wasn't Ceylon the name of the island just before it was sri lanka? and i didn't know Taprobane. but Serendib, gave rise to serendipity, from a story of princes of serendib, who found wonderful things, just as they needed them.

the real land of sri lanka is not the land of the story, the name was used to express a far, far away place.

when i was a kid, far away places were china, and Timbuctu.(any one not here, or reachable might as well be in Timbuctu, for all we can get hold of him!)

and wasn't i surprized as i got older, and discovered that the "black hole of calcutta" existed, and what a real 'den of iniquity' was! both of this terms were used to describe my bedroom when it was in need of tidying up and general cleaning.

and no one every looked disshevled.. they looked like the the wreck of the hesperis!


my other obsession