Madakalapu Hinawak Lyrics by Tharindu Damsara

A Batticaloa smile
glances at me now and then,
like a figure carved in stone,
even forgetting the way she smiles,
I am distraught, here at this end

Beneath the window glass,
a watery cold
winds round and round the whole body,
in the dark forest-fastness, peacock songs are heard,
the dry roadside thicket,
the rain-signs that waved a hand are near,
you again, with a smile-mixed warmth, kindle me and put me out

In that instant you ask something,
again, in an unfamiliar tongue,
again and again, you ask me something

A crash of thunder
runs right down the middle between us,
the end of a carriage split in two, with me,
sinks down into a hollow in the earth,
and amid a thousand cries and wails of pain,
I see you being torn away from me,
you are burning

The air fills with a smell of kerosene,
all at once the breath draws tight,
you burn, turn to ash, and go out,
and I sink right down to the floor of the earth

A haunting, tragic song about a fleeting connection destroyed by disaster, set on a train. It begins tenderly: a Batticaloa smile glances at me now and then, a stranger, still and lovely like a figure carved in stone, so captivating that the distraught narrator even forgets the way she smiles. A quiet, chance attraction between two travellers.

The middle is the journey itself, cold air winding round the body beneath the window glass, peacock song in the dark forest, rain-signs by the dry roadside. And across the gap between them, something gentle passes: you again, with a smile-mixed warmth, kindle me and put me out, and in an unfamiliar tongue, she a Tamil-speaker, he Sinhala, again and again you ask me something. Two strangers reaching across language with only warmth and smiles.

Then catastrophe. A crash of thunder runs right down the middle between us, a carriage splits in two and sinks into a hollow in the earth; amid a thousand cries and wails of pain, he watches her torn away, burning. The air fills with a smell of kerosene, breath tightens, you burn, turn to ash, and go out, and he sinks to the floor of the earth. Sung by Tharindu Damsara to words by Gagana Warnakulasooriya, it is a devastating song about a tender, wordless connection between two strangers on a train, and the fiery disaster that tears them apart in an instant.