The word 'ammata siri' has another meaning too

Pic Source : Internet

I was told by a dear friend that I have not written anything new lately. And instead have been posting what I had written over the last few years. There are days when there is so much to write. Then there are days without stories too. There are days that I crave for stories but nothing comes to mind. And I wait for something exciting to happen.

I told him that I have run out of stories. And asked if he could suggest something . He didn’t have much either. ‘You should write something new now’, he reiterated. I said ‘ok’. And that was that. We moved into some other conversation.

It took a couple of days. And suddenly I landed on something. This happened somewhere in 2015, at a place called SriLanka Law College, of which I cannot recall the exact day. Half way through the lecture, Sir Prasantha talked us about the  ‘ammata siri' moment he has had some years ago.

The Sinhala language is one of the most complex languages in the world. So says many. A beautiful one too. I have realized that sometimes the beauty in Sinhala poetry and fiction is lost when they are translated into English. And some are even untranslatable. We may find it difficult to figure out the right English word that goes with the Sinhala one. And it is one of the funniest languages. I tend to think. We have our own way of speaking the language. Different pronunciations. Different words that can mean the same. For instance someone from down south may call it ‘makkeyi' meaning ‘what’ and the very same may be called ‘mokakda’ by someone that comes from Colombo and suburbs. That’s the SriLankan-ness we have embraced.

Remember what YAMU did sometime back? They compiled a list of words, rather some authentic Sinhalese words that people use in their day to day conversations. Like Machan ( that covers everything starting from bro to dude , man or mate ), Aney ( expresses a way of pleading or frustration) or Mala keliyayi , the local way of expressing dismay. And among these ammata siri has a place too.

Going back to Prasantha Sir and his ammata siri  moment, this is what he told;

"I was with my family, my wife and the sons during one of those Ananda-Nalanda cricket matches. A couple of friends and I were also a part of the cheering. One of them suddenly yelled 'ammata siri' when a kid strucked a wonderful six. He was performing brilliant that day and that particular six heightened the joy in many of us. But my wife was a little displeased with the heavy noise and dancing. She thought it was indecent. Besides  being  somewhat senior compared to the rest of the audience maybe she thought we should have behaved a little nicer than that."

We had a couple of  ammata siri  moments recently.  One was the England vs SriLanka’s T20 match. It was a tough game. But in the end some extraordinary performance took the match in to a whole different experience.

Some think it is not decent enough to use words like ammata siri, ammata udu, machan or whatever. And in the same way one may say you are not SriLankan enough if you have never used such words. It is all perspective. I have found. There is nothing right or wrong. Or good or bad. Decent or indecent. If we see carefully enough, often things are named  and names are agreed upon. People create their own lines, their own notions of morality. It is a line, I like to think, is a product of human error. We sometimes tend to narrow down things. And forget that there is something beautiful on the other side.

'I don’t find anything rude or dirty in the word'. He further explained. 

One may use it to express a moment of wonder. It may also connote a feeling of surprise. If we break down the word in to two it can be read as ‘ammata asiri’, giving or invoking blessings on  the mother who bore and gifted a child with such talent.  In the case of the Ananda – Nalanda match it was more like acknowledging or giving importance to some quality of the player and conveyed something good.

Sir Prasantha gave a new twist to the word which I had  never thought of. And wonder if any one did so.

The word isn’t bad. The next time you say ‘ammata siri’ you shouldn’t feel offended or uncomfortable.