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

♫ ♫ ♫