The Bentota Diaries - Day 1

So Naresh invited me on a trip to Sri Lanka to celebrate a breakthrough he had had in his three decade old project to improve driving and traffic sense in India and thereby reduce accidents and save lives. He has written books, spoken about it in many forums, been active on social media (https://www.topdriver.in), made courses on Coursera,  and had been relentless in his mission. So when he made a breakthrough with the RTA, Telangana, it definitely seemed like a good cause to celebrate.

 Naresh and I go back to the early 1980s when we were just out of school and joined Intermediate at St Alphonso's Junior College where we were relegated to the back benches mainly because we were tall (back benches also automatically allowed me to calibrate my intelligence to the lower side). Over time we discovered that we enjoyed the same music, books and a sense of humour. Our other worlds were far apart otherwise  - he was a bike racer of repute in those days, a good dancer and charmer while I was immersed in my cricket and could not dance to save my life. But we somehow survived these four decades and it is sort of fitting that we go on this vacation at this stage in our lives.

I've been to Sri Lanka once before - a decade ago. This time the agenda was simple, get off the flight, head to Bentota which is a seaside town with great beaches, hang around there and come back after 2-3 days. A proper vacation with no hectic sight seeing and stuff. I liked the idea.

We took off from his house at 830 am, got to the Shamshabad airport by 930, did the immigration, security and all that and went into the lounge where he has some privileges thanks to some fancy card. We decided to indulge ourselves with a beer to set things off in the right spirit. Flight was at 12. It's a 2 hour flight to Colombo and the captain pointed to the Ram Setu which we could see from our window. Some people in the back got excited and shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' loud enough to reach the heavens. I hope their fervent prayers were suitably rewarded. Anyways flight landed around 2. Our driver Mendis was around with a placard and two small garlands with orchids which he placed around our necks and took a picture of us with them.

After a not too inspiring lunch at some place called Sasha which he took us to, we headed off towards Bentota town which is by the sea, 65 kms from Colombo and a two hour drive almost. I had mixed feelings about the lunch and the fact that Naresh kept telling me that his experience with the food in these parts had not been great didn't help much. I prayed that the food at our hotel would be nicer. Reached Bentota by 5ish and checked into Hotel Eden Beruwala which was quite nice. A massive swimming pool, direct access to the beach and a stunning sunset received us and soon as we checked in, we headed to the beach. Naresh swam a bit while I walked along the beach before it started to pour.

We headed to the sports bar called Champs and had a beer, listened to some live music and watched the rain pelt down for two hours. Then we headed off for a lovely dinner - a really good spread. My spirits soared at this turn of fate. 

The place is full of foreigners, just the opposite of Goa. The locals are sweet and gentle. The staff at the hotel were very sweet. The young lady who led us to the room in her sing song voice even more so.

 

Hoping to explore more of the beach tomorrow and perhaps the Buddhist temple in town. We turned in early. Naresh is an early sleeper and not necessarily an early riser which means he is a good sleeper. I read my book 'Comfort Crisis' a bit.

So far so good. Way better than expectations.