Chocolate Kealla Mage (Katta Kala 2) Lyrics by SJS

One or two pretty coins are all that come into the purse
Now I’m sitting here completely broke
If I slipped up somewhere, I can feel it now
I gave it all to the girl and ended up cleaned out

My chocolate girl
My sugar candy
If I don’t get you, oh
I’ll jump off the edge of the world
I told you before, oh, I won’t say it again
I told you before, oh, I won’t say it again

The ones who cut class are off watching her
By my rotten luck she ended up sitting next to me
Even with cash in my pocket, this heart was full
Now there’s no sorrow left, none at all
Now there’s no sorrow left, none at all

No need to go all the way to the city to pick flowers
It’s not like before, buying a double ticket
The spending isn’t doubling now, machang
Even being broke is its own funny little joke
Even being broke is its own funny little joke

This is a comedy song, one of the “Katta Kala” parody numbers, and it pokes fun at the broke, lovestruck student. The voice is a young guy with almost nothing in his wallet, head over heels for a girl, and instead of moping about it he turns the whole mess into a joke. The fun of the song is how it dresses up everyday student-life troubles, no money, cutting class, bad luck, in the big dramatic language of a love ballad.

He starts by counting his coins. Only one or two “pretty coins” make it into the purse, and he is “full arthal,” which is student slang for being completely flat broke. He half-jokes that he must have slipped up somewhere, because he handed it all over to the girl and got “cleaned out,” like a gambler who lost his shirt. Then comes the over-the-top chorus, where he calls her his “chocolate girl” and his “sugar candy,” sweet pet names a young Sri Lankan guy would tease his girl with, and swears that if he can’t have her he will jump off the edge of the world. He delivers this huge melodramatic threat and then immediately deflates it with “I told you before, I won’t say it again,” which is exactly the wink that tells you not to take any of it too seriously.

The middle verse plays on classroom life. The boys who skip lectures are off somewhere admiring her, and by his “rotten luck” (he says it like a curse) she happens to sit right next to him, which is of course the luckiest thing that could happen. He admits that even when he did have cash, his heart was already full because of her, and now, broke as he is, there is no sadness left in him at all. The joke is gentle and real, love has quietly made the empty wallet stop hurting.

The last verse lands the punchline. He doesn’t need to travel into the city to “pick flowers,” meaning chase after girls, and he is not buying a “double ticket” the way he used to, the old image of a boy taking a date to the cinema and paying for two seats. Since he has found her, his spending isn’t doubling anymore, and he tells his friend (“machang,” buddy) that even being dead broke turns out to be its own funny little joke. That is the heart of the song. It takes a poor student’s empty pockets and a clumsy crush and laughs at all of it with real affection, the kind of self-deprecating humour friends share over a cheap cup of tea.