Yesterday evening I had an interview with a couple of mountain climbers.
They have climbed Everest up to 6,500 metres, which is only a couple of kilometres short of the summit. No Sri Lankan has ever climbed higher on that mountain. Not officially, anyway.
These guys were great. They were accommodating and generous with their stories. So how did I alienate them?
As we were chatting, I casually asked if there had been much media interest in Sri Lanka about their attempts to climb Everest. Some Sinhala papers had been in contact, they answered.
I replied that one of the toughest things about living in Sri Lanka as a foreigner is that I'm excluded from a large amount of media, since I don't understand the languages (which is my problem, and my fault). And that the Sinhala papers here must surely be better than the English ones, which, I pronounced, are universally awful.
The table quickly became quiet, and I sensed a bit of embarrassment. "No one here writes for an English paper, do they?" I asked.
I knew the answer before anyone spoke.
Man, I tried to backtrack. My attempts were transparent, though. I just finished my coke and left.
2 comments:
Hello there, Haig!
Happened to come across you blog and found your posts very interesting...
Keep 'em coming!
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