Lily Avenue

Lily Avenue is a major residential side street in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. It is situated in the western part of Colombo, and serves as one of the main routes of connection between Galle Road and Marine Drive. In a part of town where side streets are primarily one-way, it is noted for being almost as wide as the two major highways it straddles. Though primarily a residential lane, it also sports a Pizza store, a hardware store, an office complex, a communication shop and a three-wheeler stand.

The terrain of the street varies sharply, though not inconveniently. The mouth of the street is level for around 10 meters or so, then roughly the first one-third runs down at a slope of 30 to 40 degrees and then levels out. The rest of the road is agreeably flat. The average width of the lane is around 4.5 meters.

Much of the legendary popularity of Lily Avenue arises from its strategic placement in Colombo 00600. The Colombo 00600 post office is located at the top of it, giving rise to the name 'lane by the post office'. Immediately next to Lily Ave lies Station Road-a narrow and poorly paved road-which leads to the Colombo 6 railway station. Throughout known history, commuters have used Lily Ave in preference over Station Rd to travel to and from the railway station due to its superior standard compared to the other.

In addition to having a post office and rail station at either end-the hubs of communication and transportation in Colombo 6- Lily Ave is also extremely close to the Colombo 6 police station, a school, the main bus-stop. The local market too, is close, but as residents of the lane like to say, "not too close for comfort".

Unlike many other lanes in the area, Lily Ave. is almost devoid of apartment blocks. There are just two (compared to 8, 10 or even 15 in similar streets nearby), both at the end of the street, facing each other. One of these is the Colombo 6 Government Flats, one of the oldest mass accommodation buildings in the city. The other is the ultra modern 'White House', one of the best kept in the city. The more philosophically inclined citizens of Colombo have referred to this as proof of 'the streets ability to leap into the future, without losing touch of the past'.

Indeed, the street itself has been personified often, both by those who live there and those who do not.

For decades, young residents have gathered in the afternoons and used their wide yet amazingly peaceful street for activities from hide-and-seek to soccer....and just about everything in-between.The age if the participants may range anywhere from 4 to 24, but the average age is 10.As the youngsters grow into adults, they are succeeded by the next generation of "Lillies" as they themselves had taken over from their elders years ago.