The following sets of information were extracted from the Wikipedia on
09/27/2006.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo
This is all about Colombo, things you might have never knew before.
After reading this I am thinking whether I lived in a different
Colombo for the past 27 years.
Colombo got a vision & a mission:
Vision
"Colombo being a model city in Asia, a caring organization looking
after interests of citizens and users with an efficient quality
service for creation of safe, healthy and wealthy life"
Model city for safe, healthy and wealthy life???
Mission
"Organization achieving excellence in providing citizen centered
services to the public / customer, optimizing the use of available
resources through a competent, motivated and dedicated team"
Citizen centered or President centered? Once they closed all roads
just for the sake of the protection of a single person.
Nightlife
The city is famed for its nightlife and has often been referred to as
the "Las Vegas of South Asia ", offering numerous casinos, bars, night
clubs and pubs. In Sri Lanka, unlike its neighbours, alcohol flows
freely, except on full moon Poya Days when sales are prohibited.
Recently, the city has emerged as a preferred night life and
entertainment destination among close Asian markets. It is also famed
for its buzzing gay and lesbian scene and the easy union it has with
nearly all nightspots, thereby having evolved into a safe haven for
gay individuals in this largely conservative region.
Oh my God! Is this the Colombo we know? I don't think that Colombo is
this bad. Who are the sources for Wikipedia?
Ethnicity Population % Of Total
Sinhalese 117,090 31.03
Sri Lankan Tamils 117,510 31.14
Indian Tamils 7,946 2.11
Sri Lankan Moors 120,109 31.83
Malays 8,680 2.30
Burghers 3,380 0.90
Sri Lankan Chetty 479 0.13
Bharatha 138 0.04
Other 2,064 0.55
Total 377,396 100
Look at this, here Sinhalese, Tamil & Muslims living together, in
almost equal portions, without problems. This is a single but very
valuable proof to say these people can live together without a
problem.
British era
The British made the city the capital of their crown colony of Ceylon
in 1802. And the Englishmen were responsible for much of the planning
of the present city. In some parts of the city one could still see the
Tramcar tracks and the granite flooring laid during the era.
Our people could not build a highway around Colombo city to get rid of
the traffic problem! Still trapped inside the good old English city
designs.
There are some more important issues. Worth reading it by yourself.
Lasantha Kularatne
