published : Oct. 6, 2018, 7:20 a.m.

Dr. Cholomondely de Silva, Chumley as the name is unreasonably pronounced, and Chummy to his chums was our family physician and friend, and was responsible for safely delivering me and the last two of my seven siblings into the world. My mother told me that I looked quite red when I was born, and three days later when the good doctor visited to check on me, he exclaimed “Good grief, this child has turned black”. This later lead to me being considered the black sheep of the family, and my sister Lalitha still calls me “ Kal” which is an abbreviation of “Kalu” which means black.