Aaji, My Manorama Poem by aniruddha raich

A check for fear of fungal infection
Took me back in time,
To Aaji, fair, beautiful, infected Aaji.

Mohnyaaaaaaaaaa....
The shrill but warm call
Came to haunt back
From a 'cruel' ruler unable to
Keep in order her own flock.
From Manorama,
My Aaji, infected Aaji.

They say she assumed all powers,
Like and unlike Queen Elizabeth.
Not by decree, not by tradition, but after
the handsome and fair Duke of Edinburgh, Balkrishna,
was rendered 'impotent' by his vagaries and inertia,
By his rocking cradle continuous,
By his chewing tobacco continuous,
By his walking to the garden continuous.
Till her crying after him,
Continuous.


Absolute power till her
Black (it's a mystery) and white prince and
Princess found the prince and
Princess charming of their own.


The rule now changed spheres,
To subjects more dear.
Mohnya, because he looked like her.
The rules, however, did not change,
Mohnyaaaaaaaaaa.....


One a pleasant morning,
In a still flowing deep river,
She cracked the whip
In a rare burst of anger.
Mohnyaaaaaaaaaa...
She yelled in frustration and care,
And his skin with wet wood she tore.


The cuts soon disappeared,
Her mark reappeared,
today (March 17,2006) , again.


When the whole world used to say
Mohnyaaaaaaaaaa....
She would say my Mohnya,
And vice-versa.
Her most beloved prince,
Her infection,
And vice-versa.

Till she developed fungal infection,
Till she had a cataract operation,
Till he got infected,
Till Aaji became Manorama,
Till Manorama became Aaji again.
Till she did not exist to exist.


And one afternoon she died.
It was a joke for him.
He did not cry,
He was more happy meeting
Some friendly and some forgotten cousins.
Smoking banned cigarrattes and paan masala.
Discussing sweet nothings, cracking jokes.


When the time of departure came,
after the green signal from the knowall Anna Kaka,
He enacted a 'Maaaa...' scene.
Shamelessly, or Don't know...
He never missed her,
He never found time to miss her,
Maybe because no multinational
Could produce a 'total' antifungal.

She reappeared today,
Maybe because no multinational
Could produce a 'total' antifungal.
She reappread,
Like a desirable fungal infection.