Archive · 8 Aug 2026
New Book 'Colombo Port of Call' Highlights Sri Lanka's Travellers
A man named Ajay Kamalakaran wrote a book called 'Colombo Port of Call.'
The book tells true stories about 14 travelers who came to Colombo, a city in Sri Lanka, on big ships called steamships.
These visits happened a long time ago, between the late 1800s and the middle of the 1900s.
Famous people like Mark Twain and Mahatma Gandhi are in the book.
A book reviewer read the book and liked it because it is easy and fun to read.
The book shares happy stories about Sri Lanka from a long time ago.
But the reviewer also found some problems.
The book said Sri Lanka was part of the British Raj, but it was really its own colony ruled from London.
The reviewer also wished the stories were in order by time instead of jumping around.
Even with those small problems, the book makes people want to visit Sri Lanka, which is a beautiful country.
Colombo Port of Call, by Ajay Kamalakaran, recounts the experiences of 14 foreign travellers who arrived in Sri Lanka's capital on steamships between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.
The 312-page book, published by Penguin Random House at Rs 599, features observations from Mark Twain, Mahatma Gandhi, Don Bradman, Andrew Carnegie, Emperor Hirohito and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Kamalakaran, who has visited Sri Lanka since 2003, offers 'a delicious, easy read' full of happier tales from a bygone era, according to the reviewer.
The reviewer criticizes the book for wrongly placing Ceylon in the context of the British Raj, noting Ceylon was a Crown colony reporting directly to London.
The review notes Sri Lanka's strategic location in the Indian Ocean and says the country has some of the best social indicators and highest literacy rates in the region.
- Who
- Ajay Kamalakaran is the author of 'Colombo Port of Call'; the review was written by a senior foreign correspondent and author of 'Sri Lanka: The New Country'.
- What
- A review of the book 'Colombo Port of Call,' which narrates the experiences of 14 foreign travellers who reached Colombo by steamship between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.
- When
- The travellers visited Colombo between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries; the date of the contemporary review itself is not stated in the article.
- Where
- Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon).
- Why
- The book makes a case for visiting Sri Lanka by sharing travellers' affectionate, historic observations of the port city and its culture.
- Book
- Colombo: Port of Call
- Author
- Ajay Kamalakaran
- Publisher
- Penguin Random House
- Pages
- 312
- Price
- Rs 599
- Subject
- Experiences of 14 foreign travellers who arrived in Colombo on steamships, late 19th to mid-20th century
- Notable figures featured
- Mark Twain, Mahatma Gandhi, Don Bradman, Andrew Carnegie, Emperor Hirohito, Arthur Conan Doyle, Chekhov
- Historical correction noted
- Ceylon was a Crown colony reporting directly to London, not part of the British Raj