Tourists Here, Tourists There, Tourists Everywhere!
I suppose it's really a cause for celebration... The tourists are back on the island! I will leave it to the journalists and the tourism industry to discuss whether they're back in the numbers we would have seen, had the tsunami been nothing but a bad dream (reports are contradicting). And of course, I haven't been to the coast and seen the situation there yet, although I'm planning a quick trip to Matare next week. But from what I gather, the surfers are back in Arugam Bay and I'd be surprised if not a great many of the whities I see in Kandy have not also been to, or are planning to go to, the southern and/or eastern beaches. Most of them certainly look like they've been picked up from a beach and put down again here.
So why this half-cynical attitude to tourists? It's only a year ago since I was one myself in this exact same place. There are a number of reasons, I suppose. Having lived here for 6 months now and made friends with a number of Lankans, I see the whole circus in a new perspective. And it's not pretty. What really gets to me are those who with an imperial air about them act as though every Lankan is here only to serve them and/or is a crook that needs to be put straight. Let me illustrate: at my regular internet café (where I am now) there is all too often some rich, fat European showering abuse on the employees because they feel the connection is slow or because they can't log onto Hotmail. Come off it people! It's not like they get a kick out of hindering people access their email. Why the hostility?
And then again. as a whitey in Kandy my patience is continually tested by others as well; that is by those who make a living off of tourists - be they touts, trishaw drivers, shop owners, agents out for commissions, etc. etc. I've been waving them off for 6 months and curiously enough, very few seem to recognize me (I'm sure we whities all look the same. One scammer who pretends to be employed at "my hotel" and wants money so he can buy ingredients for a "special dinner" has approached me with the same scam 4 times!) This last couple of weeks, with the tourist-influx, the intensity of it all has picked up. It's fair enough really: this is the price we have to pay for having Sri Lanka as our playground. And there's no reason to get worked up about it.. Anger is only counterproductive.
This is just the way it is: I can never feel truly at home here, because others won't let me feel at home, because the color of my skin clearly says I don't belong. How many immigrants to western countries aren’t experiencing just that?
But I do feel sad about it. It does prevent me from bonding with Sri Lanka on an emotional level that I would have liked to experience. Still, I am grateful for all the opportunities I've had to go to more remote areas, where, although I in a sense am more of a tourist, I am treated in a different manner altogether. How much easier it would have been to do a village study!
Or even a study of Kataragama, as I was contemplating. Going there, last week, was a superb experience, although my friend Siva's family didn't come along as I thought they would. It was us two boys. We even splashed out and got a hotel room near the temple area. The room wasn't much, but what can you expect for 500 rupees during high season in Kataragama? I am glad we're not there now, though. The crowds must have doubled or tripled since we went, and that does not mean the town wasn't crowded then.
Kataragama (also known as Skanda and Murugan), for those of you who don't know, is a God shared by Hinduism and Buddhism (But there are no gods in Buddhism, you might think. Wrong. But the gods can only help you with matters of this world, not the next.) Kataragama is also a town in the South of this island, named after just that god, and every year there is a big festival here. Traditionally it has been a predominantly Hindu pilgrimage site, but with a sharp rise in bhakti devotion among the Buddhist these last three or four decades, Kataragama has become a favorite destination with them, too.
So what goes on at the festival? Well, the short version is that people go there to make vows and do penance. You can for example ask the God to bless your car (from what I gather he's 'the one' to do that), but you can also consult him about a range of other things.. such as if you're combating illness or want improved fertility. Or maybe you want some luck with your business. Now, those of you who know better than me: feel free to comment. I know people see different gods about different things, but I'm not to sure about their different fields of expertise.
The highlight of the festival, though, is the perahera, or procession, conducted in the evening time. Elephants, dressed up in colorful robes, are paraded in front of the crowds, and between them dance young boys and girls, different groups of them representing different segments of society, in a tribute to Buddhist society itself it seems. The last elephant, a big tusker, carries a relic of the god Kataragama, safely kept in golden caskets, strapped on the elephants back and under constant surveillance by a white clad temple servant, balancing precariously on the tail end. The procession was big and lasted about an hour, but supposedly it grows much bigger towards the end of the festival, and even then it is nothing compared to the big Kandy Esala Perahera, to be held in August. Lisa, one of the American Fulbrighters has been able to secure us some good tickets for one of the last nights, and I'm hoping it will make a suitable Grande finale to my fieldwork.
/haakon/
I suppose it's really a cause for celebration... The tourists are back on the island! I will leave it to the journalists and the tourism industry to discuss whether they're back in the numbers we would have seen, had the tsunami been nothing but a bad dream (reports are contradicting). And of course, I haven't been to the coast and seen the situation there yet, although I'm planning a quick trip to Matare next week. But from what I gather, the surfers are back in Arugam Bay and I'd be surprised if not a great many of the whities I see in Kandy have not also been to, or are planning to go to, the southern and/or eastern beaches. Most of them certainly look like they've been picked up from a beach and put down again here.
So why this half-cynical attitude to tourists? It's only a year ago since I was one myself in this exact same place. There are a number of reasons, I suppose. Having lived here for 6 months now and made friends with a number of Lankans, I see the whole circus in a new perspective. And it's not pretty. What really gets to me are those who with an imperial air about them act as though every Lankan is here only to serve them and/or is a crook that needs to be put straight. Let me illustrate: at my regular internet café (where I am now) there is all too often some rich, fat European showering abuse on the employees because they feel the connection is slow or because they can't log onto Hotmail. Come off it people! It's not like they get a kick out of hindering people access their email. Why the hostility?
And then again. as a whitey in Kandy my patience is continually tested by others as well; that is by those who make a living off of tourists - be they touts, trishaw drivers, shop owners, agents out for commissions, etc. etc. I've been waving them off for 6 months and curiously enough, very few seem to recognize me (I'm sure we whities all look the same. One scammer who pretends to be employed at "my hotel" and wants money so he can buy ingredients for a "special dinner" has approached me with the same scam 4 times!) This last couple of weeks, with the tourist-influx, the intensity of it all has picked up. It's fair enough really: this is the price we have to pay for having Sri Lanka as our playground. And there's no reason to get worked up about it.. Anger is only counterproductive.
This is just the way it is: I can never feel truly at home here, because others won't let me feel at home, because the color of my skin clearly says I don't belong. How many immigrants to western countries aren’t experiencing just that?
But I do feel sad about it. It does prevent me from bonding with Sri Lanka on an emotional level that I would have liked to experience. Still, I am grateful for all the opportunities I've had to go to more remote areas, where, although I in a sense am more of a tourist, I am treated in a different manner altogether. How much easier it would have been to do a village study!
Or even a study of Kataragama, as I was contemplating. Going there, last week, was a superb experience, although my friend Siva's family didn't come along as I thought they would. It was us two boys. We even splashed out and got a hotel room near the temple area. The room wasn't much, but what can you expect for 500 rupees during high season in Kataragama? I am glad we're not there now, though. The crowds must have doubled or tripled since we went, and that does not mean the town wasn't crowded then.
Kataragama (also known as Skanda and Murugan), for those of you who don't know, is a God shared by Hinduism and Buddhism (But there are no gods in Buddhism, you might think. Wrong. But the gods can only help you with matters of this world, not the next.) Kataragama is also a town in the South of this island, named after just that god, and every year there is a big festival here. Traditionally it has been a predominantly Hindu pilgrimage site, but with a sharp rise in bhakti devotion among the Buddhist these last three or four decades, Kataragama has become a favorite destination with them, too.
So what goes on at the festival? Well, the short version is that people go there to make vows and do penance. You can for example ask the God to bless your car (from what I gather he's 'the one' to do that), but you can also consult him about a range of other things.. such as if you're combating illness or want improved fertility. Or maybe you want some luck with your business. Now, those of you who know better than me: feel free to comment. I know people see different gods about different things, but I'm not to sure about their different fields of expertise.
The highlight of the festival, though, is the perahera, or procession, conducted in the evening time. Elephants, dressed up in colorful robes, are paraded in front of the crowds, and between them dance young boys and girls, different groups of them representing different segments of society, in a tribute to Buddhist society itself it seems. The last elephant, a big tusker, carries a relic of the god Kataragama, safely kept in golden caskets, strapped on the elephants back and under constant surveillance by a white clad temple servant, balancing precariously on the tail end. The procession was big and lasted about an hour, but supposedly it grows much bigger towards the end of the festival, and even then it is nothing compared to the big Kandy Esala Perahera, to be held in August. Lisa, one of the American Fulbrighters has been able to secure us some good tickets for one of the last nights, and I'm hoping it will make a suitable Grande finale to my fieldwork.
/haakon/
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