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Apr. 23rd, 2006 12:58 amThere's a documentary on one channel on TV about a Swiss writer called Nicolas Bouvier (who I've never heard of) who was staying in Sri Lanka (or Ceylon back then) for a while in the mid 50s. When I zapped into it, with no idea what it was, a vaguely Indian looking man was talking, and I thought "Does he speak Tamil?" I now tend towards not(and therefore Singhalese) after hearing him talk more, and since I tuned in they've not mentioned where in Sri Lanka this took place, so it's difficult to tell.
The documentary itself isn't so fascinating - the bits of that native man (who apparently knew Bouvier) talking are interspersed with loooots of excerpts from what sounds to be Bouvier's diary, spoken by some guy with a soft voice over grainy images which I guess are supposed to represent glimpses of his life there. Ah but so much in these images is familiar - the building style and layout of the village(s), the sparse furniture inside the houses, the trees and flowers and animals (though good grief, in all the times I went I can't remember having seen a scorpion or really big spider, and here they show lots), the people and their ways, the pitch black of the tropical night...
Oh, I see this documentary is already available on DVD, and they mention the South of Sri Lanka, so he was probably staying with Singhalese, who are dominant in that region.
Goodness, I really need to get used to going to bed earlier again...
ETA: Aaaaaaaahahaha German group Die Ärzte (or is that Bela B. solo?!) have done a music video very reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... ♥ Yes yes, I'm really going off now! ;)
The documentary itself isn't so fascinating - the bits of that native man (who apparently knew Bouvier) talking are interspersed with loooots of excerpts from what sounds to be Bouvier's diary, spoken by some guy with a soft voice over grainy images which I guess are supposed to represent glimpses of his life there. Ah but so much in these images is familiar - the building style and layout of the village(s), the sparse furniture inside the houses, the trees and flowers and animals (though good grief, in all the times I went I can't remember having seen a scorpion or really big spider, and here they show lots), the people and their ways, the pitch black of the tropical night...
Oh, I see this documentary is already available on DVD, and they mention the South of Sri Lanka, so he was probably staying with Singhalese, who are dominant in that region.
Goodness, I really need to get used to going to bed earlier again...
ETA: Aaaaaaaahahaha German group Die Ärzte (or is that Bela B. solo?!) have done a music video very reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... ♥ Yes yes, I'm really going off now! ;)
