Sojourn in Serendip – III

English Tea Time

Leaving Kandy we moved on to the heights of Nuwara Eliya to check into the Galway Forest Lodge. Nuwara Eliya meaning “the City of Dawn” is the town at the highest elevation (about 2000m above sea level) in Sri Lanka and its tallest peak, Piduruthalagala (2555m) can be seen from here. The city established by the British in the Nineteenth Century is known as “Little England”. In fact there are some stretches of this quaint colonial landscape where a traveler would honestly believe himself to be in Shropshire or Kent; that is, of course, until a green autorickshaw or the ubiquiyous posters of President RajaPakse comes into one’s view.

Nuwara Eliya is in the Heart of the Tea Estate. On the way, there are numerous Tea Factories, remodelled into Tea Centres that serve tea, Lunch and also sell pure Ceylon Tea. On Request it is possible to have a guided tour of the adjoining factory. We visited a Tea Factory on BlueField Tea Estate.

Asoka Vaatika

In the evening, we braved the weather to visit the Temple of Seetha at Seetha Eliya. En route we attempted a walk in Gregory park on the banks of Nuwara Eliya lake. But a heavy downpour chased us back to our vehicle.

The Ramayana is compelling narrative that is Pan-Indian. Every region in India has a shrine associated with the star-crossed prince of Ayodhya who was God incarnate as Man! The story crosses the sea and enters Sri Lanka when Ravan the King of Lanka abducts Sita, the wife of Rama. Sita was kept imprisoned in a garden of Asoka Trees. It is on the location of this Asoka Gasrden or Vaatika that the Temple of Seetha at Seetha Eliya is built. The Temple houses 3000 year old idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanumanji. The idols are somewhat defaced and new idols are used for regular worship.

The Asoka trees (or atleast what remains of them after Hanumanji’s destructive frenzy during the burning of Lanka) have been since destroyed by the British. But the location itself still has a few Asoka trees gto bear witness. The soil nearabout is black in color as the entire forest had been burned down when Hanumanji went bersek and put the city of Lanka to Flame with his burning tail. The huge print of Hanumanji’s foot as he took gigantic form or Viswaroopa to disclose his true identity to Sita is another significant part of the visit to Nuwara Eliya.

The ardent traveler can go further up the hills where there is a Ravana Temple and a Waterfalls called Ravana Falls where the demon Ravana is said to have taken his bath.

Thence we drove past N. Eliya town and had tea at the Grand Indian Restaurant opposite The Grand Hotel, a beautiful colonial hotel surrounded by green lawns and tall trees.