sentences:  His father used to spend long spells of time in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) for work.Thondaman's father Karuppaiah was connected to the royal family of Pudukkottai.This branch of the family, however, underwent a decline in fortunes, and it was on the verge of impoverishment when Karuppaiah migrated to Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was called by the British, to become a "Kankani", or supervisor, of tea estate workers.