Ven. Dharmapala Seelananda, Trustee of Sri Pada
Sri Pada postman Jagath de Silva

"It's a pilgrimage, not a joyride"

According to Ven. Dharmapala Seelananda, trustee of Sri Pada, the facilities available at the top are quite adequate for devotees.

"The regular season begins on Unduvap Poya Day, in December and ends somewhere in April/May. The people who climb Sri Pada need to be responsible for their actions and remember that first and foremost it is a pilgrimage and not a joyride.

It's the same when it comes to garbage as well. Garbage bins have been placed at regular intervals, but we still see people just throwing things to the ground. It's this don't care attitude that they have to get rid of," the Ven. Thero says.

Jagath de Silva is the postman for the area and has been climbing Adam's Peak almost every day for the last six years.

"I was working in a completely different field in Kuda Maskeliya, but was assigned this job back in 1999 and have stuck with it ever since. The climb up takes me one hour and fifteen minutes and though I could climb down much faster, I take about two and half hours, in order to save energy for the next day."

By Vidushi Seneviratne

© 2003 The Sunday Times