Ajay
Ajay was on the edge
of singing Thumbakkam with his friends
For more than a week
he had been hearing it sung all over town,
and each day
the number of people singing it had increased
until it seemed that he was the only one left
who wasn’t singing it
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They-ey
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They
They’re singing it again,
he thought
I can’t escape it
There’s not a place left in town
where I can sit without hearing that mantra
Ajay resigned himself
to having to listen to Thumbakkam again
and then he sat down near his friends
and began to feel the vibe
of Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They
♫ ♫ ♫
Ajay didn’t want to sing Thumbakkam
He had resisted all week,
but something inside him
was urging him to give it a try
There had been a few other signs
that he ready for a change:
He had begun to carry a feather the week before,
and he had been seen kneeling at the temple
and caressing a djembe
He had even been seen admiring a chillum,
but he had yet to smoke one
Viswa, Dom Baba and Kalimbaba
continued to chant
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They-ey
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They
and Ajay could feel the vibration
of each bija,
each seed of sound,
and soon he could resist no longer
and began to sing
along with his friends
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They-ey
Thumbakkam Thumbakkam They
♫ ♫ ♫