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THE JOGGER AND THE OX

THE JOGGER AND THE OX


Once a Sindhi businessman,
Truly like most of his clan,

Went for business abroad,
And, back home, new habits brought.

Each morning he would get out,
And in the park jog about,

From one end to the other,
Till his breath him did bother.

While his muscles did he wield,
A farmer in the next field,

Noted the unfair contrast,
Coaxing his bull to run fast,

That the man without errand,
Ran from one to other end.

He said: “Come, Dear Sir, behold,
My bullock is tired and old.

Why not give a helping hand?
Come and help me till the land.

He is so much exhausted.
Come, you replace him in stead.

Then, running won’t be so drab.
And, you, too, will lose your flab.



· Written in 7-7 meter

· Patterned on a humorous rustic Indian joke, reproduced below, posted on nukkad mailing list by Dr. Holmes: www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/

***

"Many years ago on the b & w television which had just taken hold, there
was a skit in which a Sindhi man just returned from England comes to his
home town in the rural area on vacation

He brings back some of the habits he has picked up there, one being he
jogs in the morning in a park alongside agricultural land under
cultivation with the cattle drawn tillers.

He runs from one end of the park to the other and stops for catching his
breath and runs again, solar hat and shorts and parody paunch all.

A rustic keeps watching him everyday till one day curiosity gets the
best of him and he goes up to him and asks, "Bhau [brother] why do you
run so, from one end to the other, without apparent reason, till you
seem out of breath?"

The Desi-Anglaise says, somewhat down the nostril, "This is called
jogging old man. The English do this to keep fit."

The rustic muses for a moment and says in repartee somewhat difficult to
recreate, "Why not come over to the field and lend a hand? Then you can keep
fit and run to a purpose."


M C Gupta
13 January 2006