Chapter 11
Sampath kept his eyes on his Google Maps app. He had a paper map spread over his knees as a backup. They were driving up a fairly steep but well-kept mountain road.
‘Okay,’ he said to Lal. ‘Next left.’
Lal slowed. ‘What? That track?’
‘Uh … looks like it.’
‘I don’t know, men, you’d better be right. Me and the van’s suspension are going to be really angry with you if you’re wrong.’ He took the turning and drove up it. The road was narrow and steep, but it was tarmacked.
‘These were the directions they gave me,’ Sampath said.
‘What is this place, anyway? I checked with my father and he’s never heard of it.’
‘Saman Walawwa,’ said Sampath, reading it off the booking, which he had also printed out. The mobile phone coverage out here was questionable, so he had printed out everything. ‘The family still use it, but they let it out to visitors for several months of the year.’
‘Why exactly are we going there, again?’ asked Marcus, from the back.
‘It’s a traditional Sri Lankan villa,’ said Sampath, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
Marcus was questioning things quite a lot lately.
It wasn’t like Sampath had sprung any of this on them unannounced.
He had shown them pictures and they had planned this itinerary together.
Marcus had been very keen on this particular villa because it was a classical sort of house; it was unusual and out of the way.
He had called it a hidden gem a few weeks ago.
The ‘hidden’ part might be part of the problem.
Sampath had been careful to tell them several times that there was no Wi-Fi or mobile signal at the house.
It was meant to be a place of calm and repose, a place to reconnect with nature.
He suspected that, while Marcus liked the idea of going off-grid for one night in theory, now that he was facing the reality, he was struggling.
Especially as he had been attached to his phone quite a lot lately.
Sampath glanced over his shoulder at the couple in the back. Kalpana was looking out of the window. She spotted something and patted Marcus on the knee to get his attention. He stopped looking at his phone and leaned towards her to look out of the same window. His hand wrapped around hers.
Sampath turned away from their intimacy.
He had to focus on the map. A night without mobile phones would be good for the couple, he told himself.
Things between them had become a little strained after Marcus had started disappearing to do interviews and networking.
A solid length of time without outside interference would help them reconnect.
This whole trip was about their wedding.
It would be a terrible thing if it broke their relationship instead.
He thought back to the conversation he’d had with Kalpana at the temple.
She had thought he was gay. That wasn’t unusual.
He was used to that. Had Marcus assumed the same thing?
Was that why he was so comfortable leaving his fiancée with Sampath?
Well, once Kalpana told him about the misunderstanding, maybe Marcus would feel differently.
If that meant he would be more thoughtful towards Kalpana, that could only be a good thing. Sampath did his best to believe that.
***
By the time they got to the villa, Kalpana was feeling a little queasy. The road had twisted and turned as it climbed into the hills. The view had been spectacular, but all the movement wasn’t for the faint hearted. They pulled into a gravelled drive and stopped in front of the house.
Someone opened the van door and Marcus got out. Kalpana stumbled after him, feeling wobbly. Sampath was standing by the van talking to a man dressed in a white sarong and shirt combo.
She leaned a hand against the van and took in the view in front of her.
The villa was low and had an open veranda that could be reached by a couple of steps.
The whole of the front was lined with pots containing pink bougainvillea.
On the veranda itself, hanging baskets trailed greenery and little white flowers.
Everything was painted white, so that the walls contrasted with the curved red tiles on the roof and the polished red concrete on the floor.
They were ushered up to the veranda and offered a glass of king coconut. Kalpana took a tentative sip. It was cool and slightly sweet.
‘Are you okay? You look a little unsteady?’ Sampath said, his face a mask of concern.
‘I’m fine. The journey was just so twisty that I felt a bit queasy,’ she said, apologetically.
He nodded to the glass she was holding. ‘That’ll help,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty much everything you need to perk you up. Sugar, salts, electrolytes.’
‘What is it?’ Marcus asked, taking a long pull on his straw.
‘Thambili. Er … king coconut. It’s like a regular coconut, but not exactly the same. Nature’s saline, if you like.’
She finished her drink, and it did make her feel better. She sank down onto one of the straight-backed wood-and-cane weave chairs. She slipped off her sandals and put her feet on the cool, polished red floor. Ah, that was better.
A few minutes later, Appu – the caretaker – gave them a tour.
The house was designed as a large rectangle, with a garden in the middle. The front door led to a large, open-plan living room, which ran the width of the house. The bedrooms were on the sides. The roof stretched over so that there was a small veranda that ran on the inside, around the open space.
The central garden had frangipani trees in each corner and a small, stone-sided pond in the middle.
The rest of the ground was paved with black flagstones.
The pond had water lily pads in it and the occasional splash suggested that there were fish in there too.
Despite the sunshine, it was cool and restful.
They walked down one of the sides, past the bedrooms. A small corridor between the rooms gave them a glimpse to the outside of the house, which was another garden – bright with flowers.
At the bottom end of the rectangle, the house was two storeys high.
The bottom floor appeared to be the dining room.
A huge table took up most of the space. In the inner veranda, there were wood-and-cane couches with cylindrical cushions.
Kalpana imagined this was ideal for sitting down after a big meal and looking at the central garden.
Upstairs there were more couches, a pool table and a balcony instead of a window.
Kalpana was drawn, as though pulled by a magnet, towards the balcony on the outer side. The entire structure, from the floor to the intricately carved railings, was made of wood. From here, you had the most incredible view of the tea plants on the hills and paddy fields in the valley below.
‘Oh, wow.’ She breathed in the air. It felt fresher and cleaner than anything she’d breathed since arriving in Sri Lanka. Or even before. Up there in the hills, the air was cool compared to in the city. It smelled of damp earth and greenery.
There were plants everywhere. All the colours seemed bolder.
The trees and shrubs were a dark, almost aggressive green.
Flowers like frangipani, bougainvillea and red hibiscus were bright splashes of colour.
The sky was the blue of lapis jewellery.
Everything felt heightened. ‘This is incredible,’ she said.
Marcus stood next to her and took a few photos. ‘Yes.’ He turned to Sampath. ‘This feels authentic. Is it?’
Sampath gave a small shrug. ‘I believe so. The house has been in the family for generations. I think the current owner’s grandparents were the last ones to actually live here. When she inherited, she renovated it and they still use it as a holiday home.’
‘That’s impressive,’ Marcus said. ‘They have electricity out here?’
‘They do,’ said Sampath. According to Appu, mains electricity arrived two or three decades ago and changed village life completely.
‘There’s no mobile phone signal at all,’ said Marcus, as though he couldn’t believe it.
‘That is rural.’ He didn’t sound pleased.
Kalpana distinctly remembered him being the one who insisted on finding unusual and out-of-the-way places.
He knew there would be no mobile signal.
And he was being uncharacteristically rude. What was wrong with him?
‘Well, I think it’s lovely,’ Kalpana said, firmly.
Sampath made a note on his iPad. ‘I knew you’d like it. It’s not a wedding venue, but I suggest we hire it out for a day with a photographer and take all the bridal photos and any other promo photos that you would like here. If you want a place that looks Sri Lankan, this would be ideal, right?’
Marcus turned his back to the view and peered thoughtfully at the games room. ‘Yes,’ he said, thoughtfully. ‘This would make for some very interesting photographs.’
Sampath looked at Kalpana.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Photos taken here would be lovely. Thank you, Sampath. This is an amazing find.’
Sampath beamed and Kalpana felt relieved that Marcus hadn’t offended him.
She turned back to look at the view. It was a good job Sampath was so easy-going and didn’t offend easily.
He had done an awful lot of work getting this trip organised and Marcus was being a real pain.
She hoped he would get over whatever it was that was bugging him and focus again soon.
***
Sampath and Lal were sharing a room. Despite the size of the layout, the house didn’t have many bedrooms. Their room had twin beds, with a wide bedside table in between them.
Spotless white bedding had been decorated with a bright red hibiscus flower on each pillow.
He moved his flower to the windowsill so that he could lie on the bed.
The lack of mobile signal or Wi-Fi meant that he couldn’t really work, so he had intended to read.
He was still pushing through Reflections.
Lal sauntered in and threw himself onto the other bed. ‘You know, Aiya, it’s weird not having Wi-Fi.’