POV of a Desi Girl

Following our initial boisterous packed days in kandy immersed in Sri Lankan Culture and Ambience, what welcomed us next was beyond our expectations.

The Ditwah Cyclone...

Disrupting our departure plans from Kandy back to Colombo, the trains contact center unresponsiveness further added tension of our uncertain future. As an introverted worrier, I cannot go about without plans. Yes yes I've heard it multiple times that if its not within our control, why tense? I wanted it in my control! I have back up plans for my back up plans. Both the Sims we had purchased from the CMB airport weren't functioning as smoothly and when approaching the receptionist at our humble resort, we were told that the roads were all blocked by water. Not wanting to risk, he firmly informed us that we may not be able to check out the next day declining our request for a late checkout.

In the middle of the night. There was a sudden power cut and the lights all went out. Being a mosquito seasoned country, nothing attracts mosquitoes more than heavily fleshed girl wearing black pajamas at night. Around 2 am, all us women woke up thanks to the dark tiny pests and called up the receptionist multiple times and begged for atleast the generator be turned on. After several attempts we got back our fans on. Not because we were feeling hot but because it was completely dark. We need to charge our phones so we may find alternate routes the next day.

The next morning. We find out the roads are still blocked and the rain is non stop due to Cyclone Ditwah which was reportedly headed South India. And all areas including Nuwara Eliya, Mahavelli basin, Badulla, mostly central, eastern provinces were flooded, 100s reported dead and 100 others reported missing. I searched and searched contacted all those agencies that provide car rental, reached out to the travel agency at our previous hotel only to be shut down. We were three women left with no connectivity, wifi data, no direction or guidance and barely any funds to last another day at the resort. Cherry on top, I ended up breaking my new spectacles. Another major issue was the language barrier. The people in kandy knew basic English, however they needed to be informed of what was required in a careful manner. The resort said there was no way to drive and that they can provide a transportation the next day to get out to kandy city center for ourselves just to get some insight.

We had 3 tickets of second class train ready to go by 3pm and reach Colombo by 6pm the same day. However as per the resort staff there was little confirmation that the trains might go at all.

The following 32 hours there was no connectivity, wifi. Calls incoming outgoing.. Ammi occupied herself with playing Mahjong on her phone, while Aapa had quite conveniently downloaded herself some episodes. I stared at my connectivity bar hoping that one bar would come up and I'd call Kandice again. Midnight, there was utter darkness, the resort staff explained theres no electricity and the people around us had their homes destroyed which is why they were now too occupying the resort. We were the only customers of that resort. Frustrated, angry and hopeless we prayed relentlessly praying that God would send a strong ray of sunshine to dry up the water the next day. Unable to sleep because I wanted to make things better for my family I spiraled. I started messaging people and saving them in drafts hoping to send them when the wifi would come back. Tearing up every other moment. Thinking I would become part of the kandyan community and start talking sinhalese. Mind does wonders when its afraid. I prayed for Sri Lanka and its people, prayed continuously that night. Apa kept checking if the rain stopped at all.

Morning came, we had our breakfast and requested a ride to the city center, it was 9 am we first headed towards bus station, apa and the receptionist went in to find out that no bus will go till 1st of december. Then we headed towards the railway station, only to be met with worser news that the trains wont function for another 3 weeks. Teary eyed, Apa returned. Upset and distressed we opted for overstaying our resort for the next few days and requested another stop for money exchange.

They dropped Ammi and me at KCC mall and OH boy! The scene at the Mall was all up in Festive Mood. The foreigners there were having coffee, samosas, people charging their phones. Although the Money exchange kiosk wasnt open rather it was open but there was no one there to attend to us. The receptionist told us to stay put and he'll look for another kiosk. Me and ammi wandered around and came across this lady leaning against a pillar talking heartily on her phone. We looked at each other and wondered how she was talking while we struggled to get connected with our family. Ammi approached her and asked her how she was talking. To which the lady informed her that there was a working unpopular Sim that was coincidentally in action during the floods. We hurriedly headed to the shop to find it crowded. While this was all going on, Ammi and I started bickering at each other while the receptionist got us a token number and we were informed to wait ill 2pm to be attended. Ammi started to beg as we were stranded and didnt know anybetter. Until a kind person approached us offering a phone call with the Sim that was working. Ammi took the opportunity to call my father back in UAE instructing him to cancel our flight tickets and Most importantly paying the Phone bills on time 🤦‍♀️

I took the opportunity to call upon my friend kandice who advised me to get help from her uncle who was on some business trip in kandy. Her uncle who staying at a guesthouse invited us to his abode and offered us a car trip back to our hotel (which i by the way cancelled) in Colombo. Trusting her help and his guidance, we quickly rushed back to our resort, packed our stuff and headed towards the guesthouse. From there we were on the road for the next 5 to 6 hours.

The person driving was very careful and knew the roads well, every few minutes he would make calls and ask about some highway in Kurunegala. Along the road, we saw villagers, cars, big and small and the number of tourist busses, uncountable. There was so much debris and destroyed houses. It was a devastating scene. Ayatul Kursi was constantly on my lips. Kandices uncle offered us accommodation in case things go south as in if we dont find the road towards Colombo. The trip was long. Although I was grateful, scenes from the series Stranger things and From kept flashing in my head keeping me on edge.

We crossed Kurunegala, and abruptly my phone went all loud with the phone calls. Turns out my father, brother and sister in law were calling constantly the whole day and my brother begged for a live location.

Looking for a hotel to spend the night in, we discovered all the hotels were sold out or extremely overpriced. I theorized it could be that the tourists were overstaying at the hotels due to the floods. Even the hotel i cancelled was charging us AED 1200 per night. Uncle advised us a cheaper accommodation for the night and called some of his fellow colleagues to help us find a room in another hotel so we may stay in Colombo until our departure.

With the data and connectivity issues back and a hotel to stay a night in, my mind shut off and I slept a good 8 hour sleep that night.

Colombo was humid.

Stay safe Sri Lankans!

May You get back on your feet again. Ill see you again next year.

We were a group of 5 friends back in Highschool. I am a self proclaimed friend passionate. I love giving and finding ways to strengthen my relationships. I take my relationships seriously. One of my 5 friends, we shall call her Kandice, hails from the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. The most beautiful island rated in 2025. Been promising for a visit since 2023, I decided to put my foot down, take some days off end of November till December Mid, packed my bags, promised my mother in the wonder showcase of the Elephants in Pinnawala and booked our tickets towards Colombo.

My father being a kandy enthusiast was proud, having visited the lush green haven back in his early 30s boasting about visiting the Elephant Orphanage himself and describing the love he had for Sri Lankas people and their hospitality. This further boosted my confidence. I took my sister and mother along. Although I wanted to visit Ella, Marissa and Negumbo, due to the limited leaves my elder sister had taken, we had to cut short our trip to 7 days citing my mother's love for cold weather as felt in Kandy and just a train away to Nuwara Eliya.

Planning the trip was easy, thanks to Google, YouTube and Reddit. My plan was to start from colombo, take the train towards Kandy, take a day trip towards Nuwara Eliya by the next day and travel back to Colombo from Kandy. Stay another 2 and half days in Colombo and be back before the National Holidays of the UAE. *sigh*

God had other plans for us.

Just before our flight to Colombo, I was routinely checking the weather conditions since the beginning of November. I chose November for travel solely because this was a dying monsoon season, limited rainfall and much sun as per reports. However on Monday the 24th. I saw something precarious.

"SRI LANKA SEVERE FLOOD RISK"

I felt the ground below me slip. With hotels booked and flights paid for. I had the impulse to call my bestie residing the lush country and asked for a raw update. She assured me everything was fine. I looked into reddit, got another confirmation. Finally messaged the hotels booking managers, again another positive confirmation. The next day we reached Colombo via 4 hour flight from Dubai and were met by rain.

It was 6 pm and we were on the way to Fairway Colombo, a hotel that's the first to use Robotic Technology in Colombo and is proud of it. I wont say i was too impressed by it cause I took the food out the robotic waiter before it asked me for the OTP. 😅

All else was well. But the real adventure began the very next day, we were reached out by the hotels very own travel agency offering us a trip towards nuwara eliya for 125 dollars with multiple desired stops such as Gregory lake, little england, and ramboda waterfalls. We were still skeptical as the weather hasn't been very helpful. So we decided for the weather to get better once we reach kandy and then take up the offer.

I had booked us 3 the first class on the kandy railway and had a nice little trip cozily towards the hill station where again there was heavy rain

It just wouldn't stop...

Our plans to nuwara eliya were canceled Thereby we decided to tour kandy instead. Our resort was up in the slopes of kandy, about 2 km away from city center, the alleys were thin but the Air was soo clean, the greenery was so lush and the beauty of the hill station was an absolute scene, despite its flaws, I enjoyed the pittar patter of the rain.

We were able to enjoy the kandyan dance, the kandy view point, go to the local plantation factory, the gemstone locations and so much more. Kandy is rich.

This is getting too long. I shall share another post of what happened next.

The last train home

I've always wondered what it's like to travel using the last train home. I've yet to ride the traditional old school trains back in my home country but I have ridden other modern set trains available in Lahore Cantt.

It was my sister's Walima in Lahore, Us, a family of 4 and extended family members of 5 others rode the train with the family AC sleeper cabin. In the winter of Early January, in a compartment cabin of the Lahore Rail train. We embarked on a 18 hour long journey. I hadn't traveled by train by that age then but It was pretty exciting. We booked two units, one large cabin held 6 ladies of our family while the other held 3 elderlies.

The cabin had 6 beds that were mounted on opposite walls, 2 of the lower beds could be lifted upwards and into the wall to become cushiony part of the train seat while the highest bed was left open. I being the youngest had to climb the steel ladder to get to the top bed. The experience was nice for a long journey but I was quite suffocated. I didn't enjoy climbing down or up and I wasnt exactly fond of the bathrooms the trains had. But I did like the aisles outside our cabin.

I had downloaded a film too. Train to Busan, 🙂 I'm not sure why I decided to torture myself in my first night in the train, it ended well. The next morning, we finally crossed the first farming sites of Punjab. I sat by the aisle seat, on the small flip table with a tea cup on it and candy biscuits. It was a foggy morning, and it was pure bliss!

Here in Dubai, I dont get to travel on longer hours cause the metro exists only in Dubai. The longest ride is 1 hour 42 minutes which is the red line. I love the Metro. For an introvert like myself, I am fond of finding an empty train in under the blue lights of the women's section. The train rides are mostly quiet. Although short, I always find my mind wandering in these metro rides with background music on my Spotify app.

I love traveling at night, be it bus, car or train or even an airplane. Don't get me started on late night flights. That's another story for another one of my blogs. It's a bit personal to me.

It's the interior of the Dubai metro that really makes me comfortable. They say the color blue, a shade of sea and ocean blue 💙 makes the heart feel relaxed. Although a generic color, this blue has always calmed me. It's also the respect that each of the passenger has for each other. I've also traveled trains and underground trains in Singapore and Japan. Comparatively it's Dubai Metro > Japan's Shinjuku line > Singapore train. No hate to the train in Singapore, it's just i kept sliding from left to right on the seating row on the first train from airport to the main city.

Particularly because of how crowded Japanese train stations are. I remember slamming a poor university student to the wall while trying to get my baggage out waiting for my girls to group in. That boy must have seen the stars in the sky.

I am a Pakistani Girl and a Closet Patriot.

I have a land that I can call mine. I love the greens and the browns the land contains. The people, the hospitality, the scenery, the charity and love for its people.

Although I grew up overseas, I've always had a longing to dwell between the walls of my ancestral home in Karachi.

I am a Muhajir. Muhajirs are one of the largest communities that decided to choose Pakistan as its homeland. We were the ones who traveled during the partition. Well not me, I came years later.

Appearance wise, I look similar to the people in the neighboring countries. That would be India, and Bangladesh. I don't mind the similarity but I wish I could represent the country in some way.

Growing up in the GCC country, I came to love the Countries nearby and it's people. I don't quite understand the hate they have for one another. All I know is that each of countries, Pakistan included have strong passion for their independence and Identity.

It took me a while to speak Urdu Fluently. I think about 13 years? Mum was too busy struggling 2 jobs, and learning how to drive by the time I started middle school. Our School provided us our mother tongues as second language, the options were Urdu, Hindu, Bengoli, French and Special Arabic. I still don't know what special Arabic is, I never had anyone near me who took it.

Khair, It took me 13 years to learn the language. Since I am a Karachite, most of my urdu was influenced by my surroundings, cousins, Abbu, ammi, friends, dadi, nani, the parosees both here and there.

My urdu for most part sounded English. I had the same accent as i had in English. I was better in English in comparison to Urdu. But I loved history and Poetry. I learned how Urdu came to be. Yes, it's a combination of 6 to 7 languages but It's such a Clean tongue. Even the Writings are so elegant and pretty. The Nazms, ghazals and shaaèrys are beautiful. Man if you would see the Pakistani dramas on HumTV or AryDigital, you would know.

I still suck in the handwriting part though, As my Urdu Mam would say "Apki Likhai main Lehr nahi hai". **Your writing doesn't have a wave to it**. In those days, we used to study Urdu and Arabic cause Arabic language is a requirement, I preferred my writing in Arabic more cause no one asked for a "Lehr".

It was my early twenties, when some aunty commented on my Urdu. I was working in Call Center and she's like "Aap ka bol acha hai". I WAS FLOORED. But I remained humbled and made self deprecating jokes.

The other day, Mum fell while baking pizza in the kitchen (the Pizza survived). I was doing my night shift and quickly ran to her aide. She and her tiny self was sitting on the kitchen floor with a winced expression quietly. She kept saying she broke her "cooli" and that she was sure her "cooli" bone is definitely affected. I was more nervous than worried cause I didn't know what a "Cooli" was. I was more scared to ask her than help her. So I helped her up, gave her some Ibubrofen and sat her. Then when everything was slightly okay, I asked her calmly "ye cooli kya hoti hai". Boy I wish I could be invisible on demand cause that moment ammis face went red and she blasted off at me for not knowing basic urdu anatomy.