Tamil Tiger planes raid Colombo…

wow! been absent here for a long time..! anyway, i’m back and i’m gonna tell u about something that happened last friday night….

read the bbc article here

we (and by “we” i mean me and some of my co-workers….) were at work doing the nightshift when at around 9.30 pm the electricity was suddenly disrupted. normally the emergency generators would have automatically kicked in but this time it wasn’t activated. sensing that this was no ordinary “power cut” we all rushed to our windows.

from our 6th floor vantage point we could see searchlights frantically scanning the night sky. after about 10-15 minutes it happened. from various locations across the city, anti aircraft fire began to litter the sky. it almost seemed unreal, like something taken out of a bad hollywood movie. aa fire lighting up the darkened city and the skies. for our own safety, we were told to evacuate to the ground floor, an option many of us elected.

the noise levels were deafening, especially on the ground floor level. this went on for about 30 minutes, probably. suddenly, there was a huge explosion, powerful enough to shatter some of the windows off nearby buildings & which for an instant showered the immediate surroundings in a bright orange hue. we later came to know that it had occured at the inland revenue department building, a result of one of the aircraft crashing into it…

rumours were flying thick and fast. there was however no panic…well, among us lot  anyway, jokes & banter were being dished out with some watching the unfolding lightshow & commentating on the events as if describing an an exciting cricket match!  soon afterward though, it all came to an end. the shelling was gradually stopped. searchlights still scanned the skies, more out of precaution other than anything else and electricity was restored in around 2 hours time…

safe to say it’s a nightshift i won’t forget anytime soon!…