Enroute to Kandelama

Spending 18 hours in Singapore in transit, I arrived at Colombo in the last hour of February 21st. The weather was reasonably good, not so hot not so cold, although little humidity is always obvious in an island country like Sri Lanka.
After performing the formalities at the airport, I found the driver who is supposed to take me to Kandelama with a placard with my name on it. I introduced myself to him and we exchanged greetings. By the time we started for Kandelama, it was half past twelve, a new day has started. I asked Vinay, my driver and guide to Kandelama, how long this trip would be. His prompt reply was ‘about one hour thirty minutes’. I made myself at ease in the car. Honestly, I was really excited for this journey in the night form one town to another in Sri Lanka, a country I have never visited before.
Unlike Bangladesh, the roads were literally empty. I expected to see larger number of transports and people on the street. I thought in each of the South Asian countries, 12:30 am is not that late for the hut-buzzers beside the inter-city highway to fall in a complete sleep. Sri Lanka proved me wrong. Does it have anything to do with the higher level of literacy rate of the country?
The road was narrow and bumpy, in many cases worse than Bangladesh. I was little disappointed. There were greeneries on both sides of the road. At one place, I found a restaurant open. What I found interesting was that the signboard of that restaurant also mentioned the fact that halal foods were available. I don’t know how big is the Muslim population in Colombo and how big the market for halal food is.
It was not a moonlit night, whatever moonlight we had it was gone. There was nothing much to see in the dark of the night. I start feeling bored. To keep myself tuned, I started thinking about the most beautiful gifts of my life- three most beautiful women on my life- my two daughters and one wife. I missed them whole day in Singapore. They each are unique in their own way. Tupur, my youngest daughter, is like a living doll. She is so innocent and adorable that sometimes we wonder if she was sent from the heaven. Yet, we started seeing how the worldly things are taking shape in her now –a- days. For example, she has now learnt to own something and fight over that ownership. The use of internet has become an apple of contention between her and her didi (elder sister).
Tapur, on the other hand, was little different at this age, she never fought to own anything. However, Tapur had no one at home until she was 6 years of old to share anything. Yes, we do not know how she would behave in that counter factual situation, but yet we could see the difference between them. Tapur is passing through an age when kids focus more on friends and get thrilled by the outside world. The paucity and complexity of urban life have really constricted her outside world. Sometimes, I feel pity for her. In her age, I spend hours in the ponds, trees, fields, and what not. But for her, it is always the bricks and concrete. Only access she has to the outside world is through internet. This is a matter of my concern also.
My wife, Farha, is one of the most amazing persons that I have met in my life. Being the closest person of my heart and soul, she touched my life in so many ways. May be not all ways are scripted in a fairy tale and hence not-so desired, yet she is the person that I want to wake up together in everyday, in every morning, to spend one more day in this world. Having her always beside me is my strength and source of inspiration. Keeping her always beside me is my prayer. Living my life till the last day with her is my dream.
I fell asleep while thinking about the tree most important persons of my life. When I woke up, it was about 2:30am, already two hours passed although I was supposed to arrive at Hotel within one and half an hour. I was worried. I got scared when I saw that the driver asked another who was cleaning his truck beside the road for direction to Kandelam. It seemed that the driver forgot the correct turn. This is not my country. Here I am in a private car, alone, in the middle of the night, in the country side with a unknown driver who does not know exactly how to get to my Hotel which is located in a secluded forest. I was ready for anything. My favorite faces started coming to minds. My sleep is gone away.
Suddenly he stopped the car. I did not see anyone on the road. I was really scared. I could not see his face in the dark, therefore could not read anything in it. That even made more scared. The driver took the key from the car and got off. He walked only a few steps and then started peeing beside the road. I felt relieved to see the real reason for stopping the car. He started the car again and drove another 30 minutes before asking a group of people who were unloading a truck for direction. This time I was not that scared. It came to my mind that this guy was trying to drop me to Kandelama resort. If he really wanted to do any harm to me, he did not need the direction to Kandelama.
He drove for another 20 minutes before stopping in front of a restaurant. He entered into the restaurant to ask for direction again. When he came back in the car, I asked him how far Kandelama was. He replied that it would take another 10 to 15 minutes. We got the entrance to the resort at one point of time. I arrived at the Kandelama resort at 4:00 am, after a journey of about three and half an hour’s in a totally unknown road with a completely unknown driver when no one could be expected to respond to my call for help if needed. I got of the car and thanked the driver before approaching to the reception desk of the hotel.