Restaurant Family Members who served Us Best Sea Food Dead in Blast in Negombo-Sri Lanka
Mangaluru : With great sadness I write this report, and pay respect/homage to the departed souls of the friendliest family members that we had met in Waikkal Beach near Negombo, during our trip to Sri Lanka from 19 September- 23 September 2018. Two days ago, when the news of the serial blasts that rocked various places in Sri Lanka, and when one of the places, St Sebastian Catholic Church in Negombo was also the target, I remembered Anthoney’s Sea Food Restaurant, where a bunch of us had our lunch and dinner, savouring on the fresh sea food delicacies. The restaurant managed by Anthoney and his family members, including a travel agency, was located right in front of the Ranweli Holiday Village/Resort located on picturesque Waikkal Beach near to Negombo, where we stayed for two days, 19 and 20 September.
L-R : Anthoney, his wife & other family members
With prices on food and drinks being expensive at this resort, but luckily, just outside the Resort gate was a traditional and authentic “Änthoney Seafood Bar and Restaurant”, managed by Anthoney and his family- and they treated us with love, friendship and extra hospitality- truly a nice Sri Lankan family treating us like their own family members. We feasted on delicacies like Deviled Chicken/Pork/Beef/Prawns; Klassisches Pepper Steak; Seafood platter; Baked/grilled Lobster/Crabs/Jumbo Prawns; and my favorite, Fish Fingers with fried potatoes. More than their customers, Anthoney’s family treated like their own, with the best hospitality and courteous service. Such a family facing the fate of tragic death is unbelievable and sad.
St Sebastian Church, Negombo- Sri Lanka
When I heard the name Negombo, where a blast took place in the church there, I was curious about to know more about the incident in Negombo, so I searched for the business card of St Anthoney’s restaurant- but late on Monday evening I found the card- and tried calling but no one answered. I tried calling on Tuesday, and finally got someone on the line, who couldn’t speak English, but she arranged a person nearby to communicate with me in English- and the person gave me the sad news, that four members of Anthoney’s family died in the Church attack, when they had gone to attend the Easter Sunday Mass. I was totally devastated when I heard the news. The person was reluctant to talk much, and we ended our short conversation over the phone. But I was not able to get the names of the family members who perished in the blast. Anthoney had one of his relative who is a priest at St Sebastian Church, and that’s the reason they often go that Church, even though its little far from their place.
Negombo is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province-it is one of the major commercial hubs in the country and the administrative centre of Negombo Division. Negombo is known for its long sandy beaches and centuries old fishing industry. It has a large bilingual population of Roman Catholics, known as Negombo Tamils who have their own Tamil dialect but mostly identify themselves as Sinhala. Like Mangaluru is called as the “Rome of the East”, Negombo is long called as “Little Rome”, due to its vast majority of Roman Catholics and Churches there- and when the attacker set his explosives after entering the St Sebastian Church, nearly 110 faithful died on Easter Sunday Mass, making it the most deadly bombing.
Catholicism is everywhere in Negombo, a town of about 140,000 people with dozens of churches and perhaps hundreds of small roadside Catholic shrines. But why this terrorist had to attack the innocent Catholics, who are peace loving community, with tolerance. The attacker chose this town just because it is 65% Roman Catholics, according to census data, though Catholics make up just 6% of the country. The attack at this church in this town has surprised many in Sri Lanka, where the Christian community has long avoided involvement in the Country’s bitter Ethnic and religious divides. Sources reveal that sometimes-violent anti-Muslim Bigotry has grown in the years since the civil war ended, fueled by Buddhist nationalists, but Christians have faced only scattered harassment. But its strange that Catholics got targeted on Easter Sunday. May all the 320 plus departed Souls perished in the serial blasts Rest In Peace!
