Superstition

I was travelling in a taxi and all of a sudden the driver stops in the middle of the road. I might have dozed off, so I woke up with a start. Expecting to see a huge queue of cars lined up in front of me I craned my neck out of the window. Interestingly, all I could see was an empty stretch of road with not a soul in sight. That is if you don't count the cat (no reason why you shouldn't count the cat, but then again you may just ignore it). Well, you see, there was this skinny, grey cat which was moving from one side of the road to the other in the most leisurely manner. At the moment the only thing I could help noticing was the meter of the taxi which was creeping upwards in the most alarming manner! After the cat had crossed the road (sitting down to lick its butt twice in the meantime) and disappeared completely behind a fence, the driver closed his eyes and screwed his face as if to remove all traces of memory attached to the cat. After that, he counted what seemed to me to be a billion and brought his hands together and looked towards the heavens. Possibly he prayed for himself, his family, his extended family, his second cousin thrice removed who had her seventeenth kid last Monday and the rest who are in dire needs of a prayer (which pretty much includes the whole of the country). All this time, the meter ticks away.

Now, don't get me wrong here; I have nothing against the superstitious. That is, nothing, if it doesn't cost me anything. But hey! If superstition burns a hole in my pocket, I quite obviously object! So where exactly do we draw the line? I mean as long as my interests are not in conflict with your superstition I have no problems. The public and the private have always been in conflict and so they shall remain long after I am dead and gone. Their seeds are sown so deep in our consciousness that through our entire lives we are only vaguely aware of the countless times we shuttle between the rational and the irrational.

Anyway, I'm basically just pissed off at having to shell out three extra bucks.

Billy Joel And 3

Piano Man by Billy Joel

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin

He says, "Son can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes

La la-la di-di daLa-la di-di da, da dum

Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's a quick with a joke or a light-up-your-smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be

He says "Bill, I believe this is killing me"
As the smile ran away from his face"
Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

La la-la di-di daLa-la di-di da, da dum

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talking with Davey who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinking alone

Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been coming to see
To forget about life for awhile

And the piano sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say "Man, what are you doing here"

La la-la di-di daLa-la di-di da, da dum

Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right



Very hummable tune. Very nice lyrics. A current favourite.

Not much has been happening lately that is worthy of writing. I did play a cricket match yesterday against Philosophy in some kind of vague competition. We lost miserably. I scored 3 and got my off-stump knocked off. After that embarassment I tried my hand or arm at bowling (thankfully it was before the second innings actually started). The ball never quite reached the batsman. It landed somewhere between short fine leg and square leg. After that I quietly removed myself to the fine leg position and stayed there for the rest of the game.
In my defense, I haven't held a bat for about six months and haven't played a proper cricket match in about two years perhaps more. In fact, I didn't even know there was a match. So, in short, I was unprepared. However, these are no excuses if you actually consider their bowling quality. Well, I'll let these pass.
I should be preparing for college 'cause I'm already very late.