Finally, time for GLF!

One of the nice things about being retired is that you don’t have to take leave from your workplace when you want to take a few days off your routine to take a trip out of Colombo.

I well remember one of the specialists I worked with, many years ago, who made all us young doctors feel so guilty about approaching him to ask him to sign a leave request form that we never approached him to take leave unless we were prostrate with illness. When he knew that we were genuinely sick, he would grudgingly tell us “Alright, get well soon, then.” This exhortation was made more out of a need to have us working on our feet again rather than because he empathised with our state of sickness!

I suppose we should all have been grateful to him because by working virtually seven days a week in his wards, we young doctors learned an awful lot about the management of surgical patients – but I am sure it did not at that young age do our social lives any good!

Anyway, all that is decades in the past – and today I am grateful that I can leave Colombo for a week without leaving patients in the lurch and my boss grumbling!

The trip I was fortunate enough to make last month was to Galle, UNESCO World Heritage site and picturesque walled city. The reason for my trip was the Galle Literary Festival – an event that I had always wanted to attend, but had for one reason or another put off doing. Sometimes, we have an idea of doing something – starting a new project, travelling somewhere, visiting an old friend – but when the time comes to actually make proper arrangements to do it, we find some good reason to put it off. “No hurry, I’ll have time to do it next year” was my usual excuse – until the COVID pandemic hit us all and caused us to put everything on hold for three years.

I had plenty of time to think while we were locked up during COVID. I realized that I was not getting any younger, and the trip one plans to do next year may never gets done because next year may never come! Once one passes the age of 65, every day is a bonus and we must make use of every day that we have.

So when I heard that the Festival was going to take place in 2024 after the COVID break, I committed myself to attending.

And what an enjoyable event it was!

I had stayed within the Galle Fort many times in the past – including as a teenager on holiday with my friend at his brother’s place in one of those old Dutch houses and later as an army doctor attached to the 2nd Gemunu Watch, the unit headquarters situated on the ramparts between the Clippenberg and Star bastions. But on this visit I saw a different Galle. The narrow streets situated within the walls of the fort, reminiscent of a medieval European town revived memories of places like Lucca in Italy and Tossa del Mar in Spain.

The fort was filled with people - and it was not just those who had come for the Festival that swelled the population. The tourists are back this year – thronging the streets and the many eating places catering to visitors.

The festival itself was most enjoyable. I was able to listen to some of my favourite authors such as Alexander McCall Smith, Shehan Karunatilaka and Andrew Fidel Fernando – as well as to hear and learn from people like cricket writer Nicholas Brookes (who has produced a comprehensive but very readable book on Sri Lankan cricket), Peter Frankopan (whose work on the Silk Roads I had heard about but not yet read) and Ameena Hussein (who has written a fascinating account of the travels of Ibn Batuta).

It was easy to get to Galle from Colombo. The two hour train journey was comfortable and provided a view of the coastline that reminded me what a beautiful island we live in. My time in Galle was well spent – affording me the chance of meeting old acquaintances and making new ones as well as being informed, entertained and educated. A walk on the ramparts, watching the sun rising from the hinterland on the east in the early morning or enjoying the sun going down into the western sea at eventide, was just as I recalled it from times gone by – magical!

I left the city on the Sunday - fortunate to get a ride back to Colombo with an old friend I’d met after many years, which provided for an agreeable journey and pleasant conversation – firmly resolving to make plans to return for the 2025 Festival.

After all, with all this happening on our very doorstep, why should we not enjoy it while we can?

Especially if retirement now affords us the time to do so.