Every night I hear the drums.

Out there, on the fairgrounds in the dark, the big drums throb and the high snares crackle.

Two weeks from now Ganesh will march the streets, Gunpatti’s thunderous procession to the sea shaking the city’s windows and doors.

Hordes will carry idols of the elephant deity in waves across town, cheering the good fortune and wealth and happiness he brings.

Colored joy will fill the day. Upon immersion beneath the Arabian Sea, evil washes away.

This week, rehearsal only. In the dark, absent colored visuals, older idylls emerge:

Carnaval in Rio.

Olodum in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

Even coastal West Africa drum circles vibrating in the chest.

These drums are universal, coastal music teleportation through space and time.

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*photo source India Today 2013 via  Hemant Wakode