Of course I had heard about the notorious devil bird. I first heard about it on Kuttapitiya – the tea estate in Pelmadulla where my father worked and where we children grew up. But that was a very long time ago in the 1940s before I was sent to England “to get a decent education”. Ours was a wild carefree existence, and we were happy. I particularly remember 1946 when my father took me on a trip around the island. It was probably the highlight of my life up until then. I was 12, and it was certainly the last thing we did alone together.