Rajiva Wijesinha’s narration of ‘Servants’ which was the winner of the Gratiaen award for the year 1995 is an enthralling read for several reasons. As suggested in the title itself, the central subject matter of the work are the household servants. At the earliest times of the narration, where the grandmother figure holds fort as the undisputed family matriarch, the servants of that household are an indispensable institution, but one that is almost taken for granted. This is not particular or peculiar to that family alone but is indicative of the time when colonialism in Ceylon is about to end, and the local aristocrats and those of the wealthier classes that have prospered at the end of the colonial era are about to stick their own feet into unoccupied shoes that the colonials leave behind.