Part of my childhood is slated for demolition.
I grew up in an odd bit of public housing in Colombo called “Summit Flats” – an apartment complex built for the 1976 Non-aligned summit in Colombo. According to the daily noise, Urban Development Authority is demolishing the complex.
I’m unemotional about it. “The Flats” was the setting of the most care free phases of my childhood. Yet change is the only constant. Those memories won’t go with the wrecking ball. The frailties of age on memory is always at work. What’s hanging on is a subjective impression. A mosaic of fleeting recollection. Or perhaps a recollection of recollections.
By the time I moved out of “the flats”, the buildings weren’t ageing well. It was a growing high-security enclave for families of senior ranking military officers. I remember the flower pots made from shell casings. I never visited the block I lived in as an adult. Everyone I knew would have moved out by then.
A vast sprawl of decaying 1970s architecture in hot real estate is too good to ignore. But, as with any property development project worldwide, political cronies will get tasty treats off the table.
I hope the resulting “development” isn’t an eyesore that its somehow sustainably built. That it isn’t paid for by loans that your grand children will have to pay.
Not too much to hope, is it?
Cerno 