2016 Feb 21
Any country in the world has its own habit behaviors and different ways of getting things done. We, as Sri Lankans, know the various manners we were brought up with at home. Here’s ten ways to know if someone was raised in a Sri Lankan household.
- Rice and curry three times a day
So a friend of mine from Dubai came down to Colombo for vacation and stayed over at my home before she took off for her island-wide tour. On her first day, she asked my mom what was for breakfast and she was told we would have rice and curry. Whe she asked me what we were eating for lunch, my mom replied, “Rice with dhal, fish curry, potato curry and some pol sambol.”
By around 9pm, she asked me what we were having for dinner. Seeing my mom lay down the big bowl of rice on the table along with more curries and some “umbalakada sambol”, she knew what we were eating.
After three days of having rice and curry, three meals a day at our place, she never ate it again for the rest of her stay at Lanka.
- Cricket is the all-time favorite sport
This mainly refers to the boys. Almost every boy who grew up in a Sri Lankan household spent their childhood playing cricket in the lane, using buckets or pieces of wood or even a chair as wickets. Each game, you would lose approximately 3-4 tennis balls after it “goes for six” or breaks the neighbor’s window.
When it comes to the Cricket World Cup time of year, flags emerge on the gates of houses and on electricity wires. Families gather around the television to watch the match and shouts of “Ado!”, “Aiyo!” and “Out neh bung!” may be heard neighborhood-wide.
- Siddhalepa, Asamodhagam, and Panadol can solve any medical problem
You have a headache? Have some Panadol.
Your stomach hurts? Drink some Asamodhagam (might make you throw up, too, but no one ever tells you that).
Suffering from a cold or your body hurts? Apply some Siddhalepa balm.
You don’t need anything else!
- Wrapping your books in brown paper
Up until the 11th grade, all my books were wrapped in brown paper and my mom would paste a neat little sticker on the bottom-right of the cover, with my full name, class and the subject the book was being used for. Every child I knew faced this plight in school and most of them would have their brown paper wrapped books wrapped over with a transparent plastic cover (for extra protection if you spill some food or drink on it during the school interval).
- When they give you The “Sniff-Kiss”
This kiss is no stranger to us. When aunties and uncles visit you, this kiss is the standard Sri Lankan greeting. They bring their cheek close to yours, sniff, switch cheeks and sniff again and then the “hundred and one” questions start rolling in, starting with, “So, how?”
- Evening tea is mandatory
In almost every household in Sri Lanka, either plain or milk tea is made every evening and drunk along with some “Cream Crackers”, “Lemon Puffs” or some “Marie Biscuits”. If you are at a Sri Lankan’s house during tea time, you can never refuse to the question, “Ah have some biscuits!!”, because let me tell you my friend; you ain’t leaving without eating at least a handful.
- When your idea of party music is Baila
At every Lankan party or wedding, the fun starts when the Baila music comes on. Aunties fling their “saree pota” over their shoulders, uncles lift their sarongs and sometimes their pants, revealing their either very skinny or extremely fat ankles and everyone gets it on, shaking their bums side to side, clapping their hands and laughs and shouting are abundant on the dance floor. According to famous Lankan You-tuber, JehanR, some baila moves include “Crossing the Galle road”, “Aney, I’m shy” and the “1..2..Pending”.
- End every sentence with “men”
No, this has nothing to do with men. You use this whenever you exclaim or get annoyed at something. For example, “What, men?!?! Don’t you know to make a simple sambole?! You call yourself Sinhalese?”
- Children are referred to as “Baba”
The younger child is usually referred to as “Podi Baba” and the elder child is “Loku Baba”. When aunties ask about your 23 year old son, most of the time, they’d ask how “Baba” is and then say “In vain! They’re not babas anymore, know!”
- The equivalent of disgust is “chik”/ “shi”
If an aunty sees a couple making out in public, she’d say “chik”.
When the batsman gets out during a cricket match, uncle would shout “shi!!!” , slap his knee and shake his head in disappointment.
When the tea tastes a little too sweet, the adults would say, “Chik! What is this rubbish?!? You want me to get diabetes or what?!”
