The Fourth of February

When I woke up on the morning of February fourth, 2007 at five-thirty in the morning, I didn’t think that I was going to see four Sri Lankan men in kilts playing bagpipes, two multiple rocket launchers, and six tanks parked outside of my hotel in Colombo when I arrived later that morning, but that was how things ended up. Dan and I got up early for the 6:30 AM intercity express from Kandy to Colombo to watch the Superbowl at the Galle Face Hotel the next morning. Upon arriving at the Colombo Fort train station at 9:15 AM we found a three-wheeler driver out front and Dan started to negotiate a rate to the Galle Face hotel. The driver warned that the army was holding maneuvers on the Galle Face Green and all of the streets around the Galle Face Green and army headquarters across the street were barricaded. “He’ll just take us as far as he can,” Dan explained to me once we had stuffed ourselves and our bag into the three-wheeler.

The streets were eerily quiet as we headed from the interior of Colombo toward the coast. Army, police, Special Forces, and home-guard were patrolling every intersection. The police, home-guard, and the army soldiers were armed with wooden or open-stock Chinese knock-offs of the AK47 assault rifle called the T56. “The receiver metal on the T56 is thinner than the AK, to save costs” Dan explained. “But I’ve heard soldiers tell me about them blowing up in your hand, so that’s not so good,” he finished, shrugging his shoulders. The Special Forces units in their black jumpsuits carried American-made shiny black closed-bolt submachine guns called the MP5.

When we reached the road-block at the entrance to the access road to Galle Road that ran south along the Gulf of Mannar down the Galle Face Green to the Galle Face hotel we had to exit the three-wheeler. Dan explained in Sinhala to the army officers at the blockade that we were headed for the Galle Face Hotel and they allowed us to walk past the barricade dragging our roller bag down the middle of the street. Army soldiers of every regiment lined the sidewalks so we walked down the middle of the usually chaotic and busy street to the intersection of Galle Road where a few officers escorted us up the short hill and across the street. When I reached the middle of Galle Road I could see the entire kilometer length of the Galle Face Green was packed with regiments of the Sri Lankan armed services. Tanks lined the access road in front of the Galle Face Hotel and two huge RM-70 multiple rocket launchers occupied the Galle Face parking lot itself. I recognized the RM-70 immediately because Dan had pointed one out to me on Sri Lankan news coverage of the war. Each RM-70 was almost nine meters long and two and a half meters wide. An armored cabin made up the front of each vehicle and eight monster-truck style tires attached to the frame arranged in two groups of four. The RM-70 has the capacity to fire two sets of forty rounds each, but the vehicles parked in front of the Galle face had the cylinders for the first bank of four horizontal lines of 10 tubes removed leaving only the back cylinders intact on an elevated swiveling plate.

“Stalin’s Organ!” Dan exclaimed excitedly when he saw the multiple rocket launchers. “Those babies have a range of 400 kilometers,” he told me, “but they aren’t very accurate, they are more of a crude weapon of destruction,” he furthered. The RM-70’s were forest green and each inch had been brought to a glossy shine, even the tires. The six-man crew of each vehicle stood next to each RM-70 in full dark green dress uniforms featuring polished mahogany boots tied over the bottoms of their pants and topped off by red Garrison caps with black bottom edges.

Once we reached the front terrace of the Galle Face Hotel, Dan started to immediately try and take photos. Standing next to him I could see that some sort of speech was being given in the middle of the Galle Face Green. The Galle Face Hotel management quickly spotted Dab’s camera and politely told him to put his camera away. Dan sadly holstered his camera and we proceeded into the open-air lobby. Once we began checking in, the same manager re-approached us and told Dan that photos were OK provided that he remain on the Galle Face terrace and in the parking lot. Dan thanked him and immediately jumped up; leaving me to finished the check-in and get the bags to the room.

“I am very sorry,” the receptionist began as soon as Dan had left. “Your requested room is not available.” We had asked for a large room on the end of the hotel entirely facing the Gulf of Mannar. “But we will put you in the honeymoon suite,” he added, smiling. “This was service,” I thought to myself as he photocopied my passport. “They obviously asked for permission for Dan to photograph and now they are upgrading us to the honeymoon suite.” When check-in was finished one of the bellmen brought the bag and showed me to the room. I followed him through the maze of the Galle Face to a section of the building entirely new to me. The suite faced the Galle Face Green on the street-side of the hotel and occupied the entire corner of the building. The first room was a sitting area with canning chairs covered in white padding arranged around a round, white marble coffee table. Long widows lit the room on two sides and a mirror in the shape of the windows reflected light from the third wall. Massive wooden French doors set into the fourth wall led into the bedroom. The fourth wall also featured a small sink, wooden racks, and counter previously used as a wet-bar. A huge bed dominated the room with a 30-inch TV in the corner. Doors on either side of the bed led back to a sliver of a dressing room running the length of the suite between the bedroom and bath area. The dressing room had a proper dressing table and upholstered bench with soft lighting surrounding old beveled-glass mirrors set into an alcove between the long slender closets on the wall of the little alley shared with the bedroom. The wall shared with the bathroom behind the dressing table was one enormous mirror. The bathroom was a series of rooms with a white garden tub and pedestal sink in one room and the toilet in another. The floor of the bathroom was cream-colored ceramic tile hand-painted with a brown and pink border design. I quickly deposited my handbag, grabbed my camera, and headed back out to the parade.

As I reached the Galle Face parking lot, the crews of the RM-70s and the tanks started to put on the white gloves previously tucked into their polished leather baldrics and belts. The speech seemed to be over. I circulated around the multiple rocket launchers, amazed that I was so close to such a devastating weapon. I took a picture straight up the barrels of one of the RM-70’s. Then I walked to the front of the parking lot and looked down the side of the Galle Face Green. I could not count all of the different regiments clustered along the length of the Green, facing Galle road. As I marveled at the different uniforms and colors, the engines of the tanks 20 meters in front of me roared to life, filling the air with a cloud of exhaust. Then the engines of the RM-70’s added their voices to the din. Surrounded by the noise and haze of exhaust I felt closer than I ever imagined possible to a battleground. A small jeep with four men each in heavy gold-braided military garb standing straight up in the back pulled out of the Galle Face Green directly in front of me and headed up the small access road to Galle Road. Two men wore black uniforms; one wore white, and the fourth navy blue. I wondered if these were the real military commanders or decoys. I remembered the closing morning parade in Kandy at the end of the Perahera festival which was supposed to feature the president. A fake president walked down the street wearing the real president signature outfit of white shirt, white longi, and burgundy scarf around the neck waving to the people. Even I had known he was a fake president.

Once the small jeep turned onto Galle Road, the line of tanks slowly made their way up the hill. Each tank looked different and featured a different set of guns. Looking down the line of tanks I suddenly noticed that the Gulf of Mannar was full of warships. As the first tanks started down Galle Road I realized that more armored vehicles were coming around the corner and had been lined up on the promenade between the Galle Face Green and the Gulf of Mannar. Smaller tanks came around the corner followed by rugged looking vehicles with sophisticated-looking communications devices affixed to the tops, and then came two smaller multiple rocket launchers, the BM-21’s. The BM-21’s had two wheelers on the cabin which pull four wheels attached to the frame supporting one rectangular bank of forty-round launch tubes. Around twenty vehicles passed before the RM-70’s in the parking lot began to rev their engines. Brining up the rear of the armored parade, the RM-70’s majestically eased up the hill of the access road and out onto Galle Road.

After the armored vehicle parade was well on their way down Galle Road, the bands on the Galle Face Green began to play. Each regiment had its own band consisting of bass-drums, Tom-toms, trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, and occasionally Souza-phones. Each group was led by a drum-major followed by sword-wielding officers to flank the soldiers as they marched out. I positioned myself at the farthest reach of the Galle Face Hotel parking lot, about twenty feet from the Galle Face Green exit. The armored-core regiment was the first to exit the Galle Face Green. I recognized them by the chain-mail epaulettes on the officer’s shoulders. Next the Artillery, and then the Engineers exited the Galle Face Green with pomp and splendor. For each of the first three groups the soldiers wore green, the officers wore blue and burgundy, and the band wore some variety of red and black. Then came the all-blue band I later learned belonged to the Signal Corps followed by the red cravats and red braids I immediately recognized as the Sri Lanka Light Infantry, SLLI, the regiment of our friends up at Mihintale. I wanted to cheer for the Light Infantry, but I didn’t know how that would be received and remained quiet. After the Light Infantry I recognized the black cravats and black braids of their rival regiment, the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment. Dan had clarified his current difficulties with the army media relations to me by explaining that the old Army Commander was SLLI and all of army media was SLLI. The new Army Commander was Sinha and all of army media was now Sinha so they wouldn’t have anything to do with him and he had to rely on his old SLLI friends like Captain Keerthi for continued under the radar access.

Next came colorful regiments that I later learned had strange names like Gemunu Watch, Gajaba, and Vijayabahu Regiment. These regiments were all raised after Independence in 1948 for specific purposes and operations. As each drum-major exited the Green he would begin a hand-over-hand twirl, spinning the mace in front of him like wheel. When he reached the access road right in front of me he would halt, then execute a high aerial maneuver, catch the mace, point the silver ball of the mace up the hill to Galle Road, and lead his regiment up the hill. I felt as though I personally was reviewing the troops.

Then all-black clad commando unit started toward the gate next. Even their nametags were black on black. They carried M-16s and didn’t have a band, a drum major or officers. The regiment silently glided up the hill followed by the Special Forces, Military Intelligence, Engineer Services, Service Corps, Medical Corps, Ordnance Corps, Mechanical Engineers, and the Military Police each led by their own band and drum-major. Next the Women’s Corps came toward the exit gate following a female drum-major with an all-female band and flanked by female officers. The women played their instruments skillfully and marched with power and determination up to Galle Road.

Next the Navy began to exit the Galle Face Green, some in white sailor uniforms with blue caps. I was not familiar with the regiments of the Navy. As long as we had lived in Sri Lanka, whenever we passed an Army soldier Dan would point out his insignia and other defining uniform characteristics to me. Dan also owned a 932 page full-color reference book printed in 1999 to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Army that I had flipped through a few times to help understand various aspects of his research. The first Colonel who had really helped Dan in his research had given him the book after meeting him at Army Day 2002. Once the Navy started marching I was at a loss. Each Navy regiment had a drum-major, a band, and officers with swords. When the women started marching I figured the Navy was almost over. Then the Airforce started marching in their blue camouflage uniforms. On and earlier occasion in Colombo Dan and I saw an Airforce officer on the streets of Colombo one day Dan pointed out the patches of dark, medium, and light blue camo and joked that they could blend in with the sky. Looking around I noticed that I didn’t see Dan in the crowd, but I figured that he was holed up taking pictures somewhere.

Once the Homeguard, the Police, and finally the Women’s Police started marching I new the parade was almost over. When the Women’s Police regiment started down Galle Road three helicopters flew in formation down the coast. Then another three, larger helicopters followed by three WWII era planes prop planes with the wings affixed to the top of their fuselages. For the coup-de-gras, three fighter jets buzzed the Galle Face Green. I heard them coming from behind me, from behind the Galle Face Hotel before I could see them. By the time I could see them they were gone. For a moment in their loud roar they literally pushed back the waters of the Gulf of Mannar with their power before vanishing into the horizon.

With the parade over I suddenly realized that I was standing in the sun six degrees north of the equator and immediately sought the shade of the Galle Face Hotel and returned to the honeymoon suite. I found Dan already in the room, having obtained the key from reception. “Pretty nice digs huh?” I asked, gesturing to the suite.

“Every time we come they upgrade us,” Dan replied, nodding.

“That parade was amazing, you just never know what you are going to encounter when you come here do you?” I asked.

“It was pretty cool, I think I got some good pictures,” he replied. “I had no idea any of this was going on,” he added, shaking his head in wonder.

“This was an unexpected, and pleasant, discovery wasn’t it?” I joked. “Very serendipitous,” I added smiling.