Another issue is that international scholar – South asianist collaboration essentially keeps perpetuating ‘Caste’ bogeyman to deny honest conversation about issues plauging India.

E.g. Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste
This books has little to no proof that the issue is ‘caste’ {esp. theoritically} yet it claims it as it’s title.

South East Asia Buddhism is heavily influenced by Hinduism. Stories of Ravana and Hanuman incorporated in SE Asia Buddhism (Sri Lanka does not).

Buddhist art and architecture in Sri Lanka were heavily influenced by Asoka. It is austere and meant to remind of the renunciation of life, rebirth and not having desire.

Sinhalese society did not have Song and Dance even for celebrations as noted by Robert Knox in the 16th Century. I think that why Sinhalese Buddhists get on well with Christian Protestants. Austere life style (think Quaker). Obviously not true anymore with Boom boxes in each house.

Knox noted the Sinhalese liked to sleep around. Unwanted pregnancies were terminated with various herbs. .

It reminded me of SE Asia – the Colombo temple

Village in the Deep South in transition area to Dry Zone.

The lady in Yellow T-shirt has worked in the mid east. Husband disabled, looks like diabetes complications.

Note washing machine, probably broken and no money for repairs

https://youtu.be/-zNiAluLBNA

South Asia (core culture).

Please,
I saw that GARISH photo of a Buddhist Temple you had posted. That is not Sinhalese Buddhist culture and colors.
Everything is white, simple with very little sculpture. (Note white is the color of death in India and most Asia)

Go to a rural Sinhalese village it is peaceful and clean. As the Sinhalese say Wewa, Dagoba and Kumburu. Reservoir, Buddhist Temple and Paddy fields define the village. Every house or hut has a small garden with flowers I can tell the difference between a Sinhalese House and a Tamil house. The Sinhalese have flowers and Tamils have fruit trees.

Colombo is NOT Sri Lanka. 80% of SL population is rural. Walk not Drive around to understand Sri Lanka.

Thanks Pandit Brown.

However, I have seen a marked decrease in cleanliness in Sri Lankan cities since 2015. I travel by Bus so I see the part of Sri Lanka those who travel by car dont see.

Example: Colombo Main Bus stand region (Pettah). It was very dirty and on the side a dirty smelly stagnant Lagoon. Gotabya Rajapakse turned the whole area into a show case. The lagoon became a Floating Market with restaurants and the like. Fountains in the lagoon which oxidize the organic matter and removed the small.

Fast forward to 2024. The Floating market is deserted, The lagoon fountains are turned off and its stinky. The bus stand is now again littered garbage.

Gotabaya Rajapkse micromanaged the cities around Sri Lanka. He was not only the Defense Secretary he was also head of Urban Development Authority. Even more important after retiring from the army he was Linux Admin in Loyala College in CA. Probably saw how US cities were getting gentrified (eg moving Fulton Fish market away from Wall Street/Water Street area).

Sri Lanka is the best of South East Asia (friendly tropics) & South Asia (core culture)..

I visited Sri Lanka briefly on vacation a couple of months ago (Galle and nearby beach towns) for the first time. The public hygiene and orderliness standards (also quality of roads, sidewalks, etc.) were miles above anything I’ve seen anywhere in India. Lots of white tourists walking blissfully around in beachwear (hard to see that in India outside of parts of Goa and perhaps Kerala); they get the tropical weather and the surf without the dysfunction they would encounter in India.

Also, I live in Bangalore, and your (quoted) description of the city is quite accurate. Good climate and general friendliness of people make up for it to some extent, as other Indian cities are equally infrastructure-poor but don’t have those compensating factors. One correction: Bangalore is a Dravidian city (Kannada-speaking), so not “Indo-Aryan” (though the city now has a substantial population of “expats” from North India.)

It can but institutions have been set in such a way {esp. caste politics} that you can not force people & they incentivize ‘bad behavior’ as a form of ‘show of power’.

probably because srilanka is a tourist country. for eg. bali is really clean. similarly mysore is cleaner than bangalore for the same reason and also historical background.
bangalore is ‘owned’ by a small group of people. others come for a living and squeeze the juice out and throw the skin.they have no stake in the city. they will all go away.
the recent new year celebration photos of drunk ‘under clad’ females, got the comment-‘they are all outsiders’.