Into the mists of History.

We were strangers. On a crazy adventure. History and literature are my passions. I spent more time in the library than in the classroom. Reading history books and literary works. The saddest thing was I had no one with whom to share or discuss my interest. But thanks to Facebook and its power to connect people, I met His Royal Highness Alaa al Hilaalee in 2012. He is a descendent of King Ibrahim Iskandar II of Maldives and had a keen interest in history and Dhivehi literature.

This blog post is about our Ceylon trip to visit the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka and the burial place of Hussain Salahuddin.

Worlds of change lead us astray. We went to Nuwara Eliya last day of the trip. I want to share the conversation with our taxi driver's friend at the dinner table. A dinner with much chit-chat and laughter.

"We are cousins?" The driver's friend asked in an astonished voice: "How could it be possible? You are from a distant island in the Indian Ocean."

"Did you read the Mahavamsa?" I asked him. The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language of the kings of Sri Lanka.

"No. I know little about the history of Ceylon and its people," he said.

 According to the Mahavamsa, one of the ships that sailed with Prince Vijaya who went to Sri Lanka around 500 BC, went adrift and arrived at the islands called Mahiladvipika, which is the Maldives.

He exclaimed with excitement: "PRINCE VIJAYA"