A location like no other
View(s):Drawn to Galle Fort by Juliet Coombe
Drawn to Galle Fort was two years in the making not discounting five more years full of insights the author Juliet Coombe picked up from being an active participant in the Fort’s meteoric rise as a global tourist hotspot, a locale and location like no other populated by wise old folk and gifted, talented scions revolutionising its edifices.
The bombast of the graphics and quirky illustrations of young designer Kavinda Dhammika accentuated by an excellent printing job done by Aitken Spence Printing and Packaging hits you straight between the mind and its eye, the colours of Fort stalwart Asia Hewapathirana come at you with aplomb as the edgy wacky cool as cucumber cover and inner sleeves blast open a burning furnace of intellectualism, packing both tropical mojo and equatorial heat. The gatefold sleeve is embossed with a sprawling, comprehensive and up-to-date map of the Galle Fort and the Galle Main Town – a true labour of love and dogged ‘leave no stone unturned’ research, the result of an ongoing collaboration between the author, publisher and the Galle Heritage Foundation who she feels is the key to the area’s success.
An authoritative contents page informs us that you can turn to any page and a dizzying deconstruction awaits. The Foreword opens up your eyes to a Galle, a Fort and an entire South with a race of people who remain unbowed despite calamity. Each separate section is punctuated by watercolours of Fort attractions done by no stranger to the Fort, British painter Robert Sedgley and also accompanied by unobtrusive sketches made by Frenchman Nathaniel H’ Limi who observes the nitty-gritty inside the Fort.
Nowhere is this work more apparent than in the Introduction to the book called Ritual Fort which encounters head on a deliciously dark and at times macabre chapter and passage of time in the Fort fraught by our basic instincts and sadomasochistic tendencies, of colonial imperialism and bewitching tufts of hairs and bloody padlocks. Curious and curiouser! To allay the fears of anyone, next up is the lithe and light Top Ten section, starting off magnificently with an aerial shot of the Fort and then to the Fort Secrets with jewellery made using cuttlefish moulds, a graveyard beneath a pulpit and a baffling ring. This continues on during the first half of the book with architectural Treasures, fascinating Rituals, all you ever needed to know and more about Gemstones, Toddler and Children friendly activities and sights to see, to animals who are residents of the Fort, ranging from vermin to octopus, to finally food for your belly in the form of the sweet and the spicy in authentic twists on Sri Lankan cuisine, unique mouthwatering concoctions that make up the street food peddled here and to that perennial housewives delight – recipes.
Before everyone’s favourite walks section starts there is a Top Ten Responsible Travel Section which is a must read as this contains time honoured and more importantly, tried and tested street knowledge to give you enough street ‘cred’ from how to strut your stuff, to what can really be useful and even help you in a sticky situation.
The research contributions made by Wendy Shaw and Lina Kruse really show through and they along with the rest of the book’s final team can be found in the rib tickling bios section much earlier on. Moving on, the Walks all have their starting point at the Traveller’s Table at the Serendipity Arts Café down Leyn Baan Street, which means coir/rope in Dutch, a little morsel of interesting information so that all is not double Dutch to the erstwhile reader. “
The ‘Secrets Walk’ is just the inception of a series of walks whose titles should give you an inkling as to what might go on during these walks. The ‘King Solomon Walk’, the ‘Art Walk’ with Janaka De Silva’s Sithuvili Gallery, the ‘Architectural Walk’ with the Lighthouse, ‘Kids Walk’, and the ‘Vintage Fort Millionaires Walk’ strictly for the filthy rich. The ‘Walks’ then become microscopic both in analysis and proportion as we seek next every bit of the nooks and crannies of the Fort Streets in the Street Directory.
This detailed section includes almost every sign of human dwelling and from hole in the wall humanity to pothole humanity and for those despairing, the bask in luxury – boutique villa hotels, restaurants and guesthouses found on the 4 Main Streets – Church Street, Lighthouse Street, Pedlar Street (no this is not Mexico and we are not talking about drug pushers – what did you take this place for?), Leyn Baan Street, and the Side Street – Parawa Street and finally to the many sidewinding Crossing lanes of Galle Fort. Galle Fort as you turn the pages of this exciting book has it all.
The epilogue takes a look at the exciting places to stay, landmarks to earmark and fun activities. Skim high above the roofs of the Fort and traipse along the Southern coastline with Simplifly, eat Zen style, ponder at the origins of the mysterious picture of a pipe smoking British gentleman found on a Sinhalese Buddhist temple wall painting, walk the hallowed hallways at the local Tolstoy’s home, meet your maker while para-motoring to extreme sports heaven, drink virgin white tea and take part in the Mad Hatter’s Garden Party in a paddy field or in the Fortress in the Sky, and go whale watching in Mirissa or on a leopard safari and finish off by renting your own island for a day or two or cut water at Kataragama.
A range of places to stay outside the Fort and tour operators to book exciting customised tours with are listed prior to the Helpline list of helpful numbers useful in an emergency. As John Lennon once said ‘Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.’ So quit dreaming (and no we don’t say that you are a dreamer) and start happening life – start with this book.
‘Drawn to Galle Fort’ exhibition
The Drawn to Galle Fort exhibition sponsored by HNB Bank is now on and will continue until June 28. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Galle Fort Printers, 39 Pedlar Street, Galle Fort. Books are available at Barefoot and all leading book shops around the country or order one direct from www.sriserendipity.com Tel:0776838659
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