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Flames of fury and fear burning away almost all the hope we hold inside for a future with no violence and no political rivalries, but little we can do as our voices remain unheard in spite of endless acts put together in displaying the thoughts and views for a brighter future. Overcoming the disrespect and distrust towards the Government is not an easy task compared to the bitter experiences of the past, but nevertheless the least we can do is appreciate the effort they are taking to make this peace process successful. Little we do know about the insight of the actual process and the intentions hidden behind the large gates of the negotiators. People talk everyday about war and peace, this has just become a common subject but the interest shown lacks the energy or the power to step forward and take this to a higher level of thought. Mixed thoughts are been expressed about the middlemen, the so-called independent group facilitating the peace process, to which side do they show the most affection. People express their views and ideas in so much of word, some filling pages of daily newspapers and vibrating between our eyes and ears every time we are exposed to media. The letter formation of the words are of less importance but what is important is how it’s been put to act without any hesitation, with the pure intention of the well-being of the locals sharing the same composition of soil in every corner of this land enriched with the kind hearts of people who are always well-known for their hospitality and always to be the first helping hand when needed. It’s still not clear where it all went wrong but we could always take a few moments of our lives just to turn back and understand our doings and their consequences. Learn from them to move on with the intention of being responsible for a better future where we all could be proud of and set an example to the rest of the world that the language you speak no longer matter to share the same composition of soil for a rich harvest. Tryst with the only racist restaurantI’ve only just returned after a fantastic holiday of 10 days in Sri Lanka. A country where smiles are a generous commodity and where the hospitality is one of the best I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, it was one stray incident at the gallery cafe in Colombo that left me and those I was travelling with shocked and appalled at the evident and direct racist attack on Indians. We had gone to the gallery cafe Colombo 3 on Tuesday June 27, 2006 afternoon for a nice lunch and to end our super trip in Sri Lanka as we were leaving later that evening. A close friend of ours, who is the wife of a senior hotelier in Colombo, took us there as she thought we’d enjoy the place. The place was trendy and very contemporary chic. After being seated and our order taken, we slipped back into our chairs little realising the trauma and ordeal that was to follow. Our order, rather simple, a Gazpacho soup, Blue Cheese Tart and a Mushroom Puff Pastry were our preferences from the printed menu. After 20 minutes of ordering, the waiter returned to tell me (my order was the Blue Cheese Tart) that they had run out of the tart. Fair enough. I pondered and ordered a Caesars Salad. After another 30 minutes, our friend requested the waiter to get our food as it was quite a while since we’d placed the order. An additional 15 minutes later she again requested a reminder for our order. The waiter babbled something and disappeared. By then, famished and rather tired of waiting for almost an hour of no service we requested the waiter to call the manager. The manager came and we enquired as to the delay on our order. He mumbled incoherently and then argued that we’d ordered a soup and that the soup was to be brought later or first etc. Needless to say, we were confused at his defensive and argumentative response. We requested that if it was going to take that long, he should cancel the order and that we’d leave. By now famished and rather irritated at the service rendered we requested him to call the owner - so that could offer feedback on the delay of what would normally be a very simple order. All the while, expats who’d been pouring in after us seemed to be served rather promptly. When the owner came, I addressed him saying “I’m sorry to have to tell you that we’ve not had a very good experience here ...”. Before I could finish my sentence he aggressively and in loud staccato replied, “Then I think you should never ever bother to come back here”! The four of us were too stunned to respond! However realising that feedback was wasted on the defensive and overtly aggressive gentlemen I nodded and we ate the food that appeared miraculously in less than a minute of the manager having gone to get the owner and after our requesting him to cancel the order. The owner must have been more irate at not having received a reprimand from us for his outburst, for he moved to the table right next to us and started screaming about having had the Maharaja of Udaipur patronising his restaurant and then rushed to procure photographs for the stunned patrons as proof! We finished our meal in silence not heeding to his insanity and requested for the bill. The bill had on a charge for the Blue Cheese Tart that never came! After pointing that out, we waited to pay the corrected bill. Meanwhile, our friend and my mother had already moved towards the exit and were heading to the ladies. What ensued is perhaps the first incident of its kind after 60 years of colonial rule! The owner, a Sri Lankan gentleman, with an affected clipped accent thicker than most Englishmen alive today and apparently still entangled in a time warp of a colonial hang over, ran towards our friend literally barking out “So you still have a problem with this place?” Our friend, firstly not accustomed to such behaviour nor expecting such an attack was astounded and politely responded that she had never had nor has a problem with the place but was offering feedback. Before she could even complete what she was saying, the colonial-hung-over-lost-royal screamed that “we have a problem with all Indian customers ... we don’t like Indians for that reason ... we don’t want them here ... you’re Indian, aren’t you? Aren’t you?” She was too stunned to respond and stood in horror at the outburst and his savage demeanour. She explained that yes, she was Indian and as the wife of a very senior hotelier in Colombo had been to the gallery cafe and was never meted out such service. He enquired which hotel, and on being told the name, sneered and added ... “well then you should know what Indians are like and aren’t you used to dealing with Indians? You should know what to expect from Indians!”. At that stage my father and I had emerged from the recesses of the restaurant after averting a possible con billing and I told my friend to let things be and we headed to the car. He followed us out babbling to no one in particular about how he’s not there to please everyone. A white expat couple at the entrance were bewildered when he walked up to them and complained how terrible Indians were and how he’s not going to please everyone etc. The outcome of this incident is clear. The angst we face is not at the pathetic service, this owner’s uncalled for verbal attacks nor his lack of empathy at the extremely poor service. Our fury is directed at his discriminating against all Indians and his apparent insecurity with them patronising his restaurant. In a country where there is no dearth of smiles, he should come to terms with the fact that he no longer is a colonial servant and move on by dropping the affected chip on his shoulder and furthermore swallow some humble pie when getting feedback from paying customers! But then again ... maybe that too is not on the menu there. Arrogance, high handedness and a great scoop of racism surely are! To my fellow Indians travelling to Sri Lanka, my travel wisdom dictate would be - if you plan to have a super vacation in Sri Lanka, avoid this gallery cafe - it’s the only other nastiness after the terrorists in Sri Lanka that leaves much to be desired! Ironically, this incident occurred one day after a widely read national daily in Sri Lanka declared in its headline story that Indians were the highest spending tourists to Sri Lanka and that their spending in Sri Lanka outweighed that of all other visiting nationalities. But I guess that means little to someone who doesn’t want Indians in his restaurant or did he mean ‘his’ country?! Jail for rumour mongersA top ranking Police officer was taken in for questioning in connection with the spreading of rumours..... Why hasn’t he been exposed..., eg. his name? title? most importantly his picture spread across in all the major newspapers? These type of people should not be safeguarded by our so called political/constitutional system. They should be stripped of their uniform so that everyone in the country will understand that he is a traitor. This is not just a joke, we are trying to deal and curb the terrorist, so let’s nib our own traitors before it spreads further and make an awareness/send a message across to the others. Flavoured tea-bagsI completely agree Europeans are all out for flavoured tea-bags, it would double the sales, if Sri Lanka took this into consideration. My favourite tea flavours are ginger, cinnamon+apple etc. Don’t wait till it’s too late, please do something about it. The flavoured teas, should come from the countries that export tea, and not flavoured by the buyers. |
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