Sri Lanka - Mala's House in Colombo 7

The following is an excerpt from an e-Mail my Father sent to me when I was in Seoul:

This was a house recommended by the Fullbright office, so I went there and the house looked comfortable so I decided to stay there for a while.

The house had a pond, winding staircase, and large bedrooms. Outside of the bedroom area was a large deck.

The surroundings were interesting because you were sometimes waken up by the noise of monkeys jumping around and making cackling noises, which is a bit unusual.

One day, while walking in the yard, I stepped on a monitor lizard. These creatures discharge urine that is supposed to be deadly to humans if it makes contact with your skin. Fortunately, I had my shoes on.

All these homes have very tall walls. This goes to show you that they have an inherent distrust towards people who don't have money. They try to keep poor people out and rich people inside.

Then you have a variety of vendors who go around and sell things and want to provide services, but it just turns out that they steal things. They simply don't trust many people, that's why they always keep their doors locked.

Mala owned a very large furniture store and had inherited large sums of money, so she was able to build her dream house.

She grew up in an area called Colombo 7, where a handful of rich people live. She was one of them and surrounded by a large group of people who were politically influential and wealthy.

Her husband grew up with the foreign minister, they went to prep school together, and they used to play rugby together.

Less than 1% of the people live in Colombo 7, and they are all well connected. They belong to the same private clubs and all the kids go to the same private school. A large number of these people send their kids to the United States and to Great Britain.