The Circus

As children, I can remember we used to look excitedly forward to go the circus, The Gemini Circus. It was a day that had to be planned well in advance as our school timings were 9 am-3 pm and then we had drawing classes to attend, or singing lessons, or tennis time. And all the children (including my cousins) had different, but busy schedules. But we had to go together, hence the planning. This poem couples facts with a child's imagination. The only way I knew how to write poetry as a child - through rhymes.

The Circus

I went to the circus one day,
I saw a man lying on a pile of hay
There were many more things ofcourse
The circus belonged to Mr.Dorse 

There I saw monkeys,
There were lions too,
Of course we saw the elephants
Like we had seen in the zoo.

The chimpanzees were acting
The people were waiting
To see the show done by
"The Funny Guys".

We saw the clowns
Wearing a long gown
Trying his tricks
By jumping through the bricks

It was a funny sight
Two men were having a flight
We laughed a lot
And tripped on a man on a cot

We thought we must go
Then we saw Mr. To-Do-Fro,
He was laughing very loudly,
Ho! Ho! Ho!

- written on 30th January 1990

The Little Old Man

This time on my visit to my home in Calcutta, I found an amazing treasure. My old poems written when I will still in school. 'The Little Old Man' is the first ever poem I have written, though I cannot remember what had triggered me to write it - maybe I was getting bored one afternoon, or I had seen something cartoon that had brought forward this visual of a man with his head in a can or maybe it was one of Noddy books I read.

The Little Old Man

There was a little old man
Who was very funny,
He put his head in a can,
Cause he thought he had seen a bunny.

His head got stuck
For there was glue in the can
Then the clock struck
And he heard the voice of a man.

He heard a knock
The door was not locked
He heard a call,
"Mr.Noddy, here is a letter from Mr. Hall".

It was the postman of course
Though he thought it was a fraud
Sent by Mr. Mock Morse
And certainly Mr. Noddy was very cross.

Mr. Noddy was very angry,
He was also very hungry,
He thought he will cook in his frying pan,
And then he thought of the can!

The poor little man,
Could not think of what to do
Who would pull him out of the can?
Who? Who? Who?

- written on 27th January, 1990