POEM :

“FLAKKER 35 : THE SEQUEL (1)”

(IMAGINARY)

--“No matter how beautiful the snake is, you don’t keep it as pet.”

From the television serial “Sindoor tera naam ka” (“Your name is Sindoor” [powder symbolising marriage applied to the forehead of married Indian women])

Full acknowledgements are made to the rights-holders. Series created by Jay Production; written by K. K. Singh, Sashi Mittal, Sumit Mittal; directed by Y. Chauhan, A. Dudhaiya, S Bhatt, M. Krishnanater; producers J. Mehta, K. Mehta; production company Jay Production, and all other rights-holders.

*****

--"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

--Attributed to George Santayana ? (1863-1952)

Full acknowledgements are made here to the authors, publishers and rights-holders.

*****

--“The evils we bring on ourselves are hardest to bear.”

Sam Phillips : “3000 Proverbs.” New Delhi : Goodwill Publishing House, c 2017. Full acknowledgements are made here to the author/s, publishers and rights-holders.

*****

Reference : Internet link (5 August, 2025) : YouTube :

“Britain Sends India a £9 Million Parking Bill | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G”

England sent India a parking bill for £ 9 million for diplomatic vehicles parking in London...

That should pre-empt any Indian bill for parking the Eff 35 at the airport in Kerala...

*****

POEM :

“FLAKKER 35 : THE SEQUEL (1)”

(IMAGINARY)

1st stanza

With lightning speed the conquerors swept in :

No barriers could stand in their way :

Their fine chats demolish’d all in their path :

Everybody hath to comply and do as told.

2nd

The F35 ne’er pass’d into foreign hands :

‘Twas “secur’d” from day one, within hours.

In a typical kneejerk reaction,

The guy sat on a chair on the tarmac...

3rd

He was watching, watching intently.

From pilot to guardsman :

Alone against all,

He hop’d to hold the fort...

4th

He held the fort until

Reinforcements arriv’d;

They arriv’d pretty fast

In the colony they knew very well...

5th

For the land be still a colony...

At the beck and call of the colonisers...

Within minutes all doors were unlock’d,

All procedures and protocols swept aside...

6th

The good friends, the old friends

Did not have long to wait

For the reward in London :

£ 9 million parking bill for cars...

7th

Ever will the snake coil and coil,

For ‘tis its very nature :

The unwary end up as meal :

They have themselves to blame...

 *****

8th

In decades past a warship arriv’d :

The mariners did some social work,

As publicity, gestures of “goodwill”

Much vaunt’d publicly in Mauritius...

9th

Then the vessel left the port,

Sail’d in the direction of the airport

That be near the sea :

Live firing exercises ahoy !...

10th

They even warn’d publicly

That they be firing live shells :

They fir’d shells toward the path

Of planes landing and taking off...

11th

Modern day pirates,

Well arm’d and dangerous :

Could the same be done to their lands ?!...

(Don’t ye all shout at once, guys !...)

12th

‘Tis in the nature of the scorpion to sting :

And sting it will, that’s for sure...

None so blind

As those who refuse to see...

----------------------------

Soman Ragavan

5 August, 2025

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