*nods* I knew Ondaatje was Burgher, and I think I found out quite recently that he had Colombo Chetty heritage as well, so you may well be right. It's also possible he has done what most authors do and put some of his own memories/stories into Anil.

I was incredibly amused by the story of the boys sneaking into the grounds of Ladies College in the book, mostly because it sounds so similar to a story that my grandmother (who taught at Ladies College in the 1930s-1940s) used to tell, and it made me wonder if he had added in a story he had heard in his own youth.