The Communist Fly
Description:
Pages: 101
Year of Publication: 2001
Price: HB Rs 200, FB Rs 100
ISBN:
HB 81-7595-845-6 (8175958456)
FB 81-7595-846-4 (8175958464)
About the Author
When pressed about his age Paul Roche would reply: “I’ll tell you that when I’m ninety, meanwhile I refuse to be labeled.” Much before this, when he was in his late twenties, he discovered he was a poet and went on to write thousands of lines of verse — most of it unpublished. Roche was born in Mussoorie and spent his first nine years in India, of which his memories were indelible and his affection undiminished. Many of his books were published by Writers Workshop. He translated several Greek classical works for Penguin USA. Apart from writing, he took a keen interest in gardening. He passed away in 2007, at the age of 91.
Teaser:
The Communist Fly
A Fly once sat on the window-pane of a first class compartment in a train traveling from London to Edinburgh, and at every few miles he would rise up and buzz around in little circles grumbling.
“The world is mine, and yet I am imprisoned all the time by this plutocratic pane of glass, which keeps me from all the riches that I pass: field upon field of fresh glistening cowdung, and fat young horses. Oh, how monstrously unfair!”
Then he would return to the window-pane and sit there sullenly, rubbing his thin hands together with envy.
The window-pane suffered the Fly’s whining for a whole day, but as the train drew into Edinburgh station, he said very softly:
“You silly thing. Instead of complaining all the time, all you had to do was fly a little higher. You see, I am open.”
Contents:
The Communist Fly / 9
The Vainglorious Sparrow / 11
The Harp and the Sonata in D by John Parry / 12
The Jackdaw and the Mirror of Truth / 15
The Lorry Driver and the Tin Toy / 17
The Peacock and the Man from Mars / 19
The Idle Phalanger / 21
The Two Hearts / 25
The Two Vultures / 27
The Logical Sucking-Pig / 28
The Monkeys and the Sundial / 30
The Wise Mud-Fish / 32
The Silver Cuff and the Encyclopaedia of Knowledge / 34
The Aspidistra Emeritus / 36
The Two Teaspoons / 39
The Matchbox and the Clove of Garlic / 40
The Bourgeois Butterfly / 43
The Pencil and the Porcupine / 44
The Pheasant and the Hedgehog / 47
The Lettuces and the Indian Corn / 48
The Upstart Deckchair / 51
The Soul and the Corpse / 52
The Gripischool and the Shudderigge / 54
The Love-sick Computer of Boonaw / 56
The Usurious Bantam Cock / 63
The Successful Hare / 69
The World-Weary Hen / 73
The Bloody-Mary and the Draft of Bitter / 76
A Conversation between the Past Present and Future / 79
The Giraffe and the Seedling / 81
The Two Dolphins in Love / 85
The Dog Who Was Unlovable and the Man Who Could Not Love / 89
The Dispossessed Bookworm / 92
The Fearful Pullet / 95
The Philosophical Treatise and the Book of Poems / 98