Lyrics By Rohini Anandaraja
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Who would wish to be young again
Without a care in the world again!
Have the wind blow through your hair again
And sing and dance in the snow and rain?
We’re young at heart let’s dream again
Of castles, knights and dragons slain
Of princes charming, and little mermaids
Of magic carpets to get whisked away.
To Aladdin’s genie of the lamp
Or sail with Sinbad to distant lands
Fly at a whim with Peter Pan
To find that wonderful Never Never land !
The hungry ogres we’d avoid
From witches on broomsticks- don’t hitch a ride!
Don’t follow a Piper - you’d end up in strife
Swimming in the Weser- to save your dear life!
Through looking glass- we’ll tippy-toe on
To Join Hatters at tea or play croquet on the lawn
Meet Cheshire Cat before it’s head is off
And visit in reverse our childhood romps.
Heroes and villains, wizards of Oz
Emerald cities and lovable dwarfs
To rainbows end with leprechauns
Let’s make-believe- and stay forever young!
I listened to it twice before posting it. There is only one word to describe what I saw and heard - BEAUTIFUL!
ReplyDeleteLucky , I have beaten the multitalented creator of this clever composition- Mahen, in saying thanks to you for your kind comment and for your help in getting it correctly posted.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it .
Great song and music.. Sarath Perera
ReplyDeleteMahen and Rohini
ReplyDeleteTo be young again is everyone's dream. Another opportunity to be with our friends and family we grew up. In her poem Rohini has captured those wistful childhood years of Arabian nights and Peter Pan brilliantly and taken us on a journey on the yellow brick road.
This has all been put together by the brilliance of Mahen with a haunting melody and stunning imagery. I do hope this is the beginning of many such creations and compositions
Mahen and Rohini,
ReplyDeleteLavish and extravagant praise where it is due. This indeed takes me back to my roots to a time when "Bulto, puhul dosi, Bull's eye, Hoonu-betti and Lanka Lime were at the top of my wish list. A reminder of times now long gone of meandering through paddy fields, watching birds of the feathered kind build nests and care for their young and fishing in murky ponds in Gampaha.
Going to Metro and Quinlon theatres in Nugegoda with my grand dad to watch Sinhala and Hindi films. Laughing at the antics of Eddie Jayamanne and shedding a tear with Rukmani Devi. Being bitten by bed bugs at the cinema but enjoying the ice cream cones nevertheless. I sang for the visitors at home with my cousins the old favourites of Sunil Santha - Diya Goda Samathana.
Not many of them are alive today Ah! where have those years gone.
I feel gushingly complimentary and torrentially effusive of your wonderful composition that brought back many memories of a time now long gone.
JM Barrie's Peter Pan was a boy who never grew old. Despite the many pleasures of returning to my childhood now I wouldn't wish to remain a boy forever.
Nihal, Rohini and Lucky, thanks a lot for your compliments. It was a labour of love and I won't take you through the various genres, rhythms and tempos I experimented with and the number of meals I missed as I got so preoccupied. Always keeping in touch with wonderful Rohini! But have no fear, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and look forward to doing more. At one time I thought that nostalgia referred to the nose and the algia came from sniffing painfully at the departing shore line as the ship sailed! It is of course "home-coming" from the Greek word "nostos". It is a time for glimpses from the past, memories from a time long gone and the pleasures and oddly enough, the "pleasurable" pain from past happenings which enrich our present experience. Nostalgia rules OK!
ReplyDeleteREMEMBRANCE DAY
ReplyDeleteThe 30th of May is the day we have decided to Remember our dear departed colleagues. Please contribute articles, poems, photos or music. They will never be forgotten. Razaque Ahamat was the last to leave us. He was my friend from Wattala together with Claude Bernard made that daily trip to Medical School by train. We studied together and it was a struggle to keep Razaque quiet. We were ever present at the parties and dances at the University and Faculty. The fun and those good times will be with me forever.
I do remember HN Wickramasinghe who left us towards the end of last year with great affection as we did our internship together. We celebrated our first pay in Kurunegala at the Rest House with a cool beer in the heat of a blistering evening. How time has flown. He was a gem and such a loyal friend. I always assumed he would be there when I visit SL next but how wrong I was. Rest in a Peace my friend.
ReplyDeleteI keep in touch with my old Royalists 55 group too and the same attrition is occurring there. There is no life without death.
ReplyDeleteI have finally had the opportunity to read through all the comments.
ReplyDeleteLucky’s contribution in tinkering unseen to get things right in the blog I have already acknowledged.
Nihal, when you “gush” with compliments I guess we need to feel satisfied with our efforts ! Thank you. I was surprised that you specified paying attention only to birds of the feathered kind !
We also need to get you singing those old time favorites of yours again.
Mahen, I appreciate the time and care you’ve had to take to produce this awesome video - sorry about the missed meals ! and thank you for the origins of ‘nostalgia’ as well. You must feel happy that it has been appreciated- Thank you for all your efforts.
Satisfaction from a production comes in several stages. First the challenge, then the design and draft, then the final production and finally the appreciation which adds "the icing on the cake"! Rohini,you have been involved in all the stages and it has been such a pleasurable experience for me. I cannot also underestimate the encouragment and confidence in my ability shown by Nihal and Zita. We are not alone - our "I" or "me" is linked invisibly to so many thinking feeling "others" which is just a reminder of our basic humanity.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Rohini and Mahen for this splendid joint effort.
ReplyDeleteThe poem was exquisite and the music melodious.
Poetry and music along with art are some of the most sublime expressions of the human soul.They have given me so much pleasure over the years.
A few simple words strung together like a strand of pearls becomes deathless verse
in the hands of the poet.
As William Butler Yeats says in “Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven “
I being poor have only my dreams,
I have spread my dreams under your feet,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams,
OR
As Ferdowsi,the greatest of Persian poets says of Rubadeh
“If you seek a brilliant moon,it is her face,
If you long for the perfume of the the musk,
It lingers in her tresses,
From top to toe she is Paradise gilded
OR
our own poet monk Wettawe describing the dance of the angels to the music of Guttila
“Their hands move like flashes of lightning drawing a thousand paintings,
Their golden hued waists flicker like the flames of a thousand lamps ,
Such is their beauty
Even Lord Brahma will be roused from his reverie”
OR
Jayadeva in Gita Govinda as translated by our own George Keyt
“Softly on his flute he plays ,calling to the meeting place,
naming it with notes ,saying where ,
And the pollen by the breezes borne,the breezes which have been on you,
that pollen in his sight has high esteem,
He dwells, the garland wearer,in the forest by the Jamna,
In the gentle breezes there ......
I too have some pretensions to poetry; they are intensely private however,but I may
bring them to light later.
In the meantime Rohini and Mahen I will read and listen to this again and again.
Wow! What lovely quotes Kumar! I am so pleased that you actually read and listened to it - we cannot ask for more. I hope you follow your "veiled threat" with a poem of your own. We shall look forward to that day. Thanks again my friend and so pleased you liked our effort.
ReplyDeleteKumar,
ReplyDeleteWonderful to see you return from hibernation to bring us these beautiful excerpts.
Your quotes from Guttila Kavya take me back to my youth when I was ecstatic listening to them read in beautiful Sinhala by my teacher at Ladies’ College - Sylvia Goonetilleke-
who brought it all to life. The rhythm of those stanzas with alliterations to fit descriptions and situations was music to my ears.
Similarly I was fascinated by the beauty and romance of the Govind Gita - a beautiful work.
These poets had such great talent.
Yeats of course had a belief that his beautiful poetry originated in the Spiritus Mundi -
with which I tend to somewhat agree. Often when poetry flows into you, you wonder where it came from- Iam sure it is not all held in our brains - it flows unexpectedly from somewhere ! Something to think about !
Thank you very much for your kind comments and for the interesting quotes.
Do stay with us and bring us your own beautiful poetry of which we’ve only had a
tiny glimpse. Take care.
Thank you Rohini.I owe you,Lucky,Mahen ,ND and others an apology and explanation for my “hibernation” as you so cogently express.Partly it’s due to the lethargy induced by excessive and prolonged hot weather in Colombo,but mostly due to a technical glitch.I couldn’t access the blog via Safari.Then I recalled Mahen’s advice to try Chrome.Voila it worked.
DeleteI will try to make up for lost time; so watch this space for a gem !!!
sorry for being away from the blog. As many of you know I had a TAVRprocedure done and but for some issues related to heart block I am near fully recovered. I have enjoyed the music and not to mention the words O to be Young again" I wish. Why the silence in the blog has Corona virus affected us. Would love to have a discussion from our learned colleagues.
ReplyDeleteOh! To see Patas again, wonderful. Welcome back to our blog from a not so learned colleague. With the rampant spread of the lurgy the blog seems the safest place to keep in touch and communicate. I have medicinal amounts of the amber nectar as an antiviral night cap. Spring is trying to emerge from my part of London but the darn cold north wind is keeping it away. As the cherry blossoms fade and perish the daffodils and the magnolias are in full bloom. Keep in touch Patas. Best wishes. ND
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you on the Blog again Rajan, Pleased that your procedure went well. We are all entering hazardous territory with dangers lurking in every corner but then, that is the nature of our existence. I am glad you enjoyed our little presentation. Do keep in touch.
ReplyDeleteHi Rajan,
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see you back on the blog. My computer was down for a few days. Just got it back today. Hence the silence.
Lucky
This is Zita, visiting the Blog after a long break and finding this very high class presentation of poetry and song taking us back to dreams of our own equivalent of Aladdin's lamp and Pied Piper. It's an amazing effort and beautiful to listen to. Many thanks for keeping us going with your talents Mahendra and Rohini, at a time when things are not all fine in places where we live and some of us are house bound. I suppose this situation now is because I am commenting after several weeks of this appearing on our Blog. My apologies! But better late than never, happens to be my motto. Well done and let's have more! Zita
ReplyDeleteAlways good to see the zealous Zita! I know you got a lot on your plate at the moment and I am very grateful that you still find the time to access the Blog and post comments. Yes, I am hoping to do some more joint presentations (nothing to do with hips! Hip! Hip! Hooray!)with Rohini.
ReplyDeleteMahen, Is this true ?!!
ReplyDeleteI too have a lot on my plate - not the kind that’ll make me fat - rather the kind that might see me fade away !