The most significant impact of the pandemic is the quarantine, which has been placed throughout Sri Lanka. This is a measure of reducing the spread of the disease by carrying out a form of social distancing, as due to this quarantine less people are in towns and on roads so that the spread of the disease is reduced by a large margin. This quarantine has had a big impact on the whole country, most intriguingly it has had a significant impact on rural villages.
In this study I will be discussing about my home village Rattwatte. Rattwatte, is a rural village located in Kuriwela, Ukuwela which is situated along the Kandy – Wattegama – Matale road. This rural village houses approximately 3000 people. The village is located in a hilly area of the central province and is abundant with paddy fields and vegetable patches of various varieties. There is a single significant river (Oya) which passes through the middle of the village granting water to the lands and its inhabitants which allows the village to flourish. In addition, we get two main monsoons during the year therefore, the village has a plentiful water supply throughout most of the year. Moreover, the lands vitality is quite so that all plants are able to thrive in the village and almost anything can be planted here and it would surely grow without much additional fertilizers such as compost and other such minerals.
The economy of the village is sustained through the quarantine with small shops located sparsely throughout the village. One such shop is the one owned by a man named Weerasena Mudalali. His shop is near a road located deep inside the village. This small shop sells mainly groceries and is quite miniscule compared to large corporations such as Keels Holdings. However, this shop is vital part of the economy of the village as he is one of the sellers of the goods produced by the farmers of the village. Due to the recent quarantine this shop has been able to flourish due to the abundance of customers, this is due to the fact that now more people would visit his shop as they are unable to go to towns during the quarantine and also as they are afraid, therefore Weerasena Mudalali is profiting immensely from quarantine. This is the circumstance for most of the shops located in the village.
The people in the village, due to the quarantine, are forced to stay inside the village during of the quarantine. Due to this, the residents have more time to harvest their lands and produce more crops such as chili, rice, tomatoes, etc. As a result, the supply of crops increased exponentially allowing the people to have a more independent lifestyle similar to the one of the ancients. This is due to the land providing them with everything they need, this perspective was forced opened by the quarantine other than them being blinded by the prospect of a simple life proposed by the more modern perspective of depending on large corporations.
The companionship of the village too grew due to the quarantine. This is due to the fact that the people of the village were limited to the village borders, they were made to interact with their neighbors constantly, or rather, on a daily basis which meant that they would grow closer together due to the constant interaction. This enabled the community or communities of the village to grow and allow the people of the village to have a closer bond with one another which would have not been possible if the people of the village were still going on about their busy everyday lives.
In conclusion, I have to state that the quarantine has allowed Rattwatte to bloom, as the village people have grown in to a better version of themselves allowing them to be more independent as they are able to survive from what the land provides and also is able to make a profit by selling produce to their local vendors, sparse as they may be, further it has allowed the people of the village to become closer to one another and grow together to a more peaceful and abundant future.
Good good, janith not bad not bad never knew you could write like that until now you have proven you have potential….. write more janith write more …….. until your next article…… bye….
Its true that this quarantine period had made people understand the true values of family, neighbors and also the environment. But the workers who get daily wages & the people in extreme rural areas have got affected.
Anyway, Good to hear from a youth in the modern generation like you about your village. Great review.