Now, India loves our railway line!

India knows the beauty of Sri Lanka. This is why we see so many tourists from our closest neighbour arriving here annually to get a glimpse of the island’s most picturesque places. Right now an Indian film company has ‘high jacked’ one of our railway tracks for a film project. The filming is taking place on the rail track near the Nine Arch Bridge between Ella and Demodara. 

We were always interested in the female versions of India’s most beautiful things; one example is Sri Lankan kings getting down women from India to be their queens. India’s thinking always stretched beyond that. Their thoughts went beyond flesh and bone and focused on our geography. This is why it took an Indian film company to come here and show us that a film can be made using this tourist hotspot that Sri Lanka boasts of. 
Sri Lanka’s history shows that our very own Raavan (Ravana) was madly in love with India’s Seetha, the consort of Rama. Legend tells us that Raavan kidnapped Sita and held her in captivity in Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka have different versions of this episode favourable to each other. Geography-wise, the number of times Sri Lanka has cut a war path into India is negligible when compared to India’s number of invasions into Sri Lanka. 

Right now the train journey from Colombo Fort to Badulla comes to an abrupt halt at the Ella Railway Station. Sri Lanka Railways has confirmed that the railway track running beyond Ella and ending in Badulla cannot be used between October 9 to15. The film is a project by the Indo-Sri Lanka Trust Film Project and the Indian film company has paid Sri Lanka Railways Rs. 23 million as Santhosam (Gift). 
Geography-wise, Sri Lanka has much to offer or entice India. It’s not the other way around. Both India and Sri Lanka at a diplomatic level must find ways of carrying out their respective projects without inconveniencing the people of this island. From the never-ending fishing dispute involving Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen to the proposals to establish the ‘Adam’s Bridge’ (From the islands of Mannar to Rameswaram in South India) and the controversial Seethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (If established would provide a continuously navigable sea route around the Indian peninsular), India has managed to generate much news and unnerve its neighbour time and time again. 
Sri Lankans in general don’t have to have a reason to be at some location on most given occasions. A stock answer you get from a Sri Lankan villager if there is an inquiry as to why he is present at a location would be ‘I just came sir’. Foreigners set foot on this island for special reasons and often for business purposes and to grab opportunities. 
The film that is ‘work-in-progress’, according to the Sri Lankan authorities, is aimed at promoting tourism in this island. Why would India promote our tourism if it doesn’t get a millage out of this whole process? We need to ask hard questions as to why any nation would be so interested in our welfare! 
Sri Lanka needs someone with stature to make India stand up and take notice of us. Our very own warrior king Raavan had that ability and many centuries afterwards, celebrated cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya (famously known as the master blaster) inflicted that same fear into the Indians by wielding his bat in the sport of cricket. Sorry, Tiger rebel leader Prabakaran cannot be put in that league; he was just a nuisance. 
We haven’t seen the plot in this film made on the rail track, that takes the much talked about locomotive (known as The Odyssey Train) on a seven-hours and 20-minute scenic journey. USA, which got battered in Vietnam, also made a film called Rambo to twist history and save its face. Let’s wait for this movie and then make a call. Till then passengers commuting by train must break journey at Ella and continue their journeys by bus, a service provided by the state. We are living in interesting times!