On the High level road from Godagama to Kaluaggala, Sri Lanka.

Rubber plantation lining the highway

Boiled Indian corn for sale, wayside.

After the hot concrete jungle of the city of Colombo, this area called Ihalagama off Hanwella is very cool
and gives the impression of being in an air-conditioned environment.

Paddy fields on the road from Malabe to Godagama, Sri Lanka.

Crow, Egret and Black-headed Ibises feeding.

Yellow Bittern foraging on the paddy field

Beautiful unspoilt countryside with paddy fields are still there in the outskirts of Colombo. The road from Malabe to Godagama has been widened and carpeted. It handles quite a lot of rush hour traffic.

Baseline road, and the road to the Parliament, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Railway station, Demetagoda. This was earlier the narrow gauge Kelani Valley line. Now it is standard gauge. You can see the remnants of the old narrow gauge railway line still remaining.

Near Magazine Prison

Sri Jayawardenapura Mawathe.

On the Sri Jayawardenapura Mawathe near Waters Edge.

Surveyors drawing a map of Colombo during British Colonial times drew the Baseline, along what is now called 'Baseline road'. The name persists even though the city of Colombo has long passed this boundary.

Entrance to the Southern Highway at Kaduwela, on a rainy day,Sri Lanka.

Rainy day on the road to Colombo from Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Kaduwela.

Bridge before Angoda junction.

Kotikaawaththe

Lipton Circus, Colombo.

Photographing through the windscreen on a rainy day is a difficult job. I took  these photos using my Nikon D7200 and the windscreen wiper getting in the way. I think I captured the mood in the blurred photos.

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