Why I like carnatic music so much

I must confess that after spending more than half of my life in the US, most of the pop music is no more than elevator music for me. Over the past 22 yrs, people around me have learned to understand my Indian accent while most of the pop music still remains foreign to my ears. By foreign, I do not mean to say that it bothers me or that I think ill of it. Frankly, none of that is really true.

My 10 yr old daughter has been exposed to carnatic music from the time she was a baby and she is a great singer for her age. The funny thing though, she seems to feel quite at home humming a carnatic song or a pop tune. Her appreciation for the carnatic tune might be high, but she cannot relate to the lyrics at all. It is struggle to make her get the "La" and "la" or "Na" and "na" sounds correct, when she sings a Tamil song.

Coming back to my original question as to why I like Carnatic music so much, perhaps it takes me back to the times when I was young and that was the only music my parents listened to and appreciated. While I liked and still like semi-classical film music, I don't quite get the same elevation that I do when I listen to carnatic music. Carnatic music, particularly the ones that are in Sanskrit or Tamil (because I can understand these languages) take me to places that I have only imagined in real life.

Having said all the above, I still can't place a finger on why I really like this music. And I believe it is more than just taste.