moved to larger premises, the Fort
is busy with traffic and tourists,
boutique shops and hotels have
moved into many of the beautifully
restored Dutch houses, the roads
are paved with fake cobblestones
unencroached by a single grass blade
and Anura is in competition with over
a hundred restaurants and eateries.
In January this year, as part of the
Art Trail during this year’s festival, my
book ‘Travels With a Paintbox’ was
launched, along with an exhibition of
illustrations, at the old colonial style
Closenberg Hotel, across the bay
from the Fort.
It was on a brief visit to the
capital, Colombo, on our first trip
to the green and alluring island of
Serendib (one of the old names for Sri
Lanka, and the noun from which we
derive the term serendipity, or happy
chance) that a happy chance meeting
with S.H.Sarath, one of Sri Lanka’s
most important artists, led to my
first exhibition two years later in his
studio: a small show of watercolours
opened by the then British High
Commissioner, Linda Duffield, which