Lost and found

The different areas of the school campus are ideal locations for children to forget their belongings. In the evenings, after the children leave, a member of the staff walks around the campus with a big bag, picking up these forgotten objects. The objects are placed within a set of large boxes, which is referred to as 'lost and found'. The 'lost and found' boxes are not a pretty sight to behold. Usually, they remind one of streets in a riot ridden city. So the boxes are kept at the end of the dark corridor that leads to the physics lab. Sometimes as I walk in and out of physics lab, I am seized by the desire to rummage through the boxes in the hope of finding some lost treasure. Fortunately, I don't let this desire take over me.

Last evening, as I was walking out of the physics lab, I saw a pair of legs hang out of one of the 'lost and found' boxes. I wondered if the owner of the pair of legs belonged to the lost or found category. I walked up to the box and asked "Hey, what are you doing? Are you lost?" A boy got off the box and said "Oh! I am looking for the water bottle that I lost four years back?" I thought I did not hear him right and asked "Four days is it?" He responded "Four years". I found it difficult to not sound surprised when I asked "You are looking for a water bottle that you lost four years ago?" He said "Yes. I lost it four years back and my teacher told me that I can find it in the lost and found boxes". The boy said this with a lot of hope and I hated to disappoint him. But as hard as it is, truth had to prevail. I said "You might have found it four years back but a lot of time has passed now". The boy hung his head down in disappointment. He said "you mean the 'lost and found' box has lost it". I responded "that's right. The 'lost and found' box has lost it". After a moment's silence the boy asked "Does the school have a 'lost from lost and found and found' box?" I looked at him. He seemed to have asked the question in seriousness and so I responded likewise "No". The boy said "ok" and jumped right back into the box. I was puzzled. I asked "what are you searching for now?" The boy responded "I am searching for the water bottle that I lost six months back".

Sunday evening blues

Plainly, my life has taken a boring turn
Can't credit it to inactivity but to excess of it
Wish I could be still in a place alone
But every morning I see faces catching my attention
I wish to turn away and ignore all
But my inability to
      be rude to the young souls
      disappoint their belief in humans
      drive them towards early cynicism
Forces a smile to appear on my lips
While attempting to reflect their chirpiness in my responses
Thankfully I escape the notice of many
What is the point in being noticed!
I love my life to be below the damned radar

As the day proceeds, the variety in activities
Confuse my poor head
I wish I only had to this and not that
Or only that and not this
But if wishes were horses
It would rain donkeys
So I move from one activity to the other
Acting sane and cheating myself
Into believing in the sanity of others
By the time the sun reaches overhead
I wish King Buffalo was crooning Acheron into my ears
I blow the ridiculous thought away
For in this profession, I have to keep my ears and eyes open
To the needs of others and the possibility of incidents and accidents
Sometimes I escape from the dreary world
By staring at the cells containing meaningless numbers and words
I only wish to stand in front a young crowd
Ignore their thoughts and disseminate knowledge
Without a regard of its use for them now or ever
But life ain't never that convenient
And I do what I am supposed to do
Later in the evening I trudge into a cool space surrounded by walls
Its been a year and I am still not sure what I do in this space
I spend a few hours acting like I know what I am doing
At the end of the day, I spend twenty minutes driving along
Cow filled country roads listening to something loud
The end of the day signals the beginning of yet another similar day
But the week has begun and the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth day
Don't really matter
It is the darkness of the thoughts on the evening of the seventh day of the week
About the first day of the week that upset me

You should go and get a new life says a voice in my head
I did but the newness only lasts a few years
Now, I can no longer differentiate the new from the old.

Slumber Plumber

Translated from the Lithuanian original "Miega vandens darbo žmogus"

Did you know? You wouldn't know

They got the story wrong

About that beautiful girl

Who slept like a log

Till a Prince Charming came along

And woke her up with a kiss

The truth was far from this

Very far; how far you ask?

The sleeping one was not a girl at all

Sleeping Beauty never happened

Slumber Plumber did though

The plumber worked hard through the day

For in the fifteenth century

People were busy renaissance-ing

And no one had time to ensure

That the taps fit into the pipes well

So, water leaked from the taps

Drop by drop

Much to the annoyance of all

The plumber being the only plumber in the village

Had to fix all the leaks quick

Running from house to house across the village

Made him tired at the end of the day

He like the so called sleeping beauty, slept deep

Tip top tip top tip top tip top

He woke up to the sound of water leaking from the taps

And then one day, for reasons known to none

The taps stopped leaking

The sound from water leaking ceased

The plumber's impetus to wake up no longer existed

Everyone forgot his existence for there were no leaking pipes

And so he slept for a few years

And then one day, for reasons known to none

The taps started leaking again

Everyone remembered the plumber

They found him sleeping in his barn on a bed of straw

Through years plants starting using his bodily resources

Grass grew out of his nostrils, moss covered his hands

A tiny thyme peeped out through his open mouth

It danced to tune of his snore

"Oh God! He's dead" cried one from the gathered crowd

"Don't be stupid! Can't you hear him snore?" retorted another

"Let's wake him up" shouted many

They tried by shouting, by shoving, by shaking

By pulling, by pushing, by pouring water

But of no avail, he continued to sleep

Attracted by the commotion, a holy man entered the barn

He cut through the crowd

Saw the cause of commotion

Checked the plumber eyes, hands and legs

And announced thus

"A curse has been placed by a sage on this man

For this man disturbed the sage's slumber with unholy water

From his insides. Enraged the sage cursed

'Sleep with water in your mind

Wake with water in your mind

But my rage freezes water too

Wait for a kiss from the green jumpy one

Once pretty, now a frog'"

Thus the plumber sleeps

Among the shrub that grow on and around him

His muffled snore heard by many

Who have forgotten this tale

If you find a pretty green frog

Trying to mouth the word 'help'

Direct the frog in the direction of the snore

And await to witness a miracle.

NOTE: I don't think I have written anything hurtful to anyone here. I don't expect any Lithuanian to visit my page (Yeah right!). But in case, a Lithuanian reads this and feels "What the hell!", please replace Lithuanian with a language of your choice and use Google Translate to translate 'Sleeping water works man' to that language. Thank you for your patience.