Dr. P G Punchihewa graduated from University of Ceylon, Peradeniya and joined Ceylon Civil Service in 1960 after a short stint as an Assistant Lecturer in University of Peradeniya. He held many administrative positions among which are, Government Agent for Monaragala, Puttalam, and Kalutara Districts, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Plantation Industries and Secretary of Ministry of Coconut Industries. In 1984 he was elected the Executive Director of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community based in Jakarta, Indonesia and served there 15 years. He then returned to Sri Lanka in 2000 and worked with the UNDP for about two years. Punchihewa obtained his post graduate diploma in Rural Social Development from University of Reading, UK and subsequently the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sri Jayawardena Pura, Sri Lanka.

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Here are some reviews of the book published in newspapers.

1. Reminiscences of forty years in Civil Service - by Carl Muller from the Sunday Observer of November 30th 2008.

   Tissa Devendra, who does have a keen sense of humour with quite a starched "official" face, gave us a most amusing collection of stories of his days in the civil service. I also remember Wilhelm Woutersz phoning me one day, chuckling like crazy that he is writing a book and will call it "Ambassadors and Alcohol." Poor William ... a brilliant Royalist who found his niche in the Foreign Service and he did like his alcohol and told me so. He died, and I don't think he likes the idea of being anywhere near the Milky Way. Milk and Wilhelm never agreed.
   Read more from Sunday Observer ...

2. Of Kachcheri Kolam, Kurumba Manthries and Portuguese lette for breakfast - by Carl Muller from the Lakbima News - English of November 23rd 2008.

   I now have before me and outstanding civil servent's reminiscences of his forty years in service in the government and then in an IGO based in Jakarta. Meet Mr Punchihewa who we all should know and, as he says in his preface, "I have embellished... with additional background and sometimes even with a little bit of spice...".
   Read more from Lakbima News ...

3. Men and matters of a time that was - by Dr. Leel Gunasekera from the Sunday Times of February 10th 2008.

   Those Were The Days is an interesting book dealing with the unusual experiences of highly placed public officers, especially the Government Agents and others who have worked in the districts in Sri Lanka and those who sojourned abroad. The author Dr. P.G. Punchihewa has been a Government Agent as well as an international civil servant in Indonesia.
   Dr. Punchihewa is known in the literary field with his novel GanaBol Polowa (Solid Earth) and other publications as well as the children's book (Podi Hamuduruwo), which had earned him the State Sahitya award in 2002. He has introduced Indonesian novels to the Sinhala reading public through his translations of Promoedya Anasto Toer and Pankaji.
   Read more from Sunday Times ...

4. Nostalgic recollections - by Carol Aloysius from the Nation of February 03rd 2008.

   It's a crazy world out there!
   This seems to sum up the contents of P.G. Punchihewa's latest publication, "Those Were The Days".
   Culled from memories spanning over four decades, the author, who entered the Ceylon Civil Service in 1960, has put together the "lighter side" of his life, and that of his colleagues who served this country over this long period of time, in this highly readable and hilarious book of memoirs.
   The book, a series of unconnected episodes, recalls some of the most comic and bizarre incidents he and his colleagues experienced in those early years of the Civil Service in Ceylon. Having served in various senior positions in governmental and inter-governmental organisations in different parts of the island and abroad, the author has had the opportunity to interact with many personalities of different socio-cultural backgrounds. It is these diverse, humorous, and human interest experiences that he shares with his readers.
   Read more from Nation ...

5. A collage of memorable experiences - by Daisy Abey from the Daily News of February 06th 2008.

   P.G. Punchihewa's "Those Were the Days" lives up to its title. Having spent many years in the public service (firstly in the Ceylon Civil Service), these memories are a collage of his experiences.
   P.G. Punchihiewa was a Government Agent in the days which followed the end of the Raj and rural Sri Lanka was a quiet backwater where time had stood still for centuries. Village life had its own ways and no one has written so wryly and compassionately as has Punchihewa in this series of brilliant cameos.
   Read more from Daily News ...