The Allbless Cash-i-no

"Do you want happiness in your life?/ Then take yourself a wife!’

"It’s easy for you to say that, Mummy,/ But Parsi girls won’t even look at me.

They want a dude with film-star looks,/ Not a man who loves to read books.

They run after men who drive Ferraris,/ Not those who travel in ghora-garis.

The nubile, young girls are willing to dance/ Only with men who can take them to Paris, France.

They consider a gent real cool/ If he owns a bungalow with a private swimming pool.

With the son of a super-rich man they want to linger,/ In the hope that he will put a wedding ring on their finger.

When I offer them my undying love,/ They look at the heavens above,

And with sarcastic lips they sneer,/ ‘You really are a stupid old queer.

We don’t want love — it’s all balderdash,/ We want a husband with plenty of cash!’”

JAL S. DESAI

jaldesai@hotmail.com