... For ten years from the early 80s to the 90s I made many trips to Sri Lanka.Initially I was captivated by the beauty of this small  island, its coastal life, the ancient cities, the rivers and mountains terraced with paddy fields and tea estates, the village culture with its exorcism dramas, and the strange and colourful religious festivals celebrated by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians. But this wonderfully rich cultural diversity also gave rise to ethnic tensions between the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the Tamil Hindu minority, and I witnessed the gradual descent of the country from ethnic conflict into a civil war which lasted 25 years resulting in the death of tens of thousands.The conflict is now over with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan military, but it leaves a shadow on this small island nation whose communities have been scarred by years of violence and bitterness...