Dr Fixit (4421 - 4430)

 

4421

that has infiltrated the camp, knocked down

a couple of sentries and almost took with his hand

a mobile used by a commander while bathing

(I quickly turn around to see where mine was sitting

and it’s intact) so I walk over and pocket it

just like everyone else with a mobile kit.

I thank her for the information

and tell her I’m taking a perambulation

to the tower and she says I should analyse

every troop near me till things normalize.

 

4422

The fear of the stranger grips for a long time

the whole camp as in different angles a sign

of the crook is seen stalking our shadows;

they say he peeps through cracks in windows

and attempts to break open some major doors

and Forensics swear they see his prints on their floors.

With the calculated threat, a head count has begun

and proper check on faces to see none

not a part of our troops stays too long

in our midst and their folly prolongs.

 

4423

While roving the tower, I wonder

if the praying mantis didn’t meander

off track and rattle the new-breed soldier ants.

That creep seems to me to nurse greater plans

that so far I’d not put my lenses on;

it seems he’s bent to rubbish me and on my lawn

builds his statue. I’m cautious every inch

of the way roving the tower – now and then I pinch

my pocket to see if the mobile is still there.

Like humans, that too forms part of my gear.

4424

I mean, I’m so glued to it that first thing

in the morning as I wake is my fiddling

with it and the last thing I do at night

is putting it where, even without the light

and in my sleep, I can answer any wretched call;

without my mobile, I walk short than tall.

Who wanted to steal a mobile in our camp

knows how glued to it we are like a lamp

and its light are to humans at night.

From the top of the tower, I steadily sight

 

4425

every direction if any form of anomaly

I could pick but it’s serene all around me.

But I carefully watch the movement of leaves

to be sure they are gingered by the breeze

and not by the touch of the villain in our midst;

I stare at every leaf to see no fact I miss.

Then, my ringing phone halts the smile

that could’ve come on my face about the many a mile

the praying mantis won’t mind to fly

to tell a fib. I curiously try

 

4426

and reach for my phone and listen to the call

from my wife. ‘The crook right in the assembly hall

in the toilet at the rear had sneaked in

to hide as a troop the place was cleaning

so as routine, he had flushed the cistern

but had to duck when from it something

fluttered, kicked the lid open and flew out;

recovering and seeing it was the villain, a shout

and a chase with his brush he gave the praying mantis.’

How I wish the fool had failed his mathematics.

4427

My feelings were right from the time I first heard

the news – that crook wants to wear my beard.

I’m glad the fool couldn’t hide for long

among us. I actually smile now for long.

So the crook wants to use a mobile

and he comes for ours? Then, quite puerile

is his sense of humour – if only he’d been caught,

the hard way to own a mobile he would’ve been taught.

One thing I envy the praying mantis is its wings.

If we have them, the baddies everywhere would feel our stings

 

4428

straight off as we unrestrainedly sanitize

the globe around the clock from sunrise

to sunset and see to it that no nook harbours

evil anymore from chat rooms to beer parlours.

I tell my wife what actually had happened

and pass the instruction more troops should opt in

to swell up the ranks of those to patrol

the environs of the camp to exert control

over the rowdy elements bent to upset

the progress of our mission and see to our target

 

4429

we don’t reach. The scene ends as I stare

further across the lakeside knowing that’s where

the hoodlums might wish to follow to harass

every member of our cool crew but embarrassed

at every turn they’d be till every good deed

we’d undertake and plant in every nook our charming seed

that’d sprout and spread great scent in every direction

and nip off every baddy’s noxious ambition.

While working arduously on my new script,

the theatre was a beehive as ‘Dr Fixit’,

4430

my first script, the theatre boss was turning

successfully into a play and quite fitting

to the roles were the young men and women

selected to fill them; I enjoyed every moment

I did watch the rehearsals and could attest

wholeheartedly to the utter success

of the big play whenever it would be on stage;

for a long time, I was convinced, it would be the rage.

One morning, as I thought hard what to write next

to elongate the new script, the architect