Day 1: Jaffna

We arrived at Jaffna airport in a turbo propelled plane from Chennai. The northeast monsoon had set in and a cyclonic storm was in play. A row of airport staff welcomed us with colourful umbrellas and we passed from the shelter of one umbrella to the next until we got into the bus. The immigration officer could not reconcile my newly grown beard with the clean shaven look in the passport. He glanced repeatedly from my face to my passport and back at my face until I began to feel dizzy. After establishing that I hadn’t come to settle down in Sri Lanka on a permanent basis, he let me through.

I had purchased an eSIM that allowed data usage. In theory I could call our driver but in practice, I had to walk around outside the airport among the small cluster of taxis until I spotted a driver who looked as anxious as me scanning the faces for his Indian British customer.

The drive to our accommodation was eventless until our car stopped dead in the middle of the road. From the rear seat, I asked the driver why he had stopped.

“Mutton!” he said.

Craning my neck, I saw a black and white goat in the middle of the road. If he stayed there long enough, the distinction between goat and mutton would only be academic.