top of page
CHILDREN'S GEOGRAPHIES
A walk through Pettah
I began my journey on a Sunday morning. Sunday is the one day of the week where the bustling streets and markets of Pettah and outer Pettah drowses. This was favourable for me to observe the dichotomy between the remnants of the colonial past and the new. It was also one true time where I could absolutely discern the physical dynamism between roads, narrow pathways, back-way alleys, buildings, balconies, lamp posts and various advertising boards, completely stripped of human animation.
Another walk through Pettah
As I was making my way down the bare streets, I encountered Chandana- a mango seller and Arul, his brother- a pineapple seller. Though it seemed a bit odd at first that the two should peddle 'achcharu' (a sort of a salad)- a street food delicacy on the empty streets of Pettah, upon inquiry I learnt that they were in fact on their way to Victoria Park, some xx km away as it is more active on a Sunday.
I learnt that Chandana the older brother of the two has been a fruit peddlar for 16 years, since he was around 14, and Arul, two years his junior, for 15 years. The two brothers are both now married, with children and live in Pettah, behind Manning market.
According to Chandana, their father worked as a porter at a rice store on xxx street and eventually became bedridden and forced out of work prompting, first Chandana to leap into the role of bread winner. Their father passed away that year and Arul too followed Chandana into the streets.
They are both optimistic of their future though, and thoroughly believe that they can ensure a better future for their children as they prepare to leave for new jobs in Pakistan, they procured through a local business man.
M.J.M. Lafeer road going towards New Moor street
M.J.M. Lafeer road going towards New Moor street
M.J.M. Lafeer road going towards New Moor street
The residences in Pettah usually tend to pile on top of the shops that ribbon along leither sides of the roads. Without the daily chaos that distracts the eye, it was the layers of metal grills, deep balconies and increasing heights of buildings and their relationships to each other that drew my attention.
M.J.M. Lafeer road going towards New Moor street
M.J.M. Lafeer road looking towards Sri Sumanatissa Mawatha
As I was heading towards Old Moor Street, the number of old colonial buildings became more evident. The remaining old buildings have undergone generations and generations of spatial re-adaptations as the Colombo elite abandoned businesses and residences in favour of more spacious residential districts south of Fort. Now they are further partitioned into much smaller units and serves as storage and service spaces for local businesses.
M.J.M. Lafeer road looking towards Sri Sumanatissa Mawatha
M.J.M. Lafeer road looking towards Sri Sumanatissa Mawatha
A colonial house sandwiched between two mosques.
Old Moor street junction
Stepping into the Old Moor street I was immediately faced with a procession of decaying Dutch and British colonial buildings. This antiquated street is one of the many gridding the Fort, Pettah and Aluth Kade area.
Old Moor street
Old Moor street
Generations of socio-political and economic transformations have for the past 60 years have somehow handed over what was formaly the locus of elite of the colonial quarters to the ordinary indigenous people. It is compelling to see how the ordinary, the native and the naturalised have taken over the abstract space that was intended for something altogether different and indigenised and sometimes ruralised it.
Old Moor street
Dam street
Saunders street
Saunders street
October, 2017
bottom of page