The
incessant drizzle has been hours now. It had ceased for a while when I got
home. Just enough for Jaspers run, walk and toilet. Now late summer evening,
but unusually dark due to the rain clouds and that bloody drizzle. Like the
last drops we squeeze out when peeing, but for hours.
Cooked
a venison sausage curry (the joys of the stix – proper venison sausages from
the local butcher) and ate with just white jasmine rice. Kids away on head
start and Melo’s vegetarian today. So she will be British, something like
olives, cheese and biscuits for dinner. Any health benefit spoilt by the
Lucozade she chugs afterwards. Busy at work, so she’s not home yet.
I
am set up on the sofa. Mobile, Laptop and TV remotes. Although I have left the
back door open I don’t feel really cold. I am in a white skinny and my now new
favourite, a Paradise Road sarong. Well worn with age I must add. The quick
zoot fix for the days ends nicely settling in. One of the reasons I am finding
the weather quite mild. When your head feels really heavy, the mild breeze
coming in through the door and the Wimbledon on BBC TV in the background merge
into this gorgeous feeling of contentment and comfort. My body has sunk into
the leather sofa, moulding it to shape.
My
mind wonders all the way back to Wattapuluwa, Kandy, and the outside weather
adding to enhance my memories.
I
can feel the bus shudder and the driver furiously grinding the gears as he
coaxes the bus up the Kadugannawa mountain. It is time for me to perk up in my
seat and wipe the journey out of my eyes. I am almost home. The silhouette of
the bible rock is only an outline on this late Friday evening. I am on a
Colombo – Kandy Intercity bus on my way home for the weekend. The worries and
heat of the week left behind as the cool breezes of Kandy caress me as they
flow through our groaning bus as it climbs the mountain.
All
too soon we’re in Kandy. The wonder of mobile technology has allowed me to
phone ahead to inform my parents I am close to Kandy. I am one of the quicker
people to exit the bus, as I have no bags to encumber me. Quick stretch and I
look around for the car. The bright cyan blue, yes BCB, Lancer station wagon is
easy to spot as it shines brightly through the incredible clutter of the sights,
sounds and exotic and not so scents of Kandy. Huge yellow buses, Red CTB buses,
the KFC double decker, the private
intercity buses with their bright plumage of advertising, vendors with their
carts brightly lit in glorious fluorescent is a panorama of colour. Nighttime
adds to the romance of the situation.
Kumara,
our trusted driver, gardener, valet and Mr. Fixit greets me with a big grin as
I jump into the car. He does not forget to pull over at a roadside liquor shop
for my customary Friday night in Kandy by myself quart. Which is gulped down in
three hefty swigs, quick Gold Leaf and I jump back in car. Kumara already has a
menthol toffee ready for me to pop into the mouth in readiness for the meeting,
worshipping and kissing of said parent now waiting in Wattapuluwa wondering why
the five-mile drive to Wattapulwa from Kandy Town is taking us so long. My
father silently suspecting it would probably be a tot at an aforesaid roadside
tavern.
Finally
we climb the mountainous roads of Wattapuluwa and get home. I jump out to open
the gate for the car to take the sharp turn that leads to an incline directly
to the top floor living room and front entrance. Everything is bathed in the
headlights. Ninja my mothers Alsatian dog’s barking and jumping in delight. My
nephews and niece are screaming the news of my arrival to everyone in the
neighbourhood. The house lights up with everyone exiting their rooms and my
mother who was sitting in the living room switches on the house foyer and
garden lights.
There
is a cacophony of sound. All blurring into hugs, kisses and screams of welcome.
The big Alsatian dog has suddenly been overcome with love and is humping my leg
at the same time. I am home.
The
TV flickers incessantly very like the rain outside. It’s 7pm, the reminder for
the famous US TV program COPS has come up. I switch it on. I am home. In
England. The clouds have cleared. I can hear the steady distant drone of an
aircraft overhead. We’re directly on a flight path but thankfully really high
up. I hear the chirping of birds competing with the aircraft, a helicopter
suddenly flies by. I glance up and outside. A blur of white, light blue, grey
sky, brown garden fencing, green grass and a bunch of bullfinch are busily
feeding on worms the rain has unearthed.
I
have to go now, I can hear reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment