A thousand people die, and life just goes on as usual. It isn't as though the sense of normality is limited to the city's elite. On a Saturday evening the fabric store Ranjana's in the Pettah shopping district is crammed with women buying bright wedding saris embroidered with gold thread. At the Liberty Cinema, crowds line up to watch James Bond triumph yet again in The World is Not Enough. On the beach at Galle Face, vendors sell tufts of freshly spun pink cotton candy.
Children play tag.
Lovers clasp hands behind the privacy of large black umbrellas as the last rays of the sun beat the Indian Ocean into sheets of greenish-grey. We have the cream of the crowd. On the dance floor, arms go up in the air as the music gathers pace. Bow-tied waiters deftly balance trays as they thread their way between tables. Ashtrays are filled.