Written piece
Nostalgia- the beauty of my language and art
Nadee Mahawattha
Sri Lanka
About this piece
The passage reflects a student’s childhood memories of watching films and TV despite limited space for studying. It highlights the impact of Sinhala subtitles, especially by Titus Totawatte, and appreciation for meaningful films like Some Birds Can’t Fly and popular series.
14/12/2007
At home
At about 7.30 p.m.
I have no “room” or “space” of my own in our home to study. I study at our dining table, and I can hear whatever is being telecast on TV (I can’t see it right now, but I can hear it). These days, the children’s movies to be shown during vacation are often advertised on ‘Rupavahini’. Some of them are “Little Hedgehog”, “Little Elephant”, “Heidi”, “Lost in London”, and “Les Misérables”.
I can remember when I was schooling, I used to watch all these movies subtitled in Sinhala by Titus Totawatte. Other than those movies mentioned above, I remember I enjoyed movies like “Count Montecristo”, “The Tale of Two Cities”, “The Hunchback of Northridame”, and “The Man with an Iron Mask”.
I really appreciate the subtitles used in them, especially the translated titles. I think Titus Totawatte is well-versed in both languages. Those phrases which have been translated into Sinhala still remain in my mind. For example, /situvara montachristo, denuwaraka andaraya, nothridamaye kuda, yaweslu minisa/
Out of all these movies shown on TV, my favourite is “Some Birds Can’t Fly”. It’s a Czechoslovakian film. I have watched it several times, but I never get bored. The title is translated into Sinhala as /ahasa ahimi kurullo/, which I find very much appropriate.
This film basically captures the uncertainty of life and the strong bond between grandparents and grandchildren through the plight of a young girl. The film ends with the girl's emotional maturity as she realizes that some birds can’t fly, even though they’re gifted with wings. So do some human beings; thus, she’s one of them.
When we were schoolchildren, we enjoyed these movies to the fullest. I still recall TV series like “Robin in Sherwood”, “Little House on the Prairie”, and “Oshin” with much delight!