Piano Cat!

It’s feline o’ clock on a Caturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old cat sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his catnip and milk

He says, “Cat, can you play me a miaowmory
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger fur coat.”

Meow me-meow, meow mi-miaow
Meow-meow me-meow, mew mi-miaow, meow meow

Chorus:
Mew us a song, you’re the Piano Cat
Mew us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a mewlody
And you’ve got us purrin’ alright

Now Chesh at the bar is a friend of mine
He steals me some milk for free
And he’s quick with his stroke while he makes a mouse croak
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be
He says, “Cat, I believe this is killing me”
As the grin ran away from his face
“Well I’m sure that I could be in Wonderland
If I could get out of this place”

Oh, meow me-meow, meow mi-miaow
Meow-meow me-meow, mew mi-miaow, meow meow

Now, Tom is a real estate strategist
Who never lost fur in alley strife
And he’s talkin’ with Tabby who's still very flabby
And probably will be for life

And the felines are practicing paw-litics
As the ArtistoCats slowly get stoned
Yes, they’re sharing a fat rat called Loneliness
But it’s better than gnawin’ alone

Chorus:
Mew us a song, you’re the Piano Cat
Mew us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a mewlody
And you’ve got us purrin’ alright

It’s a pretty good crowd for a Caturday
And the Top Cat gives me a smile
’Cause he knows that it’s me they’ve been comin’ to see
To forget about dogs for a while

And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the mouse-hole smells full of fear
And they sit at the bar and pour milk in my jar
And say, “Cat, what are you doin’ here?”

Oh, meow me-meow, meow mi-miaow
Meow-meow me-meow, mew mi-miaow, meow meow

Chorus:
Mew us a song, you’re the Piano Cat
Mew us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a mewlody
And you’ve got us purrin’ alright

~*~

Parody rights 2010: $hohini $engupta (me) and Rudrayudh $engupta (co-written by bro and me =D) with all due respect and the humblest of apologies to the brilliance that is Billy Joel.

Enjoy!

A Window to my World [VII]

The time has come, as LD says
To talk of many things
Of fests, and food and dumb charades
And of allergies and billings,
And how the rain has been pouring down
And whether LD sings.

It has, to say the least, been an eventful and interesting week. It started off with my winning a two-hundred-buck voucher from Crossword and hundred bucks in cash for this inter-college poetry thingy held in college. That sort of felt nice although they misspelled my name on the certificate. Monsieur Mosquito won himself the first prize although it is believed that an iron rod also contributed. Yes yes, I am advertising, but enough on that!

The next day saw my H.O.D. sharing a light moment with us, when an exchange between her and one of my classmates who was insistent upon the need for pessimism and low levels of oxytocin in our lives (this was vaguely related to a seminar presented last week) prompted her to tell us all to “take it easy yaaar” and “go fall in love now, when it is the age to”. Suffice it to say, the class was in splits and this happened to be the first class in the morning. We didn’t know whether to hide our faces and laugh or simply laugh outright. I did the latter. I also bought a banana clip for my hair that day. Do not laugh at the name.

Wednesday had the early morning class which found almost all of us nodding off at some point or the other. I was given a hand massage by Miss Minnie Mouse — and this led to me almost falling off my seat as I was a little too relaxed and too sleepy. The professor noticed, in spite of my sitting in the last row. She was quite nice about it though, not being a morning person herself. After freezing to death in (one of the) labs later that day, there was redemption in the form of yummy chocolate and phuchkas! And other things. :P *Jumps up and down mentally*

I also deposited the cheque for my cell-phone bill but was told later that evening that it had to be drawn in favour of something else. So, I had to go all the way to the place from college the next day and replace it with a fresh cheque to avoid a late fee. Thankfully, that day, miraculously labs got cancelled and the professor taking the classes after labs was away attending a symposium. A complete day of no classes is a rarity in my college. And so, it was fun.

Yesterday was the day of food and dumb charades. And some singing as well, on my part. There was a long gap between the last class and the afternoon seminar and some of us spent quite some time playing dumb charades in the canteen. After which, we promptly gorged on pav bhaji, soda sikanji, and cotton candy (I had the white one while DM had pink). I also had an ice cream and a roll later in the evening before coming back home. I guess, since I’d eaten so much I was practically out cold on the way back. :P My vial of anti-allergic cough syrup also finished yesterday and I’m pretty glad about it since I’ve been a complete zombie in the morning for the last two weeks.

The weather has been beautiful since morning, enough to prompt me into writing after ages. I suppose having had a good breakfast also helped. So far so good! LD out.

Examinee Instinct

Suddenly something has happened to me
As I was sitting down to study
Suddenly I am feeling oppressed
I am utterly and totally stressed
Do you know tests make me cry?
Do you know tests make me die?
And the thing that gets to me
Is that nobody will see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is that I'm always in doubt.
Is this the worst thing that I have?
Is this the worst thing that could be?
It is the worst thing, the examinee ...
The examinee instinct!

*whoo-hoo-ing*
*guitar sequence*

So drop those books and come with me
For I must change reality
So drop those notes and we will pray
That the exams go away
They will never make me cry
They will never make me die
And the thing that gets to me
Is that nobody will see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is that I'm always in doubt.

The examinee, the examinee, the examinee instinct in me
It's the examinee, the examinee, the examinee instinct in me
It's the examinee, the examinee, the examinee instinct in me.

*repeat twice*
*guitar sequence*

*The End and some Applause Hopefully :P*

The Acquisition

It was a dark and stormy night. The sky was weeping like one heart-broken and devastated. Flashes of lightning illuminated her troubled crown. Amidst the confusion of the drops of water descending at a steady pace and the chaotic automobiles prevalent on the roads, a mysterious stranger stepped out of the shadows with firm determination in her eyes.

Today was THE DAY. She was finally going to get that for which she had been waiting patiently for years. She could envision herself with the said acquisition and the countless hours of joy that awaited her. She hastened towards her destination.

As she passed dark alleys and narrow lanes, never giving a second look to any living being she encountered, she found herself standing before a respectable old establishment. Sadly, her despairing eyes found the doors to be closed! However, resolution demanded that she investigate, and so she did and found, to her unbounded joy, a narrow opening by means of which she might enter.

The enigmatic stranger stepped inside and spoke a few quiet words to the owner, and was handed a black oddly-shaped package. Within the next few minutes, and with a barely perceptible smile on her face, she walked out into the rain once again. She had got what she had been looking for. With brisk steps she travelled back to her starting site and melded into the shadows once again.

......................................................


In case you're wondering what I'm going on about, let me clarify a few things for you. I finally got my guitar yesterday on the 26th of April, 2007.

*Nodding at the looks of dawning comprehension* Yes, this is about me, going and buying my guitar (with a bit of imaginative license, of course).

Let this be a day (or rather, a night) to remember!

This is basically a parody on the 'It was a dark and stormy night...' types.

'And so ... goodnight'

Date: 08.03.2007
Time: 2:15 p.m.

A patch of grass, trodden but soft
The holder of memories that now grow dim
A waft of air, with fragrance sweet
Breezes past the trees so trim.

A bird flies ahead, its wings spread out
Beating back and forth ’gainst the air with innate ease
The weary traveller stands stock still
Invigorated by all she sees.

Images bring forth the joys of yesterday
Fleeting glimpses of years long past
The little girl stands no more
How did those years fly by so fast?

Radiant faces, flushed and bright
The exhilaration of a ‘worthy’ fight
Gentle words, serene and kind
That led out of the darkness, into the light.

The spot where two friends first shared their views
Caressed in memory, ne’er forgot
Those lanes traversed, unchanged, of a mystic hue
The misty clouds, the raindrops caught.

Days spent chasing after the wind
In pursuit of dreams, ethereal beings
Figments fade, but dreams never do
The ‘child is grown’, but the hope still sings.

Delusions, disillusionment ― all a part of life
Nothing to challenge the soul and there is no spice
But the lessons learnt, carried forward
Steady the boat when life rolls the dice.

Snatches of a conversation return to her ears
Heard long back, yet immortal and clear
Triumphing over obliviating time
Treasured for long and forever dear.

Under the same blue sky she stands
As the ones who walked before her did
With one last glance at the familiar ties
That must now be wrenched apart and rid.

That journey has ended; it is now time to leave
A new one awaits, there are new people to greet
Yes, ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’
For who knows whether we shall again meet?

Yet memories remain, echoes of the past
To take comfort in when the days are long
The traveller must now go forth and embark
On the new adventure, which will test the strong.

Breathing in nostalgia
Stealing another look at old days so bright
She steels herself to face the unknown
The chapter is ended, ‘and so … goodnight’.