~FLASHBACKS~ Memory Avenue: Escape to Isles Nostalgia ~Part One

Somewhere,
Touching down at Sri Lanka Airport we were all anxious to step out of the plane to breathe the fresh air after our long 4 hour flight. Outside the plane, our eyes peered at everything there was to see as though expecting an alien world. Alien or not, our minds were further away than our bodies were from home. Looking down to shade our eyes from the glare of the midday sun, we could feel the dryness of the air.

From the customs we headed off, shuttling to a Sri Lankan beach resort where we were supposed to spend the first foreign slumber. I tried to capture as much as I could of the world around me. Smelling the air, noticing the hawkers by the streets, gaping at the wide expanse of the sky.

Tired we were that day, travelers fatigue as so they say. I hadn’t the liveliness to explore the vicinity and we quickly retired to our beds after a short briefing. When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by the view of numerous little fishing boats drifting in the ocean. Picture perfect as though in a painting, a panorama of tiny paper rafts sifting the sea. So long have I not felt before the earnest to get out of bed to see the world.

Breakfast was served as a buffet, but food wasn’t quite on my mind. Walking along the sands I could see a stretches of fishing villages. The breaking waves shimmering under the glow of the rising sun. We trotted down to the bustling scene of fisherman reeling in their morning catch. There, under the shy gazes of the locals we helped the people pull in their boats to the shore...

The rest of the day was spent in blissful appreciation of paradise on earth. That night we could hardly sleep. So much experiences. And anticipation for what lies ahead for us tomorrow. Flight to South India.

Emerging from the cumulonimbus clouds, greetings by an astonishing landscape of greenery. The plane landed hard on the short tarmac at an dilapidated airport that was about as big as a bus interchange. All around you could see the sky, no tall buildings marred the landscape. Rustication.

To our amusement, tractors were used to move our luggages from the plane. Resourcefulness in a land short of resources. There it was as we stared, this little tractor lugging away at the load. So out of place as it seemed to us. So out of this world we seemed to them. Amidst the curious stares, away from the airport we traveled. To the city of Tiruchirappalli.

Herein lay the spawns of humanity…