Any nature lover will confirm it, Dubai is not the best place for a walk in the forest. I had been living in the big emirati city for few months, arriving directly from another megalopole in China. My feet, lungs,heart and soul craved for dirt paths and chlorophyll tones. I bought a map of Sri Lanka and a plane ticket.
Late arrival in Sea Street
It is 4 am. Just before the end of yesterday, the Tuk Tuk left me in front of the hostel, more by chance than by choice.
No visible sign, no light at the corner of Sea Street and Beach Street. No light anywhere besides the glimmer of votive candles undulating feebly in front of the new Kathiresan temple.
I had supposed that the effervescence of the day had long faded with the numerous Hindu worshipers walking back toward the Beira Lake while jewelers and gold Houses pulled down their metallic doors in the late afternoon but maybe silence lives here, in the narrow side street, I could not tell, I arrived well after the moon. I dropped my bag in the room and after repeated failed attempts to connect to the local wifi, I went down the stairs, and turned left into the vague murmur of human voices and the mesmerizing exhalations of warm curry. There was life. There was food. I entered the New Saraswathy Cafe and all heads turned in my direction.
A table for one, please!
Now, try to stay unnoticed when you are a woman, with short blond hair, stepping at 23:10 into a half-star restaurant in which you seem to be the first foreign customer ever. And you came alone.
As my eyes gave a quick and general scouting look across the place, I felt the hand of an elderly woman hovering on my forearm. I imagined she had touched me but as I turned aside to face her, I realized that she was already walking past the main counter and few customers who seemed to have frozen on the spot.
She showed me to a wide, square table, where teenagers where having an after dinner conversation. Heads moving, laughs, melodic accent, hands twirling occasionally over the empty plates, while they kept the conversation-simultaneously-at high speed.
I sat and smiled. They went silent and smiled. From my place, I had a panoramic view of the modest but vivid room. Metallic chairs rubbed shoulders with wooden ones coming directly out of the 50’s and were all neatly arranged around solid dark tables which would have required a moving company to displace.
The bright yellow shirts of the staff, made them easily recognizable among the kaleidoscopic crowd. I watched them performing their complex ballet between tables, distributing small jugs filled with sauces of various colors, tin cups and wide spoons while holding unbalanced piles of circular plates. I was pleased to see that plastic had lost a battle here, which added to the feel of authentic atmosphere.
Saivar kade menu
Stars started to appear in front of my eyes, reminding me of the urgency to order . Not that I was being ignored; in fact, the buzzing employees kept turn in bringing me water, cleaning the already sanitized and neaten table, slowing down as they passed me and giving me smiling glances. Then the elegant old woman appeared again. she came straight to me.
Nestled in the center of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Pettah neighborhood, with a Hindu temple few meters across the street, I was not surprised to be sitting in a Saiwar kade. The Tamil words literally mean ‘vegetarian shop” and you will find many of them in Sri Lanka. Should I go for ‘atta’ or ‘rava dosai’, ‘pittu’, uppuma, or string hoppers?
My brain was on the verge of a strike from food deprivation, even though I had eaten half a dozen samosas before leaving the ‘arrivals’ hall of the airport. Obviously the oil used to deep fry them was not the good fat type.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…I will eat you all”! I ordered one piece of everything I pointed at on the menu. The teenage group smiled. The lady too. She hadn’t written down one word. Instead, patient and serene,she had kept the palms of her hands joined together as in a salute or a prayer, a gesture known as the Anjali Mudra.
Fatigue increases my propensity to daydreaming; I slipped softly out of the current space and landed somewhere in my childhood. Kneeling nuns were praying silently with their hands clasped like Buddhist monks. Forgotten times ago, the reverent gesture of respect and greeting had crossed borders and religions . Still bathed in the 8mm film movie atmosphere, I came back in Sea street
“Good time for tea” said the lady. It was almost midnight and I was a bit concern about my reduced chance of falling asleep but how could I say no to my first cup of Ceylon tea on the island?
There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.
A bright and silent night
I went back to my observation of the crowd, trying not to look at anyone in particular, conscious that I was the subject of their own interrogations. Novelty arouses curiosity.
Tea, cultlery, a plate as wide as a tray and a multitude of small saucers landed elegantly in front of me. I had already verified the table manners from my dining neighbors; I took a small doughnut-like piece using my thumb and two fingers,dipped it generously in dhal curry, then I looked around. I received the tacit approval, smiling faces that turned back to their own plates. I was not a stranger anymore, I had become a customer, even though an odd one.
I left the New Saraswathi few minutes past “Pumpkin time”. The nocturnal air was warm and humid. Coming out the sleepy courtyards, the vociferations of lonely dogs and insomniac roosters cut the silent in sporadic outcries. I stopped in front of the temple gates and marveled at the intricate and numerous sculptures making up the walls. The top of the religious edifice dedicated to Skanda aka Murugan aka Kartikeya seems to disappear in the starry sky. As I walked the short distance back to my hotel room, I couldn’t help but ponder on how the God of War had made it into such a pacifist religion that is Hinduism. I would have to go to the bottom of the story but for now I was ready for some sleep. I was now confident that my exhaustion would override the caffeine shot from the milk tea. In few hours I would be on my way to Kandy.
