About the contributor

The war took place during my happy childhood years. I lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with my brothers and sisters but we had to evacuate to Kurunegala, further inland, which meant changing schools and going to live with my grandparents. Some of my cousins were already there and in spite of war conditions we had much fun together, in school, and at my grandparents'.
We returned to Colombo at the end of 1943 and returned to the same school we attended before we evacuated. Colombo had changed much, the park in front of our house was an army camp and full of cadjan huts for the soldiers. We had to cover the windows up and at times we heard the sirens blaring which was frightening. At night searchlights flashed across the sky. Barrage balloons covered the sky over the sea near the Galle Face promenade and the harbour.