hills

Spent the weekend up in the hills, amongst the tea plantations, where the weather was around 14 degrees and unbelievably pleasant. The drive was arduous, snaking up the hillside, on two land crazy bends, in the rain on potted roads in a dilapidated van. Made a stop at the Pinnewala Elephant orphanage and saw a lame elephant rescued from a border village, a leg blown off by a landmine. Talked about the problems of development in India, and of innovative programs, where street children are taught on railway platforms and finance workshops run by ex-investment bankers for women's savings groups in the Himalayas. Then the night spent in the hills, waking up in the morning to fir trees and pines and the scent of tea in the air. Walking amidst the golf courses and the bustling market town, reminiscent of Khurg, or Darjeeling or Ooty, or Kodaikanal. Reminiscent, remarkably, of Hyde Park. It was good for the soul and I forgot for a brief moment I was in Sri Lanka. Then driving back after the short stay, stopping at a random guesthouse and finding out it was the famous Kitulgala resthouse, on the banks of foaming rapids with a wooden swaying bridge which looked distinctly un-Sri Lankan and very Vietnamese, and then discovered that this was the river where, improbably, Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed!. How bizarre. Came out of the guesthouse to discover a Rolls and a Jag parked in the garage! Then the skies opened for the umpteenth time and we ran for cover.