Dear Narme
This is a beautiful video clip of life in Jaffa . I can still remember how we enjoyed our last trip to Jaffna and would love to go there again.
Thanks for sharing .
Praxy
Thank you Sam and Narme for the Jaffna post .
It was very well done , and over too soon , so I had to view it a few times to get the most out of it !
I had a moment of nostalgia , as I was viewing the video, as I did a trip to Jaffna in October 2019- after the RU .
Maithri and Rajabalendran mapped out the trip for me, and Walkers Tours did the rest- car/driver/ accomodation etc .
The most memorable for me was the visit to Nallur Temple, and meeting up with a group of very young Roman Catholic Nuns . I think, they were from SL or from Kerala, South India – This is something I would not have even dreamed of, even a few years ago .
This for me was the Ultimate Unity in Diversity .
I am still using the pure salt I bought from the Jaffna Market, along with a nice basket woven out of Palmyra leaves !
What a trip it was .. !!
The Jaffna Sunset along the Jaffna Fort- looking over the Kayts Causeway — Was a Wholesome Moment of Reflection ..
Thanks Narme and Sam for posting this lovely video on Jaffna. Piching and I made trip to Jaffna about a year after the war ended. The video is well done . It brought back pleasant memories about our trip to Jaffna
We decided to fly from Ratmalana air port to Jaffna. The plane was a twin engine turbo prop piloted by the Sri Lanka air force pilots. Take off and landing were both a little rough. The white lady in front of the plane got sick and threw up during the middle of the flight . She was a bit slow to grab the ” Puke ” bag. You know what that means. The start of the journey was unpleasant.
There were no proper hotels then. My brother who is in the hotel industry arranged for us to stay in a cute boutique hotel. The hotel was a large old mansion converted to a hotel. It had all the modern conveniences. The property was surrounded by lush greenery , lots of fruit trees scattered around the property. The breakfast made to order was fantastic. All the exotic Sri Lankan breakfast food.
The hotel arranged a car and driver for us to tour Jaffna. There was a bit of a problem. The driver spoke only Tamil and my Tamil was rusty. Although I was able to read and write Tamil before entering medical school and not having had a chance to keep up , which I regret , I was in a sticky situation. Anyway we did fine with my limited Tamil language , sign language and gestures , never got lost and went to the correct destinations like a charm.
The tour of Jaffna was very good. It still had the old world charm. Jaffna Fort, Jaffna library and the walks around the city, the Temples everything was fascinating.
The boat ride to the Nagadeepa temple in a large boat provided by the Sri Lanka navy was fun too.It was packed to capacity. I was afraid whether whether we would reach our destination without incident , but fortunately we did .
I can see the development in agriculture, the happy faces, nice shops, restaurants Temples , now in Jaffna. I cannot wait for my next trip to Jaffna. I am sure there are very good hotels in Jaffna from what I read and hear from people who have visited Jaffna recently. However I Would not hesitate one bit to stay in the same boutique hotel we stayed at during our first trip. Sadly , I did not make a note of the hotel. I only hope my brother would remember the name.
Hi Nisantha !
I read with great interest your Jaffna experience , a year after the war ended . Read through the next post- -my trip to Jaffna- 2019 was by car , Ten years after the war ended .
Posh Hotels ( I stayed at the Jet Wing ) nice big homes, well dressed people, signs of prosperity all around me .
The evening sunset walk along the Jaffna Fort area- was lovely, with a full moon over us , later on into the evening twilight .
Lots of people just walking, enjoying the nice sunset and the moon lit night .
There was a child’s birthday party going on at one spot- with a nice waterfront gazebo- built into the water with lots of happy faces, laughing nicely dressed children,birthday cake balloons etc — something that was lost for a long time, and now returning .
Happy Times Have Returned !
My driver was a young Tamil Christian lad, born and raised from the Wattala area , which happens to be where I spent my time from 1953- till I left SL in 1972 .
This lad was fluent in all three languages , so I did not have to speak a word, in any language !
Jet Wing Hotel – Superb service and meals etc , with a roof top garden. bar etc .
It was a great trip all round .
Take a look at the next post- ” Trip Back in Time ” — which describes my visit to Jaffna- October 2019, with a few photos .
Thanks for your response and Thanks to Narme and Sam .
eagleD
Hi Deepthi,
I enjoyed reading both accounts, looking at the pictures and reading the one above about your trip to Jaffna. Yes ! Jaffna is definitely in my bucket list of places to visit during my next trip to Sri Lanka.
Hopefully there will be a highway to Jaffna where we can possibly make the trip in about 3 hour to Jaffna. , from Colombo.
Dear Deepthi & Nisantha,
Good to hear that you have visited Jaffna. I think that Narme also visited once. When we were in Med School, Deva Irriyagolle came with me to Jaffna. He stayed at the Rest house in town which he booked earlier. My house was 3 miles away in Kondavil. I took him around – including toddy booths🥛🥛🍺🥃
Deepthie & Nisantha, you have been to the Fort & seen the library ( which was rebuilt after it was burnt down during the war). Next to this is the clock tower & a school called Jaffna central college. That’s where I studied. Many others whom you know also studied there including our batch mates – Sivakumaran, Sattianayagam, Kaleel & Satpa soruba rajah. Many others who studied with me went to Peradeniya. Our school principals during our time came from UK & Australia.
Next to our school is our sister school called Vembadi girls college where Saroja Rajanayagam & Rajaes Rajasingam went. Most went to Peradeniya.
The Jaffna Hospital , Jet wing hotel & town centre are only at walking distance from our school.
Thats my 2 cents worth !!
👍😜
Thanks Seelan for the notes on Jaffna , and all the stories of our batch mates that attended the famous schools in Jaffna .
Yes, I did see all the places you mention – Vembadi where Rajes and Saroja attended .
I think, Donnie too attended a College out there – and I do recall seeing that school too .
News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 
Dear Narme
This is a beautiful video clip of life in Jaffa . I can still remember how we enjoyed our last trip to Jaffna and would love to go there again.
Thanks for sharing .
Praxy
LikeLike
The dry zone cultivated and made full use Regards Asoka
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Thank you Sam and Narme for the Jaffna post .
It was very well done , and over too soon , so I had to view it a few times to get the most out of it !
I had a moment of nostalgia , as I was viewing the video, as I did a trip to Jaffna in October 2019- after the RU .
Maithri and Rajabalendran mapped out the trip for me, and Walkers Tours did the rest- car/driver/ accomodation etc .
The most memorable for me was the visit to Nallur Temple, and meeting up with a group of very young Roman Catholic Nuns . I think, they were from SL or from Kerala, South India – This is something I would not have even dreamed of, even a few years ago .
This for me was the Ultimate Unity in Diversity .
I am still using the pure salt I bought from the Jaffna Market, along with a nice basket woven out of Palmyra leaves !
What a trip it was .. !!
The Jaffna Sunset along the Jaffna Fort- looking over the Kayts Causeway — Was a Wholesome Moment of Reflection ..
Thanks again for the lovely post —
Deepthie .
LikeLike
Thanks Narme and Sam for posting this lovely video on Jaffna. Piching and I made trip to Jaffna about a year after the war ended. The video is well done . It brought back pleasant memories about our trip to Jaffna
We decided to fly from Ratmalana air port to Jaffna. The plane was a twin engine turbo prop piloted by the Sri Lanka air force pilots. Take off and landing were both a little rough. The white lady in front of the plane got sick and threw up during the middle of the flight . She was a bit slow to grab the ” Puke ” bag. You know what that means. The start of the journey was unpleasant.
There were no proper hotels then. My brother who is in the hotel industry arranged for us to stay in a cute boutique hotel. The hotel was a large old mansion converted to a hotel. It had all the modern conveniences. The property was surrounded by lush greenery , lots of fruit trees scattered around the property. The breakfast made to order was fantastic. All the exotic Sri Lankan breakfast food.
The hotel arranged a car and driver for us to tour Jaffna. There was a bit of a problem. The driver spoke only Tamil and my Tamil was rusty. Although I was able to read and write Tamil before entering medical school and not having had a chance to keep up , which I regret , I was in a sticky situation. Anyway we did fine with my limited Tamil language , sign language and gestures , never got lost and went to the correct destinations like a charm.
The tour of Jaffna was very good. It still had the old world charm. Jaffna Fort, Jaffna library and the walks around the city, the Temples everything was fascinating.
The boat ride to the Nagadeepa temple in a large boat provided by the Sri Lanka navy was fun too.It was packed to capacity. I was afraid whether whether we would reach our destination without incident , but fortunately we did .
I can see the development in agriculture, the happy faces, nice shops, restaurants Temples , now in Jaffna. I cannot wait for my next trip to Jaffna. I am sure there are very good hotels in Jaffna from what I read and hear from people who have visited Jaffna recently. However I Would not hesitate one bit to stay in the same boutique hotel we stayed at during our first trip. Sadly , I did not make a note of the hotel. I only hope my brother would remember the name.
Nisantha
LikeLike
Hi Nisantha !
I read with great interest your Jaffna experience , a year after the war ended . Read through the next post- -my trip to Jaffna- 2019 was by car , Ten years after the war ended .
Posh Hotels ( I stayed at the Jet Wing ) nice big homes, well dressed people, signs of prosperity all around me .
The evening sunset walk along the Jaffna Fort area- was lovely, with a full moon over us , later on into the evening twilight .
Lots of people just walking, enjoying the nice sunset and the moon lit night .
There was a child’s birthday party going on at one spot- with a nice waterfront gazebo- built into the water with lots of happy faces, laughing nicely dressed children,birthday cake balloons etc — something that was lost for a long time, and now returning .
Happy Times Have Returned !
My driver was a young Tamil Christian lad, born and raised from the Wattala area , which happens to be where I spent my time from 1953- till I left SL in 1972 .
This lad was fluent in all three languages , so I did not have to speak a word, in any language !
Jet Wing Hotel – Superb service and meals etc , with a roof top garden. bar etc .
It was a great trip all round .
Take a look at the next post- ” Trip Back in Time ” — which describes my visit to Jaffna- October 2019, with a few photos .
Thanks for your response and Thanks to Narme and Sam .
eagleD
LikeLike
Hi Deepthi,
I enjoyed reading both accounts, looking at the pictures and reading the one above about your trip to Jaffna. Yes ! Jaffna is definitely in my bucket list of places to visit during my next trip to Sri Lanka.
Hopefully there will be a highway to Jaffna where we can possibly make the trip in about 3 hour to Jaffna. , from Colombo.
Nisantha
LikeLike
Dear Deepthi & Nisantha,
Good to hear that you have visited Jaffna. I think that Narme also visited once. When we were in Med School, Deva Irriyagolle came with me to Jaffna. He stayed at the Rest house in town which he booked earlier. My house was 3 miles away in Kondavil. I took him around – including toddy booths🥛🥛🍺🥃
Deepthie & Nisantha, you have been to the Fort & seen the library ( which was rebuilt after it was burnt down during the war). Next to this is the clock tower & a school called Jaffna central college. That’s where I studied. Many others whom you know also studied there including our batch mates – Sivakumaran, Sattianayagam, Kaleel & Satpa soruba rajah. Many others who studied with me went to Peradeniya. Our school principals during our time came from UK & Australia.
Next to our school is our sister school called Vembadi girls college where Saroja Rajanayagam & Rajaes Rajasingam went. Most went to Peradeniya.
The Jaffna Hospital , Jet wing hotel & town centre are only at walking distance from our school.
Thats my 2 cents worth !!
👍😜
LikeLike
Thanks Seelan for the notes on Jaffna , and all the stories of our batch mates that attended the famous schools in Jaffna .
Yes, I did see all the places you mention – Vembadi where Rajes and Saroja attended .
I think, Donnie too attended a College out there – and I do recall seeing that school too .
Nostalgia indeed , for all of us …
eagleD
LikeLike