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- 2. Feb. 2011
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Martin Stewart, The West Australian December 3, 2013, 9:14 am
It is a performance that would impress a professional mime artist. The platform guide for Sri Lanka Railways at the maniacally busy Colombo Fort station cuts through all language barriers with a skill he has held all his life. He is deaf and mute.
His technique is simple. As soon as he sees a puzzled look on the face of a tourist wandering through the entrance, he plants himself in front of them.
His facial impression conveys sympathy, then he will gesture for your ticket. Ding! A smile will be followed by traffic signals and a rapid escort to the part of the platform required, then instructions on how many trains will arrive before yours. Then he will find you a seat and keep an eye on you, making sure you are not becoming engulfed in the tide of humanity surging across the platforms.
We have already booked our seat to Kandy in the first-class, air-conditioned section of the train, so we know we will be spared the potential crush of second or third class. When the train rolls in, Marcel Marceau moves among the groups of foreign faces giving us all the thumbs up.
Weiter? Hier drücken...
It is a performance that would impress a professional mime artist. The platform guide for Sri Lanka Railways at the maniacally busy Colombo Fort station cuts through all language barriers with a skill he has held all his life. He is deaf and mute.
His technique is simple. As soon as he sees a puzzled look on the face of a tourist wandering through the entrance, he plants himself in front of them.
His facial impression conveys sympathy, then he will gesture for your ticket. Ding! A smile will be followed by traffic signals and a rapid escort to the part of the platform required, then instructions on how many trains will arrive before yours. Then he will find you a seat and keep an eye on you, making sure you are not becoming engulfed in the tide of humanity surging across the platforms.
We have already booked our seat to Kandy in the first-class, air-conditioned section of the train, so we know we will be spared the potential crush of second or third class. When the train rolls in, Marcel Marceau moves among the groups of foreign faces giving us all the thumbs up.
Weiter? Hier drücken...