The photographers - Rathnapura, Sri Lanka.

The digital camera has reached every part of this Island of Sri Lanka. Starting with the cell phone cameras to the more sophisticated models, the camera is very popular now. Print outs cost money, but access to a computer has made photography dirt cheap, after the initial expenditure for the camera. Storage of about 500 pictures on a CD costs, only SL Rs15/-.

Mother and child, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka.

It is said that in the caring of its offspring, the cat carries the kitten by holding the infants neck in its mouth. The responsibility here is with the mother. The monkey on the other hand expects its infant to hold on tight to its mother's body and leaves the responsibility to the infant. Here you see a monkey-mother cuddling and protecting its baby.

The 'Nestorian cross' - around 500AD at the Museum, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

Christianity came to South India long before the European invaders. Malabar still has a Christian community dating back to the Apostle Thomas. Marco Polo described this in his travels. He saw a tomb with a Nestorian cross which was shown to him as the tomb of St.Thomas in South India. Nestorian missionaries had reached Japan and China subsequently. The Nestorian Cross in the Anuradhapura museum is dated around 500 AD.

Bearing 'pirikara' (gifts to monks), at a Buddhist temple, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

On a full moon (Poya) day, devotees are seen carrying gifts for the monks in the Buddhist temple, at Manickawaththe in Avissawella. This was around 6pm on 5/8/2009.

An arch bridge built of granite stones, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka

Bridges built of stones were an innovation, pre-dating the Roman times. The arch with the 'key-stone', supported the load over a waterway. When railways with their heavy steam engines appeared in the latter part of the nineteenth century, cheaper alternatives to the stone bridges had to be found. It was the French engineer Eiffel, who pioneered the building of railway bridges with steel girders. In Sri Lanka we have quite a few old stone bridges with arches, built by the British. The above is one of them seen in the Rathnapura district.