Kakiri Palena Tikiri Sinawai Lyrics by MS Fernando

Her little smile splits open like a ripe kakiri melon

The way she walks is like a graceful climbing vine
Her teasing chatter jingles on and on

I feel like looking at her with love
I feel like telling her I love her
But I wonder, will she get angry or not
She steps right past me, close by
Good luck seems to be smiling on me
Sweetly, in secret, I hear it
My eyes close with longing
A whole world of roses opens up before me
Right past me, right past me, she places her steps

Do we need to hang up golden festoons
Do we need to roll out a carpet for her
Do we need to sound the ceremonial drums
Is that the grand way you set down your feet
It is as if she’s stumbled over the row of flowers
To me it looks like she’s made a mistake
Her heart is not as lovely as her looks
She tells me she doesn’t want my love
Right past me, right past me, she places her steps

A young man is watching a girl he has fallen for, and the song is the cheerful, slightly cheeky running commentary inside his head. He is smitten from the very first line, but by the end she has turned him down, and instead of breaking his heart he just shrugs and teases her. That light, joking spirit is the whole flavor of the song.

It opens with him drinking her in. He compares her smile to a kakiri, the long snake cucumber, splitting open when it ripens. To a Sri Lankan ear that is a homely, affectionate image, her grin breaking wide and fresh and a little goofy, nothing dainty about it. He says her walk is like a nari latha, a slender creeping vine, the way it sways and curls, and her chatter “jingles” like little bells. He wants to look at her with love, wants to blurt out that he loves her, but he keeps stalling because he is scared she will get cross. When she walks right past him, close enough to touch, he feels like the luckiest man alive, his eyes half close with longing and a whole world of roses opens up in front of him.

Then the joke lands. In the last verse his daydream collides with reality, and he gets sarcastic. Should they string up golden festoons, roll out a carpet, beat the hewisi drums, the ceremonial drumming reserved for temple processions and royalty, just for the queenly way she sets down her feet? He is poking fun at how high and mighty she carries herself. He decides she has put a foot wrong, like a dancer stumbling over the row of flowers laid out for her, and he comforts his bruised pride with a line every rejected suitor tells himself: she may be beautiful, but her heart is not as pretty as her face, so who needs her anyway. She has said no to his love, and he walks it off with a grin.

This is MS Fernando in his element, a playful baila that turns the small sting of being turned down into something you can laugh and dance to. There is no real heartbreak here, just a young man flirting, getting nowhere, and saving face with a wink.