Colombo: A NovelColombo is in the throes of an explosion. Its face changes continuously, its vices are legion, its future as yet obscure and its paths speak of sunlight as well as of shadow.-' Carl Muller begins his quasi-fictional portrait of this beautiful, war-torn city by describing the great battles fought over it by European colonizers-. In AD 1505, a Portuguese fleet blown off-course took shelter in Galle, overthrew the local kings, fortified Colombo and decided to stay. The Dutch came along, ousted the Portuguese, made Colombo their capital and ruled till the British arrived and sent them packing. Muller intersperses the tales of the past into descriptions of the battles that are being fought in Colombo today"political battles in which vested interests play a major role as well as battles fought on the individual level in the struggle to survive: young women and children turning to prostitution to earn an extra buck, people begging in the streets to make ends meet, unemployed young men turning to crime in frustration, students demonstrating against atrocities, lovers pining for nightfall in order to push away loneliness if only for a few moments... Written in Muller's lucid style, Colombo: A Novel is a chronicle of a city's trials and triumphs. |
From inside the book
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Contents
Under the Umbrella | 3 |
The Leafy Mango Tree | 14 |
Shabby People | 23 |
Harbour Lights | 30 |
The Exhibitionists | 41 |
Only by Night | 51 |
The Canalians | 64 |
Let Sleeping Gods Lie | 76 |
In a GlassDimly | 153 |
Other GunsOther Times | 175 |
Once upon a Garden | 207 |
For the Record | 225 |
TargetColombo | 251 |
Intermezzo | 280 |
In the Beginning | 411 |
The Other Jewel in the Crown | 428 |
Bodies and Spirits | 96 |
Highlines and Skylines | 110 |
Structured for Collapse | 123 |
Colombos Child | 138 |
Changing Skylines | 449 |
Colombo Tomorrow | 467 |
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Common terms and phrases
Angelbeck arms asked bastion began blood boat British Buddha Buddhist building called canal Captain carried Ceylon child Church cinnamon coconut Colombo Company dark demons door dragged Dutch East elephants eyes father fire fish Galle Face garden Gate girls give Governor Grand Pass guns hands harbour head Hotel Hulft hundred India Jaya Kalutara Kandy kill king knew Kochchikade Kollupitiya Kotte lake land Legrevisse light live London looked LTTE Malays Maradana military Minister mother moved Mutwal Negombo night officers Pettah police political port Portuguese Raja Sinha ramparts river road Royal Asiatic Society rupees scream ships Sinhala Sinhalese Slave Island Sri Lanka stands stood Street Tamil tell temples thousand told took trade tree Trincomalee troops turned Vesak vessels W.H. Auden wait walk walls watch Wellawatte wife woman