We said goodbye to our friend from Batticaloa, Mr. Roshan Pratheepan and started our ride to Trincomalee in the afternoon on April 21, 2016. Benjamin Pages (the first French volunteer at Horizon Lanka) and I took turns in riding the bike as it was comfortable for both of us.
After leaving Batticaloa, we passed an area where the landmines set up during the civil war were yet to be removed. These are the remnants of the futile war that dragged Sri Lanka backward for almost three decades. Hope these landmines will be demined when I next take this road.
We passed several rivers and I do not remember their names. If you can identify them, please help me so that I could add the captions to the photos I publish here. Despite the presence of a number of blue rivers, there were large areas like below that did not have easy access to water for drinking or cultivating.
The presence of 3G and 4G mobile coverage in the areas along the road was inspiring. The billboards along the road tell you the importance of communication as a large number of Tamil people in these villages had migrated to other parts of the world due to the prolonged civil war. At least one member of most of the families is abroad according to the people I talked to. So, they need decent mobile coverage and the telcos exploit the conditions. Can’t blame them. For them, it is a business and for the people, it is a luxury.
Trincomalee City
I met Ruwan Deepal Sooriyarachchi, a former colleague of mine at Trincomalee. He is a member of the Sri Lanka Air Force. He worked for Horizon Lanka Foundation a long time ago. He works hard, reads a lot and speaks good English. We had a delicious dinner at a Saiva Kade and said goodbye to each other.
Ben and I spent some time in the beach which was lit by the moon. Then we spent the night at a rest house in Dyke Street (:-)) in Trincomalee beach side.
With Ruwan Deepal’s friend and Ruwan Deepal
Nanda Wanninayaka 