6 April 2013

We leave shortly after breakfast for a trip to Karainagar which is an island and about 30 mins away. This is where my ancestors came from. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway.

We had a half-day at the temple. It was hot. We had to dress in our traditional attire and topless. I got the outfit in Colombo. The temple sits on the land that my maternal great great grandfather, Ramanathan gave to setup the temple. Thus I have some connection here. This land grant would have happened around 1870.

There were various ceremonies conducted at the temple which included a parade of The Lord Ganesh around the temple. There were also various cultural programmes mingled with the ceremonies being conducted. These are ancient Hindu practices.

This country is also full of old British cars. Check out this one, a Morris Oxford, parked outside the temple.

We got back to the hotel and got changed before heading out to Casuarina Beach, the premier spot on Karainagar.  

I was trying to catch a glimpse of the famous lighthouse.  Our maternal great grandfather, the infamous Thambiah, was known as lighthouse Thambiah because he lived in Kovalum close to this lighthouse. 

The lighthouse is visible in the picture. We are hoping to get to it but I am told the roads are bad. I also spotted the local Mr Whippy.  

Back in the room this evening and I saw an Australian Government ad on TV that was produced in Tamil. It is a message to discourage illegal departures by boat. It warns of treacherous conditions on the sea and that no jobs are available in Australia. It displays our old immigration minister, Chris Bowen, prominently. People are still keen to leave. Karainagar had a population of 45,000 in 1991. Now it is around 8000. There is plenty of abandoned buildings around.  It is the same in Jaffna township.  It is very sad.