Anil's Ghost

Gamini reminisces about working at military base hospitals at the beginning of the conflict. Starting in the mid-1980s, the doctors read popular paperbacks between treating victims of “‘intentional violence.” Overwhelmed by the brutality of the war, Gamini appreciates the ordered regimen of the hospital. Work keeps his emotions at bay. He remembers the story of another doctor, Linus Corea, who stayed in private practice even during the worst of the war. He treated both government officials and high-ranking insurgents, so he thought himself safe from the conflict. However, rebels kidnapped him on a golf course and took him to their camp, where they forced him to treat wounded soldiers. After a time, he stopped thinking about his family and former life in Colombo. When the insurgents bring his family to him, he lacks interest. His life is now his work as a doctor at the rebel camp. Gamini considers how public bombings traumatize not only the people within range of the bomb but also everyone in the city. He now works in the big hospital in Colombo rather than base camp hospitals. Here, insurgents occasionally shoot doctors while looking for specific patients to execute. Gamini rarely sleeps. He takes pills to keep him awake.