The New Delhi railway station
The parcel office
A nightmare within
A nightmare without
Habits die hard
Three boxes
A twenty kilo monitor
A ten kilo C.P.U
Standard measures
Plus thirty kilos of junk
Five minute wait (only)
The man in-charge arrives
Says, “A couple of minutes ‘sir’”
He couldn’t be talking to me
Dusts his own table
Hangs up the cloth
The lackeys arrive
Ask him how he’d like his tea
He’s obviously new
“However”, he says
One disappears
Two linger on
They see us
They see an opening
He motions to me
He was talking to me
A seat offered
During the melee
The luggage weighed
Twenty plus ten plus thirty it is
Sixty kilos
I check, he checks, check.
The lackeys impede
The C.P.U counts as twenty kilos
“Regulations,” we are told
Twenty plus twenty they say
That’s what the computer must weigh
“Regulations must be followed”
Says clever man-in-charge
So my bill of loading is made
Twenty plus twenty plus twenty
Sixty kilos
I check, he checks, check
The New Delhi railway station
The parcel office
A dream within
A dream without
Habits die
The parcel office
A nightmare within
A nightmare without
Habits die hard
Three boxes
A twenty kilo monitor
A ten kilo C.P.U
Standard measures
Plus thirty kilos of junk
Five minute wait (only)
The man in-charge arrives
Says, “A couple of minutes ‘sir’”
He couldn’t be talking to me
Dusts his own table
Hangs up the cloth
The lackeys arrive
Ask him how he’d like his tea
He’s obviously new
“However”, he says
One disappears
Two linger on
They see us
They see an opening
He motions to me
He was talking to me
A seat offered
During the melee
The luggage weighed
Twenty plus ten plus thirty it is
Sixty kilos
I check, he checks, check.
The lackeys impede
The C.P.U counts as twenty kilos
“Regulations,” we are told
Twenty plus twenty they say
That’s what the computer must weigh
“Regulations must be followed”
Says clever man-in-charge
So my bill of loading is made
Twenty plus twenty plus twenty
Sixty kilos
I check, he checks, check
The New Delhi railway station
The parcel office
A dream within
A dream without
Habits die
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