Perspective: Trapped in our Colombo hotel, with bombings all around us
The clock on a tower of St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is stopped at 8:45, the exact moment a suicide bombing exploded there on Easter morning. By Avtar Singh Avtar Singh is an author and editor based in Beijing. His latest novel is"Necropolis." April 26 at 2:45 PM Easter in Colombo began with a rainbow this year. I know this, because I recorded the moment with my son in the foreground. It was his 11th birthday.
We didn’t know about the numbers then. I did know about the geography. The first thing I gathered when I learned of the attacks was that the Galle Face Hotel lies between the properties that had been hit. The hotel’s location, opulence and reputation screamed “target” to me. The first order of business was to get out.
We had no idea. I did a short prayer with my father for my son — we are observant Sikhs — then headed down to the hotel portico. Around 10 of us were headed to Bentota, a nearby resort town, for a day trip. Our guide came to me.“There have been bombs,” he said abruptly. Sri Lanka’s turbulent history lends itself to concise recitations of such events. India’s past, no less scarred, renders us good listeners. The hotel staff I noticed lurking anxiously by the front gate confirmed what he had said.
“We can’t leave,” my niece said shortly. “The hotel’s been locked down.” With us inside, along with the bomb I thought was already there.We herded the family toward the sea, away from the building. Guests were streaming out now, looking worriedly at their phones. The hotel had organized a small petting zoo for Easter. My son and his young cousins consoled themselves with the little birds and rabbits. I wandered about, looking in garbage bins.
We had lunch. Some of the staff’s families would have been at prayer that morning around the island. Still they smiled and served us our orders. Their stoicism struck us then. Now, having processed the events of that day, it awes me.There were rumors of a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy next door. We could see armed guards on its roof, a machine gun pointing out to sea.
We were sunburned, tired, a little bored. My son curled up next to me, absorbed in his device. At 5 p.m., the hotel organized a birthday cake for him. We learned then that the curfew scheduled for 6 p.m. was already in place. We sang “Happy Birthday,” then moved to the Long Room, where the hotel organizes sundowners and canapés every evening.
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