Butterflies, Home garden, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Sights of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, August 2011.

Before the construction of the new bridge at Kallady

The walls of the Dutch Fort, Batticaloa.

Britsh cannon on the walls of the Fort.

Scenes, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.

Memorial for the deead, World War 1.

Entrance to the Victora Park

Pony riders on the highway

Called 'Little England' in the heyday of Brtish Empire, Nuwara Eliya with its cool climate was the refuge of the British expatriates during April and August of each year. With its hotels, Golf course, Pony racing, Fairs, Beer and Dances the tradition continues to this day.

Environs of the General Hospital, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.

House officers quarters

Old hospital buildings of British Colonial times

The new buildings

Buildings of the old Brewery 

A land perpetually in mist and drizzle with two sunny spells, a major one in April and a two week spell in August, the coldest time was in February when the ground was covered in frost. Extensive vegetable cultivation thrives in the black soggy soil. Roses are cultivated for export. Potatoes were one of the first popular cash crops cultivated hear.During the austerity years of 1973/75, I was posted as Surgeon on relief duty here.Dr. Krishnaraja whom I had to relieve told me, that he made ten times his monthly salary as a surgeon, on profit from a single harvest of potatoes.
It was mighty cold. There was a single electric heater for the whole ward. The surgeons changing room attached to the Operating theater had another electric heater. We gathered there to have a cup of tea at 10 am.

Ramboda waterfalls on the Gampola - Nuwara Eliya road, Sri Lanka.

Waterfalls are a recurrent sight in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. I was born in a house facing the Alupola water falls in Rathnapura. Its soothing rumble was the melody I heard throughout my childhood. For a foreigner apart from their beauty, they generate strange reactions.
While working as a Consultant Surgeon at the National Hospital, Sri Lanka (NHSL), we had a batch of trainee nurses from the Maldives, attached to the Operating theater where I did my surgery. They were quite sociable. They did a weekend trip to the Central Highlands capital, Nuwara Eliya. They were wonder struck by the scenery. One question kept nagging their minds. The query was ' Where does all that water in the water falls come from?' Coming from Maldives a country of Islands with no  hills, it was understandable.

Tea-pluckers and a mountain stream, Thalawakelle, Sri Lanka.

Mist covered hills and a roadside waterfall on the road to Nuwara Eliya from Thalawakele, Sri Lanka.

Note the bamboo pipes to carry water to a roadside water-spout.

St Claires Tea Estate, Hatton, Sri Lanka.

Tea centre, St Claires Estate. Place to watch Devon water fall.

Work going on at the Upper Kothmale Dam - photo taken 2007

'Devon falls' and environs, Pathana, Hatton, Sri Lanka.

St Clairs valley and waterfalll, Hatton - Talawakelle road, Sri Lanka.

This photo was taken before the completion of the Upper Kothmale Dam.

Tea estate, Watawala, Sri Lanka.

Mountain side

Well pruned tea plants on a hill

Strangler creeper, Mannar, Sri Lanka.

The strangler creeper which started as a vine has grown into big tree surrounding the Palmyra tree totally.

The Palmyra tree has been slowly strangled and is now only a dead trunk, after shedding its crown.

Sights, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

An old 'betel shop', Aswaththe, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

A village road after heavy rains, Avissawella.

Unroasted 'Kadju' kernels on sale by the roadside, Aandiambalama, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Cadju grown in Chilaw and marketed by the roadside, this youth seems quite prosperous.

Around Arippu, Mannar, Sri Lanka.

Ruined British  Governer's residence occupied only during Pearl-fishing season of the Colonial Era.

Erected to guide boats off the shoals.

'Flame of the forest' tree, near Silavaththurai, Mannar, Sri Lanka.

With its brilliant orange colored flowers, this tree  deceives one looking from far away, as though the forest is on fire. Hence the name.

In between the wars, Mulangaavil Hospital, Mannar, Sri Lanka.

Board of the Poonakary Hospital transplanted at Mulangaavil.

The male ward at the Mulangaavil Hospital.

The kitchen in the hospital.

The fire-place in the hosapital.

With the massive exodus of population from the Jaffna Peninsula, these areas produced sanctuary. Paddy was aplenty hence feeding was not a problem. Shelter was another matter. Families  slept in the fields and highways. Malaria  and snake-bites caused casualties.

In the years of peace between the wars, road to Poonery, Mannar, Sri Lanka

Teaching staff

Students at a school depleted of pupils

The 'Kadalai Aachchi'

Children in a school, Mulangavil, Mannar, Sri Lanka, in between the wars, 2004.

Note the empty chairs.

Warning against land-mines on the school notice-board.