(1930–1948) India (1938–1942) As de Silva did not complete her school matriculation, equivalent to today’s Advanced Level in Sri Lanka, she had to work as an apprentice for the Bombay-based firm, Mistri and Bhedwar, where she befriended Perin Mistri and her brother Minoo, and attended private classes at the Architectural Academy before enrolling at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art. During her apprenticeship at Mistri and Bhedwar, she returned to Sri Lanka where she attended lectures at the Technical College, Colombo. She was also studying architecture at a private Academy of Architecture run by a leading architect in Bombay, G.B. Mhatres, where many influential practising architects of the time had taught. Among them were Homi Billmoria, Yahya Merchant, and M. Parelkar. She also assisted Shareef Mooloobhoy on his final portfolio. de Silva was part of the cultural and political circles which included Mulk Raj Anand and Ravi Shankar and became the architectural editor for Marg, a new publication at the time on modern art and culture. Government School of Architecture During the time of political upheaval in India, she attended a Free Gandhi March and as a result was expelled for not writing an apology to the head of the School. She then started working as the apprentice assistant to the émigré architect and planner Otto Koenigsberger in his office in Bangalore working on prefabricated housing for the Tata Steel City plan in Bihar. She was there for approximately seven months. RIBA Architectural Association (1945–1948) During a brief visit to Ceylon, de Silva met Herwald Ramsbotham, the Governor-General of Ceylon, who took a keen interest in her situation and personally intervened in his capacity as head of the Education Committee in the UK and managed to arrange a place for her at the Architectural Association to allow her to take a special Royal Institute of British Architects examination for returning students for the War. CIAM de Silva was also the delegate representing India-Ceylon in the Congrès Internationaux D’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) from 1946 to 1957. It was here where she met Le Corbusier whom she maintained a long friendship with. Career Early career (1948–1962) De Silva returned to Sri Lanka in 1949 on the insistence of her father, who requested her to make her contribution to the newly independent country. She returned to her parents’ home, St. George's, where she would start her architectural career without any money of her