A thumping makes the banana-flower curry shiver in the bowl. The cutlery rattles, and there is an excited rush of diners to the second-floor windows of the restaurant. Bellows and borborygmus* rise from below. The air is pungent with a dusty, thunderous aroma.

Earthquake? Apocalypse? English soccer fans?

No. Just bath time for the elephant orphans of Pinnawela.