India, March 29 -- What was I doing on the stage of the prestigious Lionel Wendt auditorium in Colombo? Singing. Of all the ways I might have imagined returning to Sri Lanka, this was not one of them. I first came here twenty years ago and have returned half a dozen times since. Something about the country has always drawn me back and tempted me to stay longer. Last week, serendipity - the word itself borrowed from Serendip, the island's ancient name - brought me back. This time, to sing with a choir of over seventy-five people, none of us younger than fifty.

Music used to simply be the air inside our home. My husband had a melodious and strong singing voice and was a gifted guitarist, and there was rarely a day he did not pick up his in...