(no subject)

[ourdramaqueen]

There'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! ;)

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Did you live in Sri Lanka then? I've had so many friends from Sri Lanka throughout my life in various places! I've always been a little fascinated.

And big spiders? Just how big?

[ourdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

No, but my ex boyfriend is a Tamil from Sri Lanka, so I've visited there several times. Once on my own, when I had a two-week guided tour (on my own! It was SO cool to have your private guide) and saw some of the tourist attractions and also did a one-week Ayurveda treatment - bliss! And with my boyfriend I've been a couple of times, the last time in 2004 also in his home village near Jaffna, the Tamil capital, so to speak. It was difficult in the sense that except my boyfriend, at best there was one other person around who spoke German or English, so often I'd not understand much of what was going on, but I'm not that talkative anyway, so it wasn't too bad most of the time, and occasionally I did snap up little bits.

I've been fascinated by Sri Lanka since reading a book as a child that took place there - before the Singhalese-Tamil conflict. It's such a gorgeous country and the people are very welcoming and friendly, especially when you show interest in their culture. Such a shame that they can't come to an understanding to end the conflict. *sigh*

It was a bit difficult to judge as they didn't show much for size comparison, but some of the spiders were pretty hairy, so I guess, pretty big too. Too funny that we never saw any, especially in my boyfriend's home village - we were staying in simple houses. Saw a centipede outside sometime, and lots of other small animals, like Geckos and frogs, and bats which were shadows in the dark really. Oh yes and the praying mantis that one night banged - loudly too! - into the window when we were all sitting outside on the porch. Of course I had to immediately go investigate, and for a bit it stayed on my hand while it recovered, before flying off again. I think it was a pregnant female, it was pretty fat, and must have been about as long as my finger, and a lovely green. So gorgeous. I've always been fascinated by them, and my boyfriend's family was very amused by that. :)