The story of Mangala

As we ventured out on our first walk around the village, Mangala was brought forward as the tuk-tuk owner with the best English of the drivers gathered together under the tree, and for our remaining days in Sigiriya he ferried us around, giving us a terrific insight into Sri Lanka and its people which was to develop into a show of Sri Lankan hospitality and friendship and give us plenty of memories which will stay with us for ever.

Being Buddhist, Mangala had a very gentle and caring nature and so his spiritual roots lead to the same ritual at the start of each journey. Just outside the village he would stop his tuk-tuk next to a roadside shrine, pick a flower from the surrounding vegetation, place it at Buddha’s feet and offer a prayer for Buddha to keep us safe, such a touching moment at the start of our day. This whole ritual would then be repeated as we returned to the village, this time offering a thank you for returning us safely, we felt privileged to be in the care of Mangala…. and Buddha.

Apart from our choice of temples and ancient sites, Mangala proudly took us to hidden gems, places not mentioned in our guide book, places where only the locals go, giant temples hidden in the jungle, places so remote, so peaceful, so beautiful. He took the time to tell us the importance and history of these special places, clearly proud of his heritage.

Returning to Sigiriya after one of these days, Mangala said “would you like a beer?” We looked at each other, did we hear right? This village with no bars, no alcohol in the eateries and Mangala is asking if we want beer! Of course we said yes and we set off down a dirt track in the jungle and came to a small clearing in the trees and a rickety shack, a number of tuk-tuks randomly parked outside. We followed Mangala into the shack and to our amazement it was full of locals all with bottles of beer, it appeared to be where the tuk-tuk drivers go at the end of their day before returning home for dinner. We find a table, Phil & Mangala go to the bar to buy the beers, and it is a bar in more ways than one……. the barman is behind bars, keeping the alcohol safe, and hands the bottles of beer through to his customers. The beers opened, a bit of newspaper rammed in the top to keep the flies out, we sit amongst the locals in this strange jungle bar. The locals are as amused as we are, this is possibly the first time a female has entered this male dominated drinking den and almost certainly Michaela is the first blonde lady from a distant land to drink beer with them. There is much laughter and Sinhal chatter, no clue what they were saying.

We were so honoured by the next development. Our friendship growing, Mangala invited us to dinner at his home, of course we were delighted by this offer and accepted excitedly. He explained that he had a very poor home but would like us to go there for dinner as we were very nice people and he wanted to thank us, he said that most people didn’t treat him the way that we did. He took us to briefly meet his wife and explained that we would be coming to dinner with them tomorrow. Back at our hotel we couldn’t believe our luck, to be invited into their home, eat their food, learn about life in Sri Lanka, this is going to be a fantastic experience! We went straight on the internet to research what gift we should take for our hosts and the do’s and don’ts, we certainly didn’t want to offend anyone!

And so Mangala collected us from our hotel, he had changed from his western style jeans and t-shirt in favour of a sarong. We trundled through the maze of dusty dirt tracks in the village and arrived at his house, a small single storey dwelling surrounded by lush jungle vegetation. We were beckoned inside. Leaving our shoes outside we entered, the single reception room sparsely furnished, skimmed concrete floor, an occasional picture hanging on the pink walls, a TV and an oversized music system and speakers. Around the room were 4 doorways, just curtains for doors, we later learned that there were 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, no bathroom. We were introduced to the family, a series of greeting, bowing with hands together as if in prayer, Mangala’s wife, his young son & daughter, Mum & Dad and finally Grandma. She was fascinating, sat in a chair at the far end of the room watching and waiting until all the introductions were done, then stood up, she was so tiny, frail and looked a great age, she shuffled over to us smiled and bowed, Michaela held her hands and bowed to her, she turned round and shuffled back to her chair to cast a watchful eye over the evening ahead. We offered our gifts, choice was very limited in the village but the biscuits were well received and the lollipops for the children were a hit. We then experienced probably the most awkward 20 minutes of our lives, Mangala said “I am going to get beer, I won’t be long” and on that he was gone, leaving us with his family who couldn’t speak English and we couldn’t speak Sinhal, we all stood and stared at each other desperately thinking of how to communicate. We spoke to the children and the word school was understood, Mangala’s son then filled in the time showing us his school books.

Mangala returned with the beer and we were presented with the next surprise of the evening. The beer was just for the 3 of us, we were lead outside into the garden, the rest of the family excluded as if they were just the staff! We enjoyed a couple of hours talking with Mangala, his garden was the jungle and he delighted in demonstrating what to do if the elephants come too close to the vegetables tended by his wife, he said “if the dog barks, the elephants are here and I light a firework to scare them” he proceeded to fetch a device which he threw into the trees, it exploded, it was loud enough to wake the dead let alone scare a herd of elephants!

We were then summoned into the house, it’s time for dinner. Through the curtain the kitchen table was covered in newspaper keeping the flies off the meal. The food was revealed and we were told to sit down, it was at this moment that we realised there were only 2 chairs, and this was the next surprise of the evening. We took our seats in front of this banquet with the family all stood in a line along the wall staring at us. Right, what is happening now? We beckon them to join us, Mangala explained that they wouldn’t be eating with us, it’s not the done thing. We were to feast on this food cooked by his wife and Mum and they would eat what is left, this really wasn’t what we were expecting, their custom is worlds apart from ours and it felt just a little uncomfortable. We did however manage to talk Mangala to sit and eat with us, so the rest of the family melted away behind the curtain leaving us to continue our sociable evening with Mangala over dinner. And dinner was delicious, the ladies of the house must have been cooking for hours, so many dishes, chicken curry, vegetable curry, drumsticks (the vegetable) dried fish, boiled eggs, rice, salad and more unknown dishes, a banquet fit for the queen! We tucked in, the flavours unknown and fantastic, so delicious, we had our fill and as Mangala kept offering us more we were only too aware that the rest of the family would only had our leftovers, we politely declined, we certainly didn’t want this family to go hungry. As soon as we had eaten it was made clear that it was time to go, Mangala wrapped up a hand of bananas in newspaper, gave it to us as a gift and said he would take us back to the hotel. We said our goodbyes to the family and came to the end of one fantastic experience.

We felt honoured to have experienced an evening with Mangala and his family, they are such good hearted people. This poor family in a poor region of Sri Lanka, opened their humble abode and shared what little they had, this is Sri Lankan hospitality, this was a truly humbling experience.