Sunday, September 17, 2023

DANDY AND THE CHEETAH

 

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]

 

 You saw him wearing a hat

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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