The Worlds We Speak
Mariam Ghani
Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy is a major historic city in central Sri Lanka to which many Staten Island Sri Lankans have ties. Nowhere outside Sri Lanka has a larger Sri Lankan community than the area around Tompkinsville in Staten Island, where there are significant numbers of speakers of both Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil and a variety of cultural traditions are being transmitted, including Kandyan dance.