most of it in intensive care unit, he passed away! Doctors and hospital staff of Sri Jayawardenapura did a great job, but it wasn't a battle nature would allow us win!

Day before death, Sumangala Thero along with his head monk visited the hospital and did a mini pirith preaching which gave a good spiritual energy to thaththa. Sumangala thero, then Wasantha, and I have a long history. I met him in my first job which I did nigh shifts during my university days. Since then we were friends. Later on he started to show interest in religious life and eventually ended up been a Buddhist monk! I had to call my mate, Sumangala Thero since then!

Sawanthi's fathers death took me back to the day I lost my father, how shocking it was to me and how long it took me to heal the emotional wound.

It will take long to heal.. especially for my girls, they experienced a death of a close person for the first time.. I saw they put papers with hand written messages to their grandfathers coffin. 

Dolphin watching at Kalpitiya

With all difficult times we passed, I wanted to take girls out of this negative environment to refresh their minds. No one was ready for a big trip with jolly mode but they agreed to my idea of spending a couple of lazy days in late back Kalpitiya. So I head to Kalpitiya with family and it gave us the most wanted change of mode. We spent time walking in the beach.. dipping in the pool..

I arranged a dolphin watching trip in a small single engine boat belongs to Shanaka which enthralled the girls. We stayed in a better hotel with a swimming pool which is a much more luxurious place than Romesh's where I used to stay during my diving trips. We also had a wonderful dinner out side of the hotel. Place is not a usual restaurant, but actually a humble looking extension to a traditional house. Sea food was fabulous and it really went well with Spanish wine we brought with us. Later on I came to know its the home of Shanaka's uncle. 

Just as last few Christmas times, there were few interesting catch-ups in store.

I used to say Borella doesn't change since last ice age! In spite of my claims, one day I saw a little, but modern looking coffee shop opened in Cotta Road. Now I can have a real coffee break while working in my co-worker space. let's do a coffee catchup was becoming a favorite phrase in my vocabulary! 

As per this writing, May 2025, Shanjeevan should be busy arranging stuff for his next climb which is Mount Blanc of Europe. Let me send him a encouraging message before going to bed...