The story on how Eric tried to cut the travel time when travelling from Polonnaruwa to Kandy by getting into a friend’s car without knowing that he did not have a driving license is a lesson on economics. The unlicensed driver had driven the car into a trench and Eric had to spend one and a half days on the road whereas he could have reached Kandy in a few hours had he used the public transport. ‘When people make choices without adequate information, they are bound to make losses’ is a basic lesson that we learn in economics. All stories narrated by Eric in his collection are important and interesting reading. Out of them, the most relevant to today’s context is the story on how Sirimavo Bandaranaike, three times Prime Minister elected by popular vote, handled the alleged insultation to the Buddha by Sri Lanka’s foremost writer Martin Wickremesinghe in his novel titled Bavatharanaya. This story should be a useful learning experience to the rulers today because it shows how a true statesman wisely handled the agitations made by some powerful sections in Sri Lanka’s society that Bavatharanaya, a novel of immense creativity, should be banned and legal action should be taken to Sri Lanka’s greatest writer at the time. To do justice to Eric, I reproduce his story mostly as he has narrated it.