Encounters
Chatty strangers rattle through sweltering Sri Lanka on a train
It was maybe fitting that we met leaving a place called ‘Galle’, writes Gavin Hayward of the chance encounter he had on holiday
We bought our tickets easily enough: second class to Induruwa for 100 rupees (R10). Then we got chatting to a young tuk-tuk driver near the entrance to Galle station. One of the nice things about Sri Lanka is that a fair number of people speak English.
Maybe we were enchanted by the betel-stained teeth revealed when he smiled, but we failed to rush for a seat - like all the locals did - as the train pulled in, so when we boarded we could only find one seat.
I told my grumpy boyfriend Paul to sit in it; I was happy to stand in the breezy doorway and watch the passing countryside.
Sri Lanka is hot and sweaty. The palm trees and occasional glimpse of the sea were much more interesting than looking at the dull grey walls inside.
Most of the passengers were talking in their own language, but the man beside me asked the obvious question, "Where you from?""Ah, South Africa," he exclaimed, "good cricket team. Hansie Cronje!"
Hansie had died in a plane crash some years before, still in disgrace from the match-fixing scandal, but all that was too much to explain above the noise in the carriage...
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