The Roving Musicologist

Zone Drain (Mumbai)

For the first two days in India, it seemed a better idea to stay on the mat on the floor, letting the maid kick me around so she could sweep, and nodding whenever the cook spoke to me.  The apartment was small and there were no screens on the windows.  My only view was of a vacant lot, about two acres in size, with an unpaved footpath in front of it.  All day long, there were two constant streams of people going each way.  The haze cut off everything in the distance, and I wasn’t ready to deal with a rickshaw driver yet.

   After a nap, I woke up and saw a child on the path struggling to pull an animal that looked like a cross between a goat and a horse, with large white circular blotches on brown fur.  I had no idea what it was.  Soon my host would be home and ask what I had accomplished that day.

I recorded the sound of this water in the bathroom drain of their apartment.