Saturday 14th January 2023

The weekend arrived, and it was a relaxed morning - and well into the afternoon too - as Daya had invited me to go to Norwood to celebrate Thai Pongal, which is a Tamil Harvest Festival celebrated at the start of the first month of the year, which on Tamil is Thai, so it is often just called Pongal. In the end, I found somewhere very cheap to stay for tonight, so I decided to travel up to Norwood with Daya today, eventually leaving around 16:00.

We just managed to get a government bus to Hatton, and then when we got to Hatton, we transferred to a tuk-tuk for the rest of the journey, arriving in Norwood around dusk, to see a carnival-type float that the Hindu temple had released to journey round the town for the occasion. There was certainly a holiday atmosphere around, and it was a double celebration, as we were celebrating Daya's birthday - and his brother Rasi's too.

Daya was 30 on Tuesday, and his brother Rasi was 24 on the same day. Their middle brother, Ragu, who is 27, had travelled up from Colombo with a couple of friends, so that all three brothers could be together for the birthday celebration, which they try to do every year. They had made such an effort, and we had a fun evening together, as they cut cake and shared some lovely presents with each other.

I had booked a night at the Eastern View Guest House in Norwood town, at the extraordinary cost of 2,500 LKR (about £5.60). It was basic, for sure, but it had a sit-on toilet (a 'must', I find), a hot shower, and a comfortable bed. They were even throwing in a cup of hot tea in the morning, so I was delighted! Unfortunately, there was no internet access, so after a tiring afternoon travelling and a busy evening, this daily blog got delayed.

Today's photos show our arrival in Norwood at dusk, with a few photos of the birthday celebrations at Daya's family home.










Comments

  1. CharlesJanuary 17, 2023 at 1:02 AM

    I was wondering what you were up to over the weekend, Keith, and should have known you would be living it up with some lads. Is the lady in the cake photo their mother?

    ReplyDelete
  2. ClaireJanuary 26, 2023 at 1:46 AM

    So lovely to spend time with local people- much better than being a tourist!

    ReplyDelete

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