Saturday 3rd January 2026

Daya's cousin/sister, Chenu, and family stayed over last night, and she cooked idli for breakfast - with catni (pronounced satni) and sambal - and it was delicious. Daya is one of three brothers, but he grew up with his father's brother's family, and they had three daughters, which is why, although they are technically cousins, they seem far more like older sisters. This is very common all over Sri Lanka, where cousins are often referred to as brothers or sisters.

It was my last day to relax at Daya's home with his family, and it was indeed a very relaxing time for me. After a bit of a lie-in and a chilled-out morning, I braved the searing heat and walked into Norwood Town to check out a guest house there called Chef King, which is where I will spend the week immediately prior to Daya and Vinothini's wedding, as Daya's house will fill up with relatives from all over the place then, so it will be a good time for me to make myself scarce!

I took photos as I walked into Norwood, but they don't really do justice to the incredible beauty of the surroundings here. There were many ladies out picking tea, so I took a few photos of them, as a reminder to me of why I am out here. Pictures of ladies picking tea leaves in brilliant sunshine might look rather idyllic to tourists, but picking tea leaves all day long in this heat (or in the pouring rain) is very taxing on the body, and extremely poorly paid.

Tea Leaf's Main Diploma, which lasts for a calendar year, provides an opportunity for some of the poorest people from these Tea Estates in the Hill Country to learn English (alongside other key skills) which will open up opportunities to secure a much wider range of jobs than might have been available to them without a good level of English. Daya, his fiancee Vino, and his brother Ragu all completed the Main Diploma, and have moved onto good positions of employment.

Today's photographs show my delicious breakfast this morning and my beautiful stroll into Norwood this afternoon.









Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2026 at 8:30 AM

    Thank you for the blog post, very much enjoyed the descriptions of family life and the country.

    ReplyDelete

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