The Cry of the Devil Bird

Incidents in the life of a surgeon, working in Ceylon Sri Lanka, from 1965 to 2005

"One month after assuming duties as DMO, I took delivery of the car in Colombo. That evening, with me seated by his side, my driver drove it through the night to Koslande 200 miles away. We reached home at about 2 a.m. the next day and went to sleep, dog-tired. On the next morning, we found a patch of oil beneath one wheel of the newly acquired car. The fault was a leak of brake-fluid. A faulty brake-washer from the wheel-cylinder had caused it. It was easily replaced, though it seemed an inauspicious beginning to a relationship with my new vehicle."

As a natural sequel to the hugely successful Remembered Vignettes, Dr. Philip Veerasingam traces his trajectory as a country doctor posted in remote and rural parts of Sri Lanka, culminating as Consultant Surgeon in Colombo. Travel with him on this fascinating journey and re-live the difficult working conditions and the necessity to improvise solutions on the job.

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Dr. Philip G Veerasingam retired as Senior Consultant Surgeon, National Hospital of Sri Lanka (former General Hospital) in 2000. Since then, he authored two outstanding memoirs: Remembered Vignettes – the life of a medical student in Ceylon of the early 1960s, and Cry of the Devil Bird – incidents in the life of a surgeon, working in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), from 1965 to 2005.