A Visitor is coming,
And wouldn’t you just guess?
That very day, my kitchen
Is in a total mess!
My Cook, the ‘prima donna’
Throws a tantrum in the kitchen
Because, he claims, the Paniwallah
Just won’t listen!
Before this reaches ‘crisis point’
I smooth ruffled feathers
Only to find, my Burra Bearer is
Feeling ‘under the weather’.
The doctor gives him medicine,
To ease the pain from gout
But where’s the second Bearer?
Drunk as a skunk, no doubt!
The Jharuwallah? He’s absent,
His wife has run away.
One can’t blame the poor woman
But did she have to choose today?
I somehow manage at last,
To hold my ‘ship’ steady;
I check the smallest details
And, satisfied, am ready.
The Visitor meets his hostess
Who is gracious and serene,
Showing not an inkling of
What she’s been through in between!