The lyrics, a delightful mix of Bhojpuri and English – that the likes of fellow Trinidadian V S Naipaul were both drawn to and repelled by – tell the quirky tale of a wine-loving grandpa and grandma. The chorus, ‘Phulari bina chutney/ kaise bani’ – appreciating the small pleasures in life with all its travails, challenges and tragedies embodied by the magic-realistic line, ‘Me and my darling was flying in a plane/ The plane catch a fire and we fall inside the cane’ – is life-affirming, celebratory.
‘Kaise Bani’ isn’t just a celebration of fusion, embodying the cultural duality of the Indian diaspora in Trinidad, but also that of life, warts and all, made pleasurable by ‘dips in chutney’. It’s also a testament to the late Sundar Popo’s pioneering and unique ‘apocalypso’ spirit.