WWW Northern narratives – till then

For our Week Without Walls trip we went to Jaffna, aka the ‘port of the lyre’. The Tamilian dominated city, occupying the Northern region of the Island country Sri Lanka, was the epicentre of a 26 years long civil war conflict which made it infamous for cultural and social incivility. And prior to this trip, inspired by what I had learnt about the city, I had my own share of concerns. Whether the place is safe to visit (being a Hindu myself)? But over the course of this trip, my perception was shaken hard to the core by the beauty this city had to offer.

Pre trip banter

Before commencing the trip, I prioritized some goals which I hoped to achieve (or at least work towards achieving them) through the course of this trip. The first one being exploring the city first hand, and figuring out myself if the place is as infamous as it sounds. I had a dystopian view of the place – army personnel heavily guarding a dull silent city. I wanted to figure out whether the place is like that, or it has something else to offer (spoiler alert it did). One of the other goals was to make connections and get to know the MYP5s better.

Day 1

We embarked on the journey with an early morning train ride to Anuradhapura, followed by a bus ride to point Pedro, Jaffna. This trip contained a substantial amount of travelling around by bus, which allowed me to bond with others (especially MYP5s). Roughly around 4 in the morning, when the sun was on the verge to tip its final goodbyes for the day, we reached Point Pedro. It was a surreal realization, that we were standing at the Northern most tip of Sri Lanka at that instant in time.

“This trip has been going great so far. I look forward to finding some time off from school and studies, through means of this trip.”

This is an extract from what I wrote in a postcard to my family. This was at Point Pedro, when we wrote a letter to our family and put in a post box for it to be delivered back to them.

Day 2

After going to sleep at 10 last night (iykyk) and a long night sleep, we were awake around 6:30 in the morning, when the warm sun was slowly spreading itself in the cool damp air. We went for a morning walk, scrolling across the beach and then eventually ending our early morning voyage at a nearby railway platform. Today offered us a chance to absolve ourselves from our sins, in the holy water of Keeramalai Springs. We had a lot of fun, baptizing each other in the salt water. Afterwards, we set on the main journey of the day which was moving to our new accommodation in the heart of Jaffna city. Our accommodation, to everyone’s surprise, was a 4-star hotel. It was a pretty good one, at least from the trip standards, with nice and cozy rooms. We concluded the day by visiting the Jaffna fort, and watching the sun slowly set upon us. But since it was a high-end hotel, with the cost exceeding our budget by a bit, we had to go out to get dinner at a local South Indian restaurant Lavin’s. But the food was absolutely delicious, in fact than what the hotel had to offer. The aromizing curry with mouth-watering Dosa was the highlight of the day for me. not to forget the Bombay Faluda, which I forced everyone to drink (it was good though).

Day 3

the day was dominated by our visit to Nagadepam, a Buddhist temple in Jaffna province. The main motif of the place was University and Diversity, a very religiously term, incorporating different religions and the regional dialects that are respected around. It was mainly due to the fact that a Buddhist temple, and a Hindu temple, co-existed in near proximity, which showed a great level of cultural acceptance. We also visited Jaffna library, a place historically destroyed during the civil war but refurbished afterwards. But the main highlight of the day was the visit to the Jaffna market, a nostalgic experience for me rather. It reminded me of the streets of India, and how each small vendor or shop was specialized in their own thing to form an ecosystem of the market. It was like homecoming, and I did buy quite a lot of stuff (half of which I question myself buying now).

Group at Nainativu

Day 4

Today we visited the Jaffna library, and donated some books for the schools in need. It was a great initiative since it allowed us to experience first hand the adverse conditions of government schools in Sri Lanka. It always feels nice to help those in need, and do our part for the community. Next we had a short stop at Mihintale meditation park, which was a sacred place from a Buddhist point of view. The highlight was seeing a clan of monkeys and trying to fight them (even though we knew we were doomed in case they retaliated). Our day’s accommodation was a treehouse (Back at beyond) in Pidurangala. It was a great place since we had a hammock, and we just chilled there at night.

Day 5

The last day of the trip was dominated by our return back to Colombo. But firstly, in the morning, we climbed the Pidurangala rock and experienced the sunrise from up top. Honestly, it offered me a great deal of time, to reflect upon myself while there at the top of the rock. Prior to this trip, my thinking on certain aspects of life was ambiguous. And as ridiculous as it sounds, a little self-reflection there allowed me to figure out a lot of things in my life and what I needed to do once I get back from this trip.

FInal reflections

We’ve often seen people say be yourself. But post this trip, I disagree with this notion, because for a fact I now realize that change is inevitable. We often experience changes around, be it physically, mentally or emotionally. It’s the change that motivates us to adapt and improve in life, and be a better version of ourselves.  And through the means of this trip, I experienced my thought process reform of what I used to think of Jaffna as a place – from a war torn city to a beautiful melting pot. Overall this was a great trip, and it allowed me to achieve whereas LO:

LO1 and LO5 – During the trip I was able to identify the areas I needed to work upon, and set myself some goals. For instance, making better connections with the grade below kids (MYP5). By the end of this trip, I had a great homie Zak, whom I can now rely on for daily banter of my life. And of course, fellow Indian mate Kritika. Having being able to make these connections with MYP5 simultaneously allowed me to work collaboratively and communicate with others. For example, when we climbed up the Pidurangala rock, we had to effectively communicate as a group who was slacking, so that others in front could slow down and match the pace of the group as a whole.

LO3: Our trip was a sweet mix of all 3 areas of strength that CAS has to offer. The cultural aspect of the trip provided a means of creative exploration. The focus on book drive to help the local school community formed the basis of service for this trip. And finally the hike on the last day offered some activity too. Overall, this trip allowed me to part take in all the 3 areas of CAS and improve myself by working upon them.