Readers might enjoy reading this poem.
Dandy and the
Cheetah
[Dandy:(i) a man
unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable
(ii) an excellent thing of its
kind; the Winchester Model 37 shotgun is a dandy, at a low price]
and a sleeveless
jacket
holding a
state-of-the-art camera
as if raring to
go on a safari
of course, the
African
But he was on a
different mission:
to unveil to the
nation the homecoming
of the cheetah,
the magnificent cat extinct long ago
He gently rotated
a circular handle to open the trapdoor
and out came,
majestically, two Nambian cheetahs
one by one, one
male another female
But let us first
focus on
the most
excellent thing of the event: the hat
the cheetah the
next excellent thing can wait a bit
What brand of hat
is he wearing?
Fidora?
Homburg?
Bowler?
All three were
made famous by famous men
Fidora, first
worn by fashionable women in the US,
made a symbol of
wealth and status
by Prince of
Wales, later King Edward VII
became a
trademark of rough and tough cowboys, gangsters,
detectives, celebrities,
film stars, political leaders, jaaz musicians:
Humphery Bogart,
Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Michael Jackson
Winston Churchill,
Eisenhower, Adenauer, even our own Raj Kapoor
And lo, even Bhagat
Singh!
Depend on him to
join these worthies
and emulate them
for nation’s glory
And it was on his
birthday too.
The whole country
cheered him on this momentous occasion
The media went
gaga gaga sarey gama sarey gama pa pa…
calling it
another plume on his cap, rather his hat
Don’t be
surprised if he makes another promise,
one more among
his many,
to snatch and bring
back the Kohinoor,
if Shah Jehan’s
name doesn’t baulk him
Or may be some
other spectacular feat:
His best is yet
to be
But we have
almost forgotten the cheetah,
that excellent
animal of its kind: like that dandy
the excellent
Winchester 37 Shotgun, at a low price
Where does he
stand in comparison to
the Fidora, the Homburg, the Bowler?
The pair step
out, relaxed or surprised, crane their necks
to survey and
feel their surroundings, the new landscape,
the new air, the
new smell, the new light, the new touch
Do they like it?
They have no
choice
They have to
survive, procreate, multiply
to obey the
compulsions of Nature
not for the glory
of the country of which they know nothing
Their benefactor
watches them through his branded camera
takes
photographs, cheers them by the clap of his hands
But do they know
who he is?
Do they look back
at him?
Do they thank him
for homecoming?
Or curse him for bringing
them into exile?
We don’t know
But we are
pleased, yes pleased, pleased…
The country has
got its cheetah back
Namaste cheetah,
namaste cheetah, namaste cheetah…
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