Friday, January 18, 2008

Nostalgia

Yes we are back and all over with jet lag. I should be blogging about our traveling experiences (and I will get to that), but I am still trying to get my head around all of it. It was too much for words. And many changes and transitions have happened since then. One of them being that as of today Anjali is FOUR days into weaning from the boo boos (yes, my breasts!) I know... she will turn 2.5 years tomorrow and we decided it was time! Also, everyone in Sri Lanka found it very strange that I was STILL breast feeding her. So I was bracing myself for a long transition especially at sleep time. But surprisingly, a good chat with her about how she is now a big girl was all it took. She still asks for it when we cuddle and I offer her cows milk, juice or food instead.
She took to sleeping with some familiar songs (Doi, doi; hush little baby and Kumbaya). But I felt like I needed to expand my repertoire and sought some Sinhala songs that our parents might have sung.
The most familiar to me was 'Handa pane' although I was fumbling for words after the first verse. The logical next step was to google it. I found you can download the ring tone for it! But I like my ring tone as everyone with T-mobile has it too, if I don't feel like answering I can easily pretend its not my phone! Then I remembered this site where I go when I feel homesick or in need of a baila fix - http://www.sinhalajukebox.org
Turns out they also have lyrics for famous songs though I didn't find the ones to 'Handa pane', sung by Sunil Santha. I am trying to do my best to transcribe it. Anjali has grown fond of these too, and I am teaching her the meaning of them. I love it when she says 'Amma can you sing a Sri Lanka song?' When I was a child and visiting my grandparents, my Athatha would ask Aththamma or Ammi to sit at the piano and play 'Olu pippila', turns out this is also a Sunil Santha song. I hope Anjali will take at least one Sinhalese song through the rest of her life.