After talks, Rajapaksa relax in Shimla (Lead)

SHIMLA - “It is nice and homely to be in this town,” said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s wife Shiranthi as she took a casual stroll through the streets of this north Indian hill resort Thursday.

Taking a stroll on the Mall, the main street of this former British summer capital, she said: “This is my first visit to the town and the hill state too. It’s, of course, a memorable one.”

“I would love to visit all the nice places in the town,” she said when asked about other places she was planning to visit during her one-and-half-day sojourn.

After wrapping up official talks in New Delhi, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his wife Thursday morning reached this town on a private visit.

Shiranthi, who spent more than two hours strolling in streets of the town, also took back the warm memories of the state as she picked up some woollens from the shops.

“Shiranthi purchased six Kullu shawls from us,” said a salesman of the Himachal Emporium, an outlet of the Himachal Pradesh State Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation. She also purchased two long ladies’ pullovers from Thapar Knitwear, a shop near Scandal Point.

As she was taking the stroll, she passed century-old buildings that were once institutions of power when this hill town was the summer capital of British India.

From a neo-Tudor style public library that housed the health wing of the municipality to the 123-year-old Gaiety Theatre where Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling and legendary actor Prithviraj Kapoor had performed, she was full of admiration for the imperial structures.

“Look at the landmark,” she told one of her aides accompanying her while pointing towards the Gaiety Theatre.

Later, she paid a visit to the Christ Church - built in 1857 in neo-Gothic style and spent more than half an hour there.

Visibly satisfied with the hospitality of the local people, she remarked: “Look at the overwhelming response of the people.”

A thick blanket of security was deployed to provide cover for her.

The Rajapaksa couple is staying in Oberoi Group’s heritage hotel Wildflower Hall on the outskirts of the town. They will depart for Colombo Friday afternoon after a three-day visit, the first by the president after his massive election victory.