Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a little island in the Indian Ocean, just by the south of India. Cricket, spicy curries, sunny beaches all year through and the taste of tea are some of the things that come to mind when thinking of our beloved homeland. They call it the paradise island, they call it the pearl of the indian ocean, they call it a land like no other; To me Sri Lanka will always be my home and home is where the heart is.

Known by many different beautiful names and loved by its children, our little mother island has had its share of trouble. The 25 year old war has finally ended and we are at last able to see calmer seas. We Sri lankans make our cultural values a priority. As small as the land is, just like the variety of vegetation it produces, it also has many different races and religions. It is amazing that in such a small mass of land which is probably much smaller than the state of Arizona you would find people speaking up to five different languages and probably more than 15 races of people including the native Sri Lankans who are known as the wadhdhas. Our history is rich with kings who built palaces out of large rocks and goes further beyond what is recorded.

In the 16th century parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands. Many portugal words have made their way into the Sinhala vocabulary which is one one the three main national languages. In 1815 we were taken over by the Great Britain who continued to rule us for over a century. Sri Lanka became an independent nation on February, 4th 1948.

We left Sri Lanka in the fall of 2007. The few years out of Sri Lanka has been the hardest for me in my entire life. With no family and very few friends, my husband and I see our little infant daughter bloom into a flower that is the sun in our universe. We learned many things about this great nation. The kind people, the cheerful “hello”s that put a smile on our faces are some the essence that kept us going and somewhere in our hearts the United States of America became our home too!

The war is over and the children are out playing again. Soon my mum will be inviting guests home for her delicious meals served on large plates called sahans. My dad will be happy to plant papaya trees in his childhood hometown. My daughter for the first time will be able to run like the earth has no end. She will get her first leech bite and I can't wait for some quiet scrabble and a nap on the hammock overseeing the valleys and the birds. Chatting with my cousins, cuddling our pets - Ah the memories to relive! We will be making trips every other month to either the hill capital and cool mountains or the Galle beaches and the lovely rivers and waterfalls. So much natural beauty – a blessing indeed.

As we get closer to the day that we will be packing up our suit cases and heading back home my heart fills with joy. My mother will be thrilled to spend all day with her grand daughter. At the same time a part of me will always be here.... my first days of learning to cook... the joys of having a baby..... a home that we made together for the first time on our own... our friends and neighbors who extended a helping hand when the silence rushed in like a storm... the United States will be like a second home to us always. It is nice to have literally driven on both sides of the car; both sides of the road and both sides of the world!

I hope some day that I could do enough to make Sri Lanka proud of me as I am of it today!