Banana Shop

The Banana shop, where huge sheafs of bana, in all shades from green to yellow to red, hung from the ceiling. The shop also sold jasmine flowers for temple worshippers, camphor, king coconuts (thambili) for the thirsty, coconuts, eggs, betel leaves, tobacco, chunam, and other knick knacks.

Every single town in Colombo boasts of at least one of these shops that open early in the morning and are kept open till quite late at night. Most of its patrons are temple worshippers who need the various items that they sell for their devotional activities.

The one pictured here is the shop at Wellawatte on the top of High Street (WA Silva Mawatha) [pic, courtesy Michael Satchie]