Man smoking a pipe in the company of two other labourers

Outside, on uneven terrain, a man stands on the left, drawn obliquely from the front. He is dressed in short trousers (kalisama). A sleeveless shirt (kamisaya) hangs over his shoulders; both ends hang down on the sides. His torso is otherwise bare. On his head, he wears a wide-brimmed hat (toppiya) with a ribbon wound around it as a hatband. Judging by his clothing, this man is a Toepaas, likely from Jaffna, and employed in Colombo. The standing man in the middle wears a calf-length hip-cloth (veshti, lungi), tucked in at the waist. The shawl (chadar) may also be wrapped around the waist. His torso is bare. His head and hair are covered with a tightly wrapped headscarf with loose ends. His earlobes are stretched. In his right hand, the man holds a long gold pipe, the stem reaching almost to his mouth. With a small dot of red paint, fire is suggested in the opening of the pipe bowl.