Train Singer

A hollow tin-can one side fastened with oxen skin ...dadamdadamdum...dadamdadamdum! Like a rhyme scheme, like a metered rhythm... music, music, music... dadamdadamdum dadamdadam! From coach to coach walking in train that dark-skinned middle-aged man singing the song of life... a folk number philosophy, a Telugu cinema's romantic melody on political charlatans a clarion parody... Dadamdadamdum...dadamdadamdum! 'You preen o man I am gaining years of wisdom what a mistaken impression every minute eroding is life span that is truth underlying...' He is singing, smiling, laughing in ecstasy to the heights his tunes are lifting...whirling, bent on knees swinging and dancing.. dadamdadamdum...dadamdadamdum! He stopped and smiled at my knotted brows. Taking my ten rupees looking into my eyes he sang again, this time his own lyric 'I'm a happy man, I am a happy man! No vice I have I love my wife and children and this crude-drum my friend; cousin and patron...' and walked away playing... Dadamdadamdum...dadamdadamdum... His song now sounded like an anthem of men who believe in themselves no matter what they hold in their hands, a pen, a scalpel, a sword or even a hollow tin-can! .