What format is this and how to get value "lal" and "pila" from it

[2] => a:2:{i:0;s:3:"lal";i:1;s:4:"pila";}
saved by wordpress function as an array

add_post_meta($contestid, 'suraj', array('lal','pila'));

and retrieved by the function

get_post_meta($contestid);