goggly

There is an element of thrill traversing through the unsecure terrain or brushing past the boundaries of militarily hostile neighbors. I felt this excitement at the India Pakistan Wagha border in Amritsar, traveling past the southern Lebanon townships near Israel border. However, neither of the above would match the excitement of our travel to Anuradhapura along A9 highway that heads straight to Jaffna. Anuradhapura was considered as a last frontier in the battlefield of LTTE and Sri Lanka Govt. It was Nov 2008. Sri Lankan defense forces were nailing down LTTE but LTTE still had the punch. There were reports of LTTE losing hold on the eastern front but Northern machinery was still intact. There was a lurching fear that LTTE might get desperate and bounce back to avenge their loss of eastern front. Exactly a year ago, LTTE had made daring air, ground attack on the Anuradhapura Air Base, and destroyed seven aircrafts. This was the highest casualty suffered by Sri Lanka Air Force in the...

My first IMAX movie was about the Nature’s fury seen from the space. As the orange flames of the rockets gave a way to clear skies, the very first view was that of earth through the bottom of the space shuttle. An image of a pendant hung at the end of a dangling chain, kept on foamy blue and white velvet satin sheet emerged. Wow...how beautiful sight that was. As the shuttle raced to a higher altitude, location of the pendant became obvious. It was Sri Lanka and the chain was an Indian shoreline along the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. This image of Sri Lanka is still well carved in my memory. I had seen this movie in early 90's and in 08, I got a chance to be in Sri Lanka. I am happy that this country with wonderful people is now out of clutches of the worst terrorism. It has suffered almost 30 years of violence, mayhem and uncertainty. I am sure the pendant would once again beckon the world travelers for its pristine beaches of Galley, green top mountains of Kandy, Buddhist h...