The route.The first attempt, the most successful, came right after my last post, when I left for Ratnapura to see the perahera from the Maha Saman Devale to the top of the mountain and watch the ceremonies to open the pilgrimage season. I was prepared for an extremely arduous and potentially multi-day walk, since I thought that the perahera would take the route on the Ratnapura side of the mountain, but it turns out that they take the Saman statue from the temple in a vehicle to Nalatanniya and walk up the mountain from the Hatton side (a much shorter walk, but steeper). When the adventure was going well I imagined myself writing this blog entry with glowing descriptions of things that had happened, with the title of “The Longest Perahera in the World” (how the Maha Saman Devale’s lay caretaker/administrator described it) or something, but the experience ended up including some unpleasant elements that left me with a bit of a bitter taste, and I’ve been reluctant to write about the trip as a result. (Overall, the adventure was worth the crappy parts, and I had some great conversations with some of the pilgrims and came away with a lot of good information in my notebook. But there were about forty five minutes of extreme discomfort.)
Before I left Toby asked me to give a call when I arrived, and since I’ve discovered that I far prefer to send text messages than to have phone conversations to convey basic facts, I kept him updated on my whereabouts that way. The following is the trip told through text messages:
Just arrived in Ratnapura, only three and a half hours! No traffic. Heading to devale shortly. [Delia, 2 Dec 2006, 10:45]
Fantastic! Keep on rockin not stoppin! [Toby, 2 Dec 2006, 12:10]
I just drank one of our thambili, best i ever had. [Toby, 2 Dec 2006, 17:11]
Here’s what I found out: perahera is tomorrow morning! First they take vehicles to Nalatane then go on foot to the top. The bad news: the lay head of the temple made it sound like the perahera was only for the priests and monks, but I’m going to try to join it anyway. The good news: had a great visit to the temple, great conversations, and visual satisfaction! [Delia, 2 Dec 2006, 17:20]
Outstanding! Dont give up easy, and keep doing what you know you must: grind until you get it. [Toby, 2 Dec 2006, 18:02]
On the perahera! In a van right now, going to hatton side. [Delia, 3 Dec 2006, 14:15]
Uber-fan-fucking-tastic! keep me posted as you continue to conquer the planet! [Toby, 3 Dec 2006, 15:46]
Somehow we got ahead of the perahera, now waiting in dalhouse. Light rain but I can see the full (?) moon through the clouds and the lights on the trail up the mountain. Many miles to go before I sleep! [Delia, 3 Dec 2006, 20:45]
Whats the good word? [Toby, 4 Dec 2006, 12:20]
Quite a story, now heading to bus. [Delia, 4 Dec 2006, 12:22]
Coming home today? [Toby, 4 Dec 2006, 12:25]
I should hope so! [Delia, 4 Dec 2006, 12:27]
And photographs:
The Maha Saman Devale, Ratnapura.
The Bo Tree at the Maha Saman Devale.
The start of the perahera, Ratnapura.
The lead vehicle.
Onlookers bring snacks and drinks to the perahera vehicles all along the route.
The perahera setting off from Nalatanniya.
Sri Pada from the Japanese temple.
The crowd watching the sunrise.
At the ceremony for the opening of the footprint shrine.A few details to fill in the blanks: during my first visit to the temple I met an interesting fellow named Susil who chatted with me for a while about Buddhism (and more interestingly than most – often people don’t realize that if you’re interested in Buddhism you probably already know the basics) and shared his lunch packet with me. (Halfway through the lunch packet I finally asked him “why don’t you become a monk?”) He also encouraged me to try to go on the perahera (to show up at the temple in the morning and see what happens).
The next morning I dressed and packed strategically: white button-down shirt over light pink t-shirt and sports bra, light gray long skirt, with long pants and running shoes and socks at the top of the bag – light colors for the temple, but prepared to make a quick change for comfortable walking up the mountain. When I saw Susil at the temple the morning of the perahera he introduced me to some other pilgrims going to Sri Pada who had an extra seat in their van and agreed to let me ride with them. When the perahera stopped at a smaller Saman devale in Dehiowita, my vehicle only stopped briefly because Menaka (one of the pilgrims) didn’t want to wait, so we ended up ahead of the main vehicles and arrived several hours earlier than them, and passed the time by drinking tea, eating “short eats,” and napping in the van. The perahera arrived around midnight and the walk began around 1 am. The incident referred to as “quite a story” happened after reaching the temple at the top of the mountain. (visit http://sripada.org/text-1.htm for an aerial view of the temple, giving a sense of its size) Menaka and I arrived at the summit around 5 am, in time to see the dawn. Droves of pilgrims kept arriving even after the dawn and during the ceremonies, so by the time the ceremonies had reached full swing I was pressed by the crowd into the far left corner of the upper platform of the temple. When the ceremonies ended, the crowd started pushing and shoving to get close to the footprint sanctuary and the Saman shrine and I got stuck in a block of people that became tighter and more immobile by the moment; in a half an hour I didn’t move more than a foot and a half. I discovered that staring and picking at my fingernails was a great way to calm my nerves and impatience, until a few waves of pushing began to come from the back of the crowd and some shouting matches broke out near the steps to the shrines, and I remembered headlines like this and I thought that I had to leave immediately. I made that realization around the time that a couple of very distraught women and teenage girls climbed over the railing of the main temple platform and onto an adjacent roof (that red part on the right in the picture), so in a flash of panic and adrenaline I extended my arm above the crowd to some unknown person and started calling out “Bahinawa! Bahinawa!” which in Sinhala means “Getting down! Getting down!” (what you say when trying to get off the bus, and what I hoped would mean “I don’t want to push to get to the shrine, I just want to climb down!”) and squeezing through the crush towards the railing. After what seemed like an eternity (but what was probably only about a minute or two) I got to the railing and climbed over. Menaka was at the far end of the platform next to the other railing, so I motioned to him that I was going to walk down and meet him later. The crowd on the other side was just as bad, and at that point I realized that there were still scores of people arriving, trying to get onto the upper platform of the temple, but that past the upper platform there was space to move on the stairs, and it would be possible to walk down. I considered climbing down off the roof onto an adjacent stairwell next to the bathroom, and I had gotten as far as taking off my backpack and rolling onto my stomach to dangle my legs down, but a number of people called out to me and I realized that people were taking notice (and the last thing I wanted to do was to cause a scene, of course), so I decided to brave the crowd one last time. Fortunately I only had about ten feet of traffic jam to cross until I reached the steps, and the “bahinawa!” trick worked again. Once on the stairs it was easy to walk, and the farther down I got the thinner the crowds were, until I was able to hop steps two at a time. I didn’t realize that it was possible to descend those steps so quickly, and at that speed I didn't give my legs a chance to complain. Too much adrenaline, which only wore off near the river, where I stopped at a kade to get some roti and water. After that point I walked slowly and ended up having some interesting conversations with some pilgrims heading down, as well as with this nun
who lives in a hut near the trail, and is known as “Sri Pada Maniyo,” or “Sri Pada Mother.” I waited at the Japanese temple at the base of the mountain and met up with Menaka there, and then he gave me a lift to Hatton, where I caught a bus back to Kandy. (As I was bounding down the steps I had a couple of interesting revelations, one of which was about the advantages of traveling alone – sometimes you have to do ridiculous things that are easier when you're alone, and sometimes you have to climb down off the roof of the bathroom of the ambalama.) After a shower I told that whole epic story to Toby, and then went over to Sarah and Chris’ house for dinner, the first real meal I’d eaten since breakfast in Ratnapura the day before. Dhal, pineapple curry, and green bean curry - their food is always delicious, but that night it tasted like ambrosia.
I never got the chance to see the footprint shrine, and I only saw the Saman statue during the ceremony when it was installed in the ceremony (the details of which I am omitting, though witnessing it was essential and incredibly useful for my project). I consoled myself in the knowledge that I would be going to Sri Pada again the next week, since Peter had wanted to take a trip with all of us (me, Toby, Sarah, Chris) right before he left for the US. He had also wanted to take the Ratnapura route (which on foot starts from Gilimalai, 15km from Ratnapura by bus), but that plan fell through just as we were about to go to the bus station, when Peter discovered that his plane tickets (bloody old-style paper tickets!) had gone missing, and needed to visit the police station to file a report before the airline could issue a replacement. (that’s the abortive attempt to go to Sri Pada that I mentioned)
So on Saturday, instead of seeing the sunrise from the top of the mountain, Peter, Toby and I saw it from the intercity express bus to Colombo, on our way to the airline’s office to get the ticket replaced. Toby and I did nothing but keep Peter company, and while waiting on a couch in the office I memorized a giant stack of Sinhala flash cards and read the first chapter and a half of Number9Dream by David Mitchell (a recent obsession of mine). Peter used the last of his mobile phone minutes calling Nilam, one of his research associates, to find out the location of the Muslim kade in the Pettah with the best paratha; we found it, and had one of the best meals I’ve eaten in this country: a giant stack of hot parathas with deliciously creamy and cinnamony chicken curry (we came too early for buriyani, though Peter tells me that it is delicious there). I even got to speak a little Tamil. (I have since made a note of that place in my copy of the Colombo A-Z guide – it’s on Abdul Hameed Street, a random back street in the Pettah, not too far from the bus station – I will definitely be making stops there whenever I have to go to Colombo) On the bus ride back from Colombo Peter taught me a very pleasingly elegant Sinhala phrase: “taniyaTa aawa,” meaning “I came to keep someone company.” (as opposed to “taniyama aawa,” meaning “I came alone.”)
