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Those Pilgrimages to Madhu Church – By GEORGE BRAINE “Pilgrims” now complete day trips to Madhu, a 250km roundtrip from Colombo and Negombo, leaving at dawn and returning by late evening. They are boastful of this “achievement”, made possible by a fast, auto drive, air conditioned, power-steering car, on well paved roads, helped by cafes on the way where they could pause for tea. But, they have no idea of what they are missing on such quickie trips. My father, the youngest of nine children, wrote about his trips to Madhu as a child. This was in the 1930s, and his English father had bought a Galloway saloon car for the family. He even remembered the registration number: S-264. His Sinhalese mother (my grandmother) was a devout Catholic. The pilgrimage to Madhu, an arduous journey through dangerous jungle, to a shrine reputed to have miraculous powers, was expected to bring ...