Let the Local Discussion Be Your Lodestar

Having been in the Washington D.C. area for a fair amount of time and having read a few of the really good contributions to the most recent Groundviews series, I got to thinking - about initially trying to understand the country and getting acquainted with this website. In a way, we'll be going from Columbia University to Wayfarer's Inn on Rosmead Place to Omanthai to Jaffna. There'll be time for the byroads of Kilinochchi and the Eastern province too. We'll spend fleeting moments all over Colombo. We won't really spend any time on the beaches because I wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

In 2010, I remember sitting in a dull classroom at Columbia. I'd signed on with a small group of people to do a consultancy project with a Colombo-based grant-making organization. This was an integral part of the academic program and it would require travel to the island. Students rank preferences for projects and then are assigned in a somewhat opaque fashion.

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