Red anthuriams from a home garden, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Red anthuriums grown in home gardens, with minimal attention fetch a reasonable price in Sri Lanka. They are bought by florists for weddings and other functions. I took this picture of a crop, from a small garden plot in Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

The washer-woman's ('reddy nanda's) visit to a house, Sri Lanka.

The soiled linen in a household in Sri Lanka, was collected by a washer woman, was cleaned and ironed and was delivered back the next week. The washer-woman in Sinhalese and Tamil society held a very responsible position. In Sinhalese society she was called 'reddy nanda' literally 'cloth aunt'. Here you see a 'reddy nanda' paying her once a week visit, to a house in Sri Lanka. This occupation is dying out with washing machines now replacing her duties.

Elephant rehabilitation centre, Uda-Walawe, Sri Lanka

Orphaned young elephants, found abandoned by the herd, in Sri Lanka, are brought to this sanctuary at Uda-walawe. They are fed and looked after. They are then gradually integrated into a herd of wild elephants at the Uda Walawe sanctuary close by and are again sent into the wild. You see in the picture a young elephant being fed milk through a plastic hose.

Old suspension bridge across the Mahaweli Ganga at Levalle, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

The Mahaweli Ganga at Lewalle, Kandy, had a suspension bridge for bicycles and pedestrians, till 2000. The suspension bridge was built in 1936. Now it has been replaced by a concrete bridge to carry heavy traffic. The old bridge is left to die a gradual death. I took this picture on 7/6/2009.

The old railway bridge, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka.

The narrow gauge Kelani Valley railway started from Colombo Fort and terminated at Opanayake. It passed through the lush rubber and tea growing Kelani Valley region. The picture shows the abandoned railway bridge, at Rathnapura.Old railway lines form excellent bicycle tracts because of the gentle gradients. In Sri Lanka when the rail track from Avissawella to Opanayake was closed in stages, there was a massive land-grab of the property along the railway line, to dig for gems and to put up houses. Quite a lot of houses are now built illegally on this stretch.