Cigarettes, Pork sausages, tight jeans, facials and POSON

Almost after two months, I was thinking of writing a post on the 'much anticipated' Bradby Train & the Second Leg of the Bradby. However, thanks to the load of presentations, mid terms and assignments I not only missed the golden opportunity to get into the Bradby Train which was railed after 20+ years, but missed the Bradby at Bogambara.

Despite all these hardships, I managed to take my grandma to the temple on June 25 (Friday), marking the Poson day. The temple was a popular one among the pilgrims all around the island. On the way to the temple we had to buy the necessary stuff such as ‘handunkooru’ and ‘pahanthira’. (I seriously don’t know the English terms for these, I have heard some calling handunkooru’s as ‘some’ sticks).  

There was this grocery which had a massive queue, mostly due to a 'Manioc dansala' being underway at its immediate next door.

With the greatest difficulty, I crept through the crowd and managed to stand at the 5^th place in the queue. There were three men and one woman infront of me.

“Gold leaf ekak denna” (Give me a Gold leaf), the guy at the front requested. The mudalali with no hesitation at all made the familiar tap at the edge of the stick and gave it to his ‘customer’.

The second guy, this time with a bit low tone, “mudalali, Bristol hatharak dennako” (Give me four Bristols). At this point, mudalali might have understood that the demand for ‘smoking sticks’ hadn’t sunken despite being THE Poson day.

I almost had two smokers infront of me. One guy and the woman are yet to make their purchases. The guy went first. “Coke buddy ekai Soda ekai” (One Coke buddy and a Soda). I was waiting to hear the woman’s pick! “Pork sausages thiyenawada?” (Do you have Pork sausages?) she asked. Unfortunately for her the grocery didn’t have enough stock I guess.

After she left, I purchased my needy stuff and drove towards the temple.

The temple was not that crowded as it was for Wesak. However there was seen an improvement in the number of tight jeans. Tight skirts (and the list goes towards the negative side). Interestingly and literally it was not the temple I saw four years ago. It had become a fashion den! Was amazed to see some women with facials, make ups and polished nails carrying pots of water and of course doing the cat walk towards the Bodhiya to pour the water.

In the mean time there was this small family I located, the mother and two daughters, sitting at a far corner and reading a pirith book. All three of them had curly hair, dressed in bright white and certainly are head turners. I was happy by the fact that they atleast knew how to dress and sit properly!