Reminiscing...

It has been a long time since my sister and I spent such a long time together in Sri Lanka.  It is a sad time for us, having just lost our mum.  But it is also a realisation that home as we knew it will never be the same again.

After all the formalities are over, we spend a bit of time cleaning out the house we were born in.  We spent the first 10 or so years of our lives here and the house is very special to us.  Yet, given that we both live in Sri Lanka, it is not realistic to think we could hold on to it.

We clean it out, distribute the bits and pieces of furniture still left in it and get ready to start the process of saying goodbye to it.  Our albums are full of the black and white photographs we took here.  We try and recreate a bit of this history before my sister heads back to Sydney.

My last week in Sri Lanka is quite hectic but there is one thing I find time for and that is to visit the Sunday Market in the town I grew up in.  Walking around with a camera elicits some looks, some smiles and a few questions as to where I am from.  Fortunately, I can answer back in Sinhalese - my native tongue - and they go back to their stalls somewhat appeased.

Finally it is time for me to leave.  Home as I have known it for more than 50 years is now no more.  I will always come back to Sri Lanka to visit my close family and friends, but will I still think of it as home?  I don’t know for sure...