A Song By Yesudas -- Patchai Kiligal (Tamil)

(This post is meant as a nod to those who enjoy songs from Indian films. If songs in Indian regional languages are not for you, just scroll down to the next post.)

I was on a trans-Atlantic flight this past December, flipping through the audio channels. In a channel titled "Rhythms of World" I was jolted out of the stupor that long flights induce, because the song that had just started was in Tamil, my native language. (This was a US carrier, and we weren't even flying to Asia.) I had never heard the song before, and it was an incredibly melodious one. I pulled open the audio guide and saw that the song was "Patchai Kiligal" (Green parrots) by K J Yesudas. The word "Indian" was in parenthesis. Partly because of stumbling upon it so unexpectedly, I found everything about the song applealing. The melody, the unintrusive music and certainly the lyrics. (Does anyone know where to find the English translation for the lyrics?)

Much later, I learned that the song was actually from a movie -- "Indian" and that AR Rahman was the music director.

If this link works, you can listen to it here, by selecting the song.