Boxing Day 2004

Boxing Day 2004

Started my secondment on 15 Dec 2004. Wasn't a good start - went on two days' sick leave right after reporting. Damn! The flu bug is a resistant one. The cough is still there.

New place, new people, new routines, new environment, new politics, new information, new challenges, new working style... Except no (re)newed enthusiasm. Well, it's all right for me. I'll just learn whatever is there and equip myself with the skills needed to do the job well. Hey! When's my next promotion? My neck's growing and soon I'll be a giraffe... with a pig's body.

So, Christmas has come and gone. Boxing day is what I am more concerned with in this post.

This year, Boxing Day took on a new meaning. Before much of south Asia could unwrapp their presents, they had to place many of their loved ones and visitors into empty "boxes". A major 8.9 earthquake hit Indonesia, off Aceh, and sent tidal waves crashing into other countries like Sri Lanka (where I had just returned from a fortnight ago!), India, Bangladesh, Sumatra (Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand), and Penang, Kedah, and Perlis (Malaysia).

The death toll so far has exceeded 10 000 and is expected to rise. This is probably one of the biggest misfortune to hit this year.

In fact, it may seem quite out-of-place here but my travelling companion will tell you that I've actually mouthed that a major calamity will hit Sri Lanka while I was on my trip. I even told him it won't be 6 months before the even occurred and this event will wipe out most of the coastal regions (especially from Hambantota all the way up the Capital city, Colombo).

It seemed contrite now to say so but the signs were obvious. I stayed one night at the Unawatuna Beach Resort after visiting the Tea Plantation in Nuwaya Eliya, and at the UBR, I was terribly irritable and jumpy. Nothing felt right. The entire room looked downcast and forebearing. I was crumbling under the weight of the atmosphere in the room and this, to me, does not bode well.

Dinner and breakfast were terrible and I just wanted to get out of the UBR. Actually, there was a reason for not mentioning this during my earlier post - it could be just me or my demanding standards not being met. It's not fair to run down a beach resort establishment just because I feel awkward. But it's very rarely that I get so worked up over a stay there but it just didn't feel right. I simply hated that place.

The morning that we left, I told my travelling companion that UBR is facing something that could just wipe the whole thing out. It's just so bad and "evil".

Enroute, I had visited the Galle Reform Church during my visit and while I was in the toilet, the entire toilet turned a crimson shade of red. I thought it was me or my eyes making fun of me but I noticed the sunlight between the roof and the wall and nothing changed and then the room shone red again.

I finished my business, scampered out of the loo and resolved to stand at the gate of the church, never to step foot into it again. (A meditation master told my mum last week, as she recounted my experience, that this could mean that there is imminent danger and it could be a warning for me to get out of that place.) But who would have thought?

I went up to another resort at Wadduwa, up the western coast. I didn't enjoy my stay at Wadduwa either. The waves were exceptionally high that day. It was just about to rain and just for that, I could see the waves rise like 2 metres. There was an angry roar of the waves all throughout the stay. I commented to my partner that if the waves came in any higher, the pool, which lies between the sea and the rooms, would be entirely over-run, and if it were just that much higher, the rooms would be hit.

I cannot imagine the state that it's in now.

The entire feeling was simply not that good all the way up on the coast. To think about it, the first night when I arrived, I asked the porter, who was leading us to our room, if the hotel building housing our room was ex-British army barracks. I was told it wasn't but it still didn't diminish the feeling that I'm "descending" into "hell" as I walked towards my cell...

I'm just so glad that I'm back safely and yet, I'm so saddened by the fact that a simple ripple could do so much damage. Many of these places are enjoying an influx of tourists who are there to escape the harsh winters. Unfortunately, they could not escape the rising waters.

It will be a long while before these countries can get back on their feet again.

Boxing Day would never feel the same again for many many people.