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Nancy and Tracy in Sri Lanka - July 31-August 14, 2025
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From Visakha:
What a splendiferous two weeks we spent with Nancy! Although I'd met her many times, this was the first time to really get to know her, and it was wonderful. First, how brave of her to come all this way at her age and to embrace every adventure and challenge! I can't believe how downright tough she is--from the time she left until we called her at her place in Maryland, we had two full nights sleep while she was up and moving! She sounded as perky as could be! Many thanks to Tracy for making it possible.
I want to thank her for two very special things we shared. We take our access to Aljazeera, BBC, France 24, and Euro News on TV, as well as to MSNBC, Democracy Now, Medhi Hasan, etc. on the internet, quite for granted. Nancy watched a lot of them with me, both on TV and on my computer. She was overcome with emotion at times over the devastation in Gaza, especially the starving children and the murdered Aljazeera reporters. Evidently it is not easy to know what's really going on in the US.
The other bond was learning about her depression long ago, with two little boys, and strong feelings of loneliness and helplessness. She seriously studied and practiced Transendental Meditation, and it saved her. It was wonderful to meditate together when the schedule permitted.
We miss her very much, and that includes Michelle and Leo too! I feel like I know my sister-in-law for the first time, and she's a jewel!
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On Saturday, August 2, our dear friend, Jagath, arranged for Rukshan, the driver who had picked them up at the airport, to take them to Minneriya to experience the gathering of elephants. Barbara, Mike's mother, who has recently relocated to Sri Lanka was delighted to join them for this delightful all-day excursion.
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Shopping at Laksala
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Shopping at Arpico, 3 kinds of mangoes
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The reason for scheduling the visit in August was to coincide with the Esala Perahera, the largest and most important festival in Sri Lanka. It is a four-hour procession with innumerable musicians and dancers and at least eighty fully caparisoned elephants--a truly magnificent spectacle. We reserved seats in the Queen's Corridor, on the main street of town. The procession doesn't begin until about eight o'clock in the evening, but all traffic is restricted from early afternoon, so we had to be in town no later that 2:30. Two three-wheelers, driven by Ashoka and his friend Darshana, drove the five of us--Nancy, Tracy, Barbara, Daniel, and Ken--to Laksala for Nancy to do her gift shopping. We had lunch next door in the World Food Court of Kandy City Center, delicious and convenient, but rather noisy. Getting in and out with plastic meal cards was at first confusing, but interesting.
From there, we had intended to walk to the theater on the other side of the lake to attend the Kandyan Dance performance, but we were running late. The dances usually begin at five and end at six to coordinate with the ceremony at the Temple of the Tooth. During the Perahera, however, they begin at four-thirty. It was already after four, so Ken realized that we did not have enough time to walk there. On the way to the City Centre, he had been accosted by a three-wheeler driver, which surprised him because he thought that all traffic in town was stopped. "Aha!" he thought. "Those three-wheelers are able to run around town, but not to go out and come in again." Sure enough, that same driver and a friend were still there and willing to take us around the lake--a bit pricey, but very convenient and agreeable. That gave Nancy the chance to circumnavigate the entire lake, which she would not have been able to do otherwise. We arrived in plenty of time.
At the rececption, when the attendant asked for the tickets, Ken get out his phone to show the receipt he had received the day before via WhatsApp. No sooner had he unzipped the pocket of his bag than the attendant said, "Kawasaki? Five tickets. OK." We paid and entered the auditorium, where we were greeted by an usher who greeted us, "Mr. Kawasaki? This way." Ken hesitated and explained to the others that he had previously sat in the front of the balcony and had a great view of the stage. Hearing this, the usher said, "No! You have to be down for the fire walking." Then he led us to the front row where five seats had been reserved for us. Perfect!
The dances were thrilling. The costumes were colorful; the choreography, artistic; the acrobatics, including innumerable back flips, astounding; and all the dancers were constantly smiling, which you cannot see unless you are in the front row. After the fire-walking finale, which was truly unbelievable, Nancy and Barbara were able to have their photo taken with one of the drummers. The entire show was extremely satisfying.
It was still light when we came out of the theater, so we strolled along the lakeshore and took a few photos, thinking it would be an easy ten-minute walk around end of the lake, past the Temple of the Tooth, to the Queen's Hotel. We had to pass through security which was quite surprising. Ken thought that this was to go into the Temple and explained that we wanted to go to the Hotel. The guards insisted that everyone had to pass through security, so we did.
Once through security, we discovered that the roadway was blocked and that we had to walk on the sidewalk (pavement) bordering the lake. Unfortunately, the pavement was already PACKED with thousands of people, mostly Sri Lankan with a smattering of foreign tourists, waiting in place to see the procession. The first five minutes of squeezing through were difficult, and progress was very slow. Then the crowd became denser, and at times we could not move at all. A few people stepped back or forward to try to give us a chance to push our way through, but most of the time no one could move at all. At one point a policeman jostled the crowd to help us, but even he gave up. Nancy insisted that Ken hold her hand so that they stayed together, but, much of the time, there was at least one other person between them. Ken began shouting, "Make way! Coming through!" and pushed with a bit of force. We have, in the past, compared getting off a bus in Korea with the birth process, but this was even more so. Finally, when we got past the high fence and could see the street leading to the hotel, we were able to step between seated people down to the front. Then the only problem was squeezing between the crossbars of the fence erected to separate viewers and performers. Most of us were slim and agile, but this was a real challenge for Tracy with his recently replaced knee. He was able to do it, however, with the help of a couple of policemen. When we got to our seats, the usher commented, "You're late." Ken simply replied, "Tell me about it!" Our seats were comfortable, and the procession was splendid.
Sunday, August10, we began celebrating Ken's birthday (August), Visakha's birthday (September), our 50th wedding anniversary, and our 20th anniversary of living in Sri Lanka (both October) with a wonderful dana. There were seven monks, two nuns, and about thirty guests. It was Nancy's first such experience and a joyous occasion for all. We look forward to more celebrations and BRM fund-raising events in the coming months.
Coming home one day, we stopped to see the river. Nancy was intrigued by the aerial roots of the banyan tree.
One afternoon, Nancy and Tracy visited Waruna's Antiques on Peradeniya and admired the plethora of fascinating articles Waruna has in his recently remodeled shop. We had met Waruna shortly after we arrived in Kandy in 2005. One Sunday, we joined the Discovery Club for one of their monthly outings. This one happened to be a visit to Samadhi Centre, a boutique meditation hotel set in the middle of a forest in Digana, north of Kandy. The owner, Waruna, had built several two-suite lodges on the hillsides of a river valley. Each lodge, as well as the central dining hall-reception, was decorated and fitted with antiques, including doors, locks, mirrors, and furniture. Being younger and quite mobile at that time, we had wandered through the forest and admired most of the unique lodges. We also spent a good deal of time with Waruna and his Japanese wife, Yumi. Several years later, when our friend , Bruce, visited from Japan, he informed us that he had been in contact with a man named Waruna who was interested in anique Japanese fabrics. We realized that that was the same man we had met, and it renewed our relationship. Since then, we have visited Samadhi Centre quite a few times, and Waruna invited us again for Ken's birthday. Dennis joined us for a scrumptious vegetarian meal (with little chillie) and a delightful afternoon. On our walk through the forest, Nancy found an unusual and intriguing flower, but she could not find the tree from which it had fallen. An internet search revealed that the tree is Monodora undulata, which is native to central African countries, obviously spread in Asia by the Portuguese, the same as the splendid and prolific bougainvilla. Though the flower somewhat resembles the highly poisonous glory lily (niyangala), which we have in our garden, the two are unrelated.
Two years ago, Waruna, gave us a beautiful (and very heavy) antique Buddha image for our anniversary.
On Ken' actual birthday, Nancy ordered a special cake and we had a simple celebration at home--Lily's scrumptious omelet for lunch and deliclious cake and ice cream for dessert.
To complete Nancy's gift shopping, Ashoka took us to the Queen's, the oldest hotel in the country, to meet our favorite jeweler, Tissa. After purveying all the loose stones, Nancy chose two dazzling Sri Lankan gems, a blue topaz and a garnet, to be set in custom-crafted silver tie tacks. In that she would be flying home in two days, she wondered whether there was enough time to make the pins, but Tissa assured her that he would deliver them before she left. Indeed, he brought therm to the house the next day for approval. They needed a bit of alteration, so he took them back and delivered them again, perfectly finished, a few hours before her van left Kandy.
On their last full day in Sri Lanka, Nancy and Tracy spent several hours in the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, which are among the most beautiful in the world, and which, we believe, rival the Kew Gardens in London. They had expected to ride the electric open bus to save Tracy's knee, but they missed the depargure, and there was not another scheduled for quite a while. Actually, they were happy with the outcome, for they met a guide who took them everywhere and explained everything, and the walking was not bad at all..Tracy had visited the gardens two years ago with Bonnie, but he found that they are well worth a second visit, and Nancy was overwhelmed by the beauty.
We were happy to share our collection of more than 1000 movies with Nancy, but she had time to watch only a few: "The Temple Troop," "India Untouched," "Twenty-four Eyes," "Land of Pagodas, Land of Refugees," "Pride," "Waking Ned Devine," "Departures," and "Judgment at Nuremberg." She was also very moved by "Ruby Slippers," an episode of "The Mentalist." We have watched this particular program innumerable times and are always impressed by its expression of compassion, tolerance, empathy, and justice--unusual in TV detective serials.
Buddhist Relief Mission
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