Oh! Colombo 

One of the fabulous features around Colombo is the fun aspect of it. The lines from a certain song rings in my mind all the time and it goes as follow:  “Every night’s a party where the fun never ends you can circle the globe with my circle of friends.” And certainly we see so many circles of friends at most of these soirees that at times one is taken by surprise and find it mind boggling when you come across some of these characters for the first time in your life. At most of the wilder parties married couples are not seen together.  Instead, they cleverly party without their respective or official spouses and literally let their hair down.

One must remember that at these not so somber soirees one comes across lots of women who fancy themselves as actresses. It seems with the loads of television dramas that are churned out both male and female stars are in the hundreds. One appearance on the TV and lo and behold they instantly call themselves actresses.  If they are not actresses then they are Ms. or Mrs. Sri Lankas of some sort. Competing in every trashy contest in the country, these beauty queens are churned out by the dozen every year.  Some of the older participants who have won titles as Mrs. Sri Lanka for best smile or enchantment or some similar rubbishy title are also many. Many of these actresses and title holders they are at these soirees hanging on to their personal beautician and hair dresser.  The beauticians and hair dressers also seem to be a dime a dozen and wish to hang on to a star of some standing clicking a million pictures and selfies. Amongst all of these types one actually spots some politico types too since these ae good hunting  grounds to canvass a popular vote and donations.

Girlie Hulangwatte, an aging beautician but who yet hangs out in some of these soirees has a different take on them. Girlie will happily point out who’s who at these parties and says they all have price tags attached to them. She further goes on to say that they actually rake in cash by doing their naughty acts rather than making money from their movie or beauty careers with the help of their personal beauticians. I guess it is all clever economics and there is nothing wrong with it, especially if someone is selling goods and there is a willing buyer. ‘Trading’ is what Girlie calls it, who has turned many a trick in her hay day.

It is all in the name of fun which may not seem so in the eyes of those with high morals and ethics. Guess one man’s food is another man’s poison!