Best of Rajesh Rajoo

Steaming, sticky idillis Four tiny ones On my plate; Laced misty thin With chutney And a hint of pungent mint The supper Of an apprentice Is food enough for thought You’re served But token appeasement The flatulence Not the burp Yet you choose To skip the gravy And save On tea and coffee You indulge In salt and pepper To stretch your serving To a fill Ah! For a spread Of dinner… For a full, Delicious burp You sink into Your lumpy bed And hear the bugs Deep sigh You shut your eyes You dream your dreams And tuck in idillis In your sleep

Ugh! That was absolutely insolent of me. Captain. CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow it is. And I'll never get that wrong again. I'm this late bloomer, if that's the word. I get everything backwards. I miss out on a lot of things and then before regret buries me alive, I indulge to save my soul. What was that saying again... better late than never. Touché! I love Captain Jack Sparrow. Don't you too? That was a legend waiting to happen. Pirates have always amused me. But the spectacle on celluloid was something beyond my wildest dreams. I'd like to kill myself for not having watched the Captain on the big screen. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a masterpiece. I haven't enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. ( Excuse me while I flagellate myself for not seeing it on the big screen ). I didn't like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as much though. But it's fascinating never the less. The characters are so real. And the Captain... o

The whole affair was a façade, a smokescreen to prolong his stay in office and lessen the accruing damage. But Nixon was only getting deeper into the dirt he’d gotten himself into and by God, did it smell to the high heavens! Florentyna followed the charade closely thinking: “ What a sham! ” There was a knock on the door. I book marked the page I was reading, before tossing it on bed, thinking to myself: “ What a sham… ” as I opened the door. “ You have sham? ” asked pasty face next door, looking a little embarrassed. Oh crap! What did I get myself into while I was reading a book, I wondered as pasty faced repeated... “ You have sham… ” And then it hit me - an emphasis on the ‘P’. Pasty face had come to borrow my shampoo again. And he’d always called it ‘shamp’ never shampoo. Very economic with vocabulary too, not just with buying himself a bottle of ‘shamp’.

Closed doors Give me that coffin-feeling Colder than death itself Let in the warm sunshine And the mellow air Let the cat walk in Without a thought or care Don’t wait to knock I know you’re here Come in, do You need not fear Closed doors Are not for me Let in the sweet odour Let in the breeze I’ve thrown out the Darkness Along with the keys Closed doors No. They’re not for me Come, Unfasten my shackles That I embrace light That I celebrate life It’s now Handsome and bright