One lives and learns

One filler post, coming up!

Look, I'd rather not tell you about my woes, so I will tell you of my misfortunes. For all my accumulated years and wisdom it seems I am a simpleton; an idiot, imbecile, a cretin even.

My cousins used to listen to music other than what used to be on offer on All India Radio and I heard this song way back when the world was young. I loved it; the refrain and the weary mood all touched a chord and spoke to me.

'Daylight come 'n' 'e' wan' go home' sounded poignant to me. It spoke of physical toil, bad work conditions, monotony and the need to go back to the comfort of the familiar. 'Come mister tally man, tally me banana', I used to sing to myself as I counted my day's achievements.

Then I heard Pradeep sing it. He was a whale of a man, and the only safe place I could offer him to park himself when he visited was our bed. (he broke a chair when he came wishing us a happy married life and sang a brilliant version of 'ek chatur naar' and those were days when he was merely overweight) He'd stretch out in imitation of Lord Vishnu on his bed of time serpent and sing to us.

Banana Boat was a song he loved to sing. He'd give it his full-throated baritone soul, voice soaring to make the room shiver and walls throw back echoes, but he always got the pensiveness right. When I hear the lines 'day, me say day, me say day, me say day' in my head, I can almost see him. A mountain of a man lolling on my bed, fat fingers snapping time as his voice freewheeled, soared and captured the mood; grinning as he sang 'a beautiful bunch of ripe banana' and went on to the deadly black tarantulas. Man, I'm tired, his voice would say; I need a break, his voice would say.

Now, I have searched a bit for the song and I could only find a paltry few seconds of Harry Belafonte singing it. I prefer remembering Pradeep sing it, though. But life is full of rude shocks. I came across this link, which rather reinforces my belief that when correctly viewed everything is lewd. The mind boggles.

Cheers!