The Return of the International Dilettante

So I’m back in Sri Lanka and I’m happy to report that it’s still hot. My first two nights I spent with the WSG (Women’s Support Group) My friend Maria Kenney is a founding mother of the group and they have a place in Colombo that houses their offices and meeting rooms. There is also a bedroom for interns, volunteers, women in crisis and the occasional like-minded international dilettante. In a culture where women are largely second class citizens, there is a real need for the services the WSG provides.
As usual, my first actual 12 hours in Sri Lanka was spent napping interrupted only by periodic bathroom breaks. My friend Lino is moving to a new apartment very near the WSG house and I was very little help, what with nodding off at the drop of a hat.
On my second day here, Janaka and I tracked down my faithful Sri Lankan sidekick and trishaw driver, Roy. It was a very happy reunion made happier when I told him my mom and I (with a little help from Bob Boozer) were buying him his own trishaw. Roy was absolutely pole-axed and couldn’t believe what Lino was translating to him.
Roy has been leasing a trishaw for about 200 rupees a day. He has to drive quite a few fares everyday to cover that and the cost of gas. Having his own trishaw immediately puts 200 rupees back in his pocket every day and he could actually start making a good living as well as helping to support his mom and dad as they get older.
The very next morning, Roy picked me up and we went to the dealership. We told them we were buying a trishaw; picked a color; got the total and left for the local HSBC for the money. In an amazingly easy transaction, the first of it’s kind for me in Sri Lanka, I secured three lahk and one of the armed guards escorted me back to Roy and the trishaw. A lahk is 100,000.00 rupees and the highest denomination of paper currency in Sri Lanka is the 1,000 rupee note. Suffice it to say, this was a pretty huge couple of bricks of currency.
Roy wanted a red tuk-tuk, but he would have had to wait until the next day for delivery. He changed his mind and got the blue tuk-tuk because he wanted to drive me around in it that day. Let me just say the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles could take a few clues from these guys. From the moment we first walked in to the dealership to the moment we drove away in the new blue trishaw, was a little over two hours. (Most of which was spent in dealer prep time) They handled the plates, registration, insurance everything …amazing…more later.