An Indian Fool

If you have to meet him, you may in the countryside, An Indian fool with a clamp of hair hanging From the crown of the head At the back of And he oiling the bamboo stick daily To thrash the head of. To pull the lathi and to thrash from the behind, Not from the front The frontal attack, But from the sideways Hurting you. An Indian fool with a clamp of hair hanging, But on with the clamp of hair may be a great Sanskritist, Classical, But take for granted he is not A scholar, but a countryside rustic. If you say right, he will understand wrong, So blind, so superstitious, So poor and backward That he can go to any extent And can humiliate you. He cannot say the name of his wife, Will lie in to keep her indoors, May ask his daughter, Why did you smile on seeing the boys, Always suspicious and suspectful? If his daughter smiles, he will ask her, Why did you, Smile on seeing, People will take it bad, As you a growing child. An Indian fool with the tikki hanging from, Angry, mad and foolish with a thick lathi into hands, The arm tattoed with Sita-Ram, Going his away Taking the name of ‘Bajarangabali ki jai’.