Discover the Untold Stories of Sri Lanka’s People: A Journey Through Culture, Resilience, and Hidden Strengths
Kandapola Village in Sri Lanka
Winding up the road through verdant tea plants the temptation to request a photo stop was irresistible. Genuine tea pluckers grinned at me as I snapped treasured images of them. These were not glamorous young women in silk saris but workers from the village of Kandapola, near Nuwara Eliya, that I could see below me. A large Hindu temple, built by the community, forms a colourful centrepiece.
When I arrived in the village, I met one of its leading residents, Suresh, whose house I would be visiting after a short tour of the village. Tamils form the majority of a total population of one thousand but there are also people from Southern India. The old traditions are treasured here including the creation of the mandala. After the traditional Hindu greeting from Priya, wife of Suresh, I was shown how to create a mandala using rice powder to draw the outline (kolam) and coloured rice to ‘paint’ it. The mandala is symbolic in Hindu and Buddhist cultures and usually features a geometric design but, on this occasion, I was invited to assist in the creation of a multi-hued peacock.
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