Appachchi

The song starts with a slow drum beat  and a  long “appachchi” . Stretched enough to capture in the length , breath and the tone , the love , the awe , the affection and thousand other feelings one would have when addressing , thinking about one’s father. (May be I am wrong , but the two syllable “dad” does not quite cut it for me). 

While the whole song was brilliant . Four lines from the lyrics stood up for me , and below them mind flashes that lit in my head.




ඒ ගිනි ගෙන අපේ උණුහුම සාදවා - Soaking up the heat to give warmth 

Picture a man, who has toiled the day .
Maybe a man who works for for day’s pay . Yes picture such a man.
Him coming home after work with  a ton of problems and mere handful of cash to sort it all out.
Picture him hugging each of his children at the wooden gate and handing over a few toffees from his top pocket and walking towards the house holding their hands. 




  සද්ද නොකර ලොවේ අරුත කියා දුන්  - In silence he teaches the lessons of life

A father and  son sits in the veranda . The son is newly married , and lives nearby . This evening , unnecessary words were exchanged . The cause and reason of the argument were insignificant as in most arguments. Words were exchanged , emotions flared up, hearts were broken , tears fell a door was slammed loud , and now a lost, (yet still somewhat irate)  man sits in the safest place he knows. The verandah of his childhood home. 

Earlier the mother has whispered
 “ පුතාලා රණ්ඩුවෙලා , අන්න ඇවිල්ලා ඉන්නවා  “ (The children have argued and he is here)
 and the father has  poured a glass of water and come and come and sat at his planters chair.
For  a long half an hour he has sat there silently .
The father has not been much of a talker . He has preferred to resolve issues with silence . 

පුතා  කෑම ටිකක්  කාලා යන්න ඉන්න ”  (Son wait for dinner) a mother tells loud from the kitchen . That is her  instinct to guard her brood over any outsiders , still alive.

At that point the father looks up 
“පුතා ගෙදර යන්න දුව බලාගෙන ඇති බඩගින්නේ ”  “Son you go home , your wife must be waiting for you without eating” 

The young man realizes it is more than a suggestion . It is a command , it is a solution , it is wisdom , and without the earlier period of silence it would not have made that much sense 





අපි වෙනුවෙන් සංසාරේ වන්දනාවේ  නැවතිච්චි- For us he stopped in his pilgrimage of samsara 

“ පුතා කාමරේට යන්න  , මටයි සීයාටයි කතා  කරන්න  තියෙනවා  “
 Son go to the room , I need to talk with Grand pa . 
A mother sends a curious 7 year old away so that she can talk in privacy. 

“ අප්පච්චි මහන වෙන්න ගියාම අපිට මොකද වෙන්නේ ” 
Dad when you become a monk what would happen to us 

“පොඩි දූ  , මම තනියම උඹලව උස මහත් කළා. දැන් මගේ යුතුකම් කරලා ඉවරයි . ඉතින් මට බණක් භාවනාවක් කර ගන්න ඕනේ ."” 
Daughter , I have done my duties . Now it is the time for me to devote time towards spiritual things 

ඉතින් ඔය භාවනා ගෙදර ඉඳන් බැරිද අප්පච්චි ? අනික අප්පච්චි මහන උනාම කෝ මට අප්පච්චි කෙනෙක් 
So can’t you do that at home ?  When you become a monk , I loose my dad  

She knows she sounds like a little girl hanging on her fathers hand . Then that is what she is , her father’s little girl. She feels it is good that  this conversation is over the phone , lest her father would see her tears . 

But ofcourse he sees . And Seeya  knows, he has to stay. 



PS:  May be it is because I am counting down the days for my visit home , this song hit me deep , and cried out to write something 

And here is the link for the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QgOfeGAbwE