His words and music have helped inspire Nepal's pro-democracy movement and he is on the run from security forces, but Rubin Gandharba is no ordinary political player - the minstrel-turned-activist is just 13 years old.
'I haven't been to my room for 10 days because I was threatened by the security forces,' he said yesterday. 'Last week I was sleeping at a relative's house and the army came, but they didn't arrest me because I hid under a cloth. I was quite lucky.'
Rubin says he has already been arrested five times, and was held for 15 days without charge following the coup which brought King Gyanendra to power a year ago.
His song lyrics poking fun at the bad debts some government ministers have with state banks have annoyed the authorities and delighted their opponents in equal measure.
On one occasion, the police smashed his sarangi, the simple folk violin with which he accompanies his songs. A benefactor gave him the US$11 he needed to buy a new one.
Rubin is part celebrity, part street urchin. As a member of the Gandharba caste of wandering minstrels, he is regarded as 'untouchable' in the Hindu system.
He says that even in the democracy movement, which is dominated by upper-caste Brahmins, he sometimes suffers humiliations because of his lowly status.
