Full moon

Today is Poya Day in Sri Lanka, the day of the Full Moon. I was chatting on messenger the other day from my flat in Colombo, cursing the unreliable and expensive dial up connection. Not to worry, I told my son in the UK, it is full moon on Wednesday so that means we will be able to chat properly.

Now you shouldn't be able to hear a stunned silence on messenger, but it came across loud and clear. Finally my son asked "so what exactly has full moon got to do with your internet connection? Some kind of werewolf.com link?"

The answer is really simple. Every Full Moon or Poya Day is a public holiday in Sri Lanka, so that means I can take myself and my laptop to one of the many trendy cafes in Colombo and use the free wireless connections. I can upload photos and blog merrily and catch up on e-mail. Hence the number of updates today!

Trucking and transportation in Pakistan

We traveled out of Islamabad on the dusty highway to the ancient site of Taxila and on the way I was fascinated by the trucks.
They are ornately decorated and many have old wooden doors which are beautifully carved.

And some interesting sights on the backs of some of the trucks - like a tiger and a horse - and evidently some eminent figure!
And trucks don't have the monopoly on decoration either - the buses are pretty fancy too, if a tad overcrowded.
as are the smaller mini buses

But if you need something a bit less crowded, for example if you want to travel with your favourite buffalo then there are also options for you.................
or of course, there's always Shank's pony.

Where am I???

At extremely short notice I was lucky to have the chance to visit somewhere new - some impressions were very different to what I expected.

A bit like Scotland?

In some places like Nepal??

In fact, this was my first visit to Islamabad, Pakistan

More in the coming days about the journey there, impressions and of course images.

More images of Vesak

The parade took hours to pass so instead I wandered around to take in some of the amazing lanterns around my area

Images of Vesak

This full moon is a really special one - it is the Vesak celebration (Buddha Jayanti in Nepal) which is a really important celebration in Buddhism, marking Buddha’s birth, death and reaching nirvana or enlightenment.

What is fascinating is how differently the occasion is marked. In Sri Lanka, the streets have been filling with stalls lined with paper lanterns with trails, and buildings are being dressed up with garlands of lights. Important and holy places are adorned, and even main roundabouts are meticulously decorated with lights, lanterns and huge lotus blossom lamps.

In fact it reminds me more of Diwali or Tihar, the Hindu festival of Lights as it is often called. In Nepal, on the day of Laxmi Puja, the day to celebrate the goddess of wealth (Laxmi) is the highlight of the Tihar festival. Garlands of lights are strung on buildings and thousands upon thousands of butter milk candles are prepared for lighting when night falls. The belief is that Laxmi will visit the most brightly illuminated homes and bestow wealth for the coming year. Little footprints of mud guide her to the places where she should focus her wealth (we always used to have a trail leading to the safe in our office!) As evening would fall the Kathmandu Valley would be ablaze with lights until inevitably the power would fail with the huge overload. Then it would be bathed in the gentle warm glow of thousands of buttermilk candles, which I found incredibly beautiful.

So I find Vesak in Colombo reminiscent of a very different Festival in Nepal. Here are a few images for starters.........

As evening falls you can see the lights and lanterns at most houses lighting up.

The full moon shines over the cityMy neighbours have decorated their door with a bright star lantern.

And thousands of these lanterns are strung everywhere in streets, outside buildings and homes.

Now a parade is coming along our street so I am off to watch it .....

Second impressions

A few more impressions of the early days of life and work in Sri Lanka…

· In Nepal I was almost always called (elder) sister “didi” – in the street, in shops, in meetings, in restaurants and even in the doctor’s surgery. I have to stress that the elder reference is more a mark of respect than seniority in age of course!!! In South India and in Sri Lanka so far, I seem to be called Madam everywhere.
· Fish! Fish available everywhere – from the wee guy nipping in and out of gates in the residential areas with a pole balancing two containers of extremely fresh fish for sale to the (smelly) aisle of dried fish in the supermarket.
· Curried banana flowers – mmmm.
· The removal of alcohol, meat and eggs from sale every full moon.
· A different dress code for women in Colombo – there are traditional Sri Lankan saris with a little frill (I’ll get a picture as I cant easily describe it), Indian saris and a few shalwar kameez, but in the main women of all ages wear blouse and skirt – very different to Nepal and India.

And finally – a little moment to share. On Friday evening, as I was enjoying a lovely cold beer with a friend to mark the start of the weekend, the waiter helpfully topped up my friend’s glass. He did this with a rather interesting technique, holding the bottle well above the glass and pouring with quite a flourish – with the result that the beer promptly produced an unbelievable amount of froth. The waiter responded to our amusement by blaming the beer! “Little bit bubble coming up”, he announced! Little bit bubble?? My friend’s beer was proudly sporting a 6 inch head of froth!!! It’s incredible how much a little bit bubble can lighten the mood and make you laugh!

Taking a moment to think of others

This week has been momentous in my profession. And for reasons I wish were different.

It is two weeks since Burma was ravaged by Cyclone Nargis and the extent of the disaster is still emerging. Now we have some news about our friends and colleagues there and send all strength and wishes to tackle the immense tragedy of the disaster and moreover, its after effects.

In the midst of images of the carnage in Burma which were challenging us in our comfort, the news of the earthquake in Sichuan started to break. Now, 6 days after the disaster there I am stunned by the images of the devastation and the extent of the loss of life. In the coming weeks we will begin to understand what this means for families not just in terms of loss of life, but how on earth to begin to rebuild homes, livelihoods, communities and to deal with the intangible losses. Even though I have been inside a building which was damaged during a major earthquake (the earthquake of December 26 2004), I cannot begin to imagine the terror and fear of the people who lived through this horror.

My friends and colleagues are working round the clock and in conditions far beyond the comprehension of many of us in both of these emergencies. Their dedication and professionalism is both inspiring and humbling.

All those affected by and working in these disasters should be in at least our thoughts, and preferably our actions.