The place was Trincomalee, a Tamil town in northeastern Sri Lanka. It’s got a good beach, and a small tourist cluster on it. There’s snorkelling with small sharks, and some scuba diving, and even a surprisingly authentic Italian restaurant. But I was on my way back to Colombo, and while waiting for the bus, I took a stroll around the bus station.
This wasn’t something you’d prepare for, or expect, or even believe at first, but there it was – I walked around the corner, and boom – there it was. A huge deer, with antlers and all, just lying there, as if it were a dog, or a chicken or a cow.
Now, I still have no idea what it was doing there, practically in the middle of the busy town, but in South Asia, after a while, you just don’t ask those questions. Cows are practically omnipresent, sometimes even bullying foreign tourists on the Trincomalee beach. Sometimes you see goats, and even an odd elephant here and there. But this was a beautiful deer buck – not exactly the domesticated species. The man in the picture seemed to live nearby, or perhaps even on the grounds of the station, but I doubt this was HIS deer. Or anyone else’s, for that matter. Clearly, it wasn’t scared of people, and why should it be, with those antlers. It simply minded its own business, chewed a bit on some rubbish and ignored the stranger with a camera who took the opportunity to snap a few shots.
Besides, my bus was coming, and it was a long journey to Colombo.