BEVIS BAWA'S BRIEF. The Sometimes Irreverent Memoirs of a Gentleman in 20th Century Sri Lanka.

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"The name of our plantation was Dikbedde which none of my British
friends could pronounce correctly. So, two years later, when my mother
gifted the estate to me, I decided to change the name. A novelist who
was a favourite of mine had named three country mansions ' Vantage',
'Usage' and 'Brief'. which tickled my fancy. The first sounded as if i
had taken advantage. Usage sounded awfully like a brothel. So
therefore, it had to be 'Brief', and still is"


"Being a man of leisure gave him the opportunity to associate with a
wide spectrum of people. He counted among his friends Royalty, as with
Ingrid, Queen of Denmark, and fellow travellers as with Nihal R. His
admiration of Sir John Kotelawala was no less fulsome as it was for
Donald Friend. He drank deeply of life, from crystal glass to broken
teacups; he ate frugally and also dined in splendour."

"The most endearing of his indulgences, was his highly discerning
taste for paintings and sculpture, for antique furniture - a taste he
shared with his brother, Geoffrey. But above all others, was his
garden. It was his canvas and he the master. There he created textures
of gentle green lawns and punctuated it with fountains of water
cascading down its slopes"

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