Great Oil Spillage Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

Great oil spillage

It was sometime when I turned eighteen
This has happened

We used to go to theatres in the town
For watching movies
Our most opted were night shows
Reason elders at home and college teachers
Would never know what we did

But one requirement was that
We need to hire bicycles
As night services of public conveyances
Were not available

We need to plan well
Hired cycle shop fellow was to be informed in advance
So that cycles were ready in required number

Another important vital point was that
These cycles should have a lamp in the front
As otherwise, policemen in the town would catch and fine us

Dynamo fitted cycles were a luxury
Oil lit lamps would be hanging in the front
From the handle bar of the cycle

I still wonder what purpose such oil lit lamps served
As the light from them did not make
Anything on the road visible

We would verify while riding the cycle
Whether the light was on or not
By feeling the top of the lamp
If hot, yes, we knew the lamp was on
And otherwise it was not

We would start around eight thirty in the night
We would reach the cycle hiring shop
And the owner would normally be preparing to close the shop
He would instruct us as to
How and where to leave the cycles after returning

That night we were five
The most experienced cycle rider led us from the front
We just followed him one after the other
Everything went fine
As no where the cycles troubled us
And no where the lamps went off
And no where we came across a police

We reached the theatre in time
Cyclists were given preferential treatment in the theatre
Reason being we were to pay some parking charge
And this led us straight to the ticket counter
Instead of falling in a queue waiting in a cage

But the one inconvenience was that
That the cycle should be left in the parking lot
With no easily removable attachment

So we need to carry the lamp inside the theatre
We put off the lamp, waited for that to cool
Detached it from the cycle and held it safe
As we were rushing to the ticket counter

We were inside the hall
Got on to our seats
And we were holding the lamps in hand
We could not leave the lamps on the floor
For the simple fear of losing them
And there was the likelihood that we would spill the lamp oil
If the lamp being left on the floor

We were watching the movie
More often verifying the hand-held lamp
The satisfaction was more on the cycle ride
Than on our successful watching of the movie

As we were coming out the cinema hall
And reaching our cycles for a ride back home
One of our friends' doti was seen with a big blot of oil
And the origin of the spillage was the lamp

The doti was practically soaked with oil
We opened his oil lamp
Shared oil from our lamps
So that his lamp had enough oil for the travel back
Lit all the lamps

Reached home as planned
Leaving back the cycles as instructed by the shop keeper

Next day morning my friend's dad asked me
This most uncomfortable question
Where occurred this
Great oil spillage