Poems by
Anagha Ramanujam

Mr. Apple’Computer’Baum

a poem by Anagha Ramanujam

‘Perched’ on his armchair, glued to the monitor,
Sat Mr. Applebaum-
Wondering how to go about weight loss.
He woke up at 7 in the morning, and took a long long walk,
From his bedroom to his computer room,
(That of course took him a hell lot of time,
Nearly 15 sec. from his precious time.)
He sat on his chair and turned to the screen
And soon after ordered bacon and sausage and burger and cream
From his nearest Delicatessen.
That could be charged on his ATM card, they told him,
And so he didn’t budge from his monitor,
Until the bell rang, 15min later.
This was the only time Applebaum got up,
Except of course when he had visited the toilet.

After a wholesome ‘Breakf-a-s-t’
He got back to his task,
And booted up the news;
To check if the diet books were of any use.
Flushed with guilt, he ordered 6 of them,
Hoping to plan a schedule as soon as he received them.
But dear Mr.Applebaum! He doesn’t realize the futility of it all.
Though all morning he hasn’t budged and fat in his body is building up.
Trying to chase a dragon in the game, he soon gets caught in a terrible maze.
The help button on the key-board, comes to his rescue,
And now it’s time to clear his due.
He hits the stock market and buys a 100shares,
And he sells some too, before returning to his game of the Russian Nightmare.
Meanwhile, he gets fatter &fatter
And wonders how,he’d manage to lose it later.
Oh! Hasn’t he already purchased some wonder books?
That he hopes wold take care of his looks!!!

Soon he sends e-mail to his friend in Flintox,
And this saves him a walk to the corner mailbox
He picks up the cordless and rings up his friend,
And checks if the e-mail has reached him as yet.
“I’ll check and tell you replies his friend
And calls back soon to check if his Fax had reached by then.
All this while, Mr.Applebaum, is growing bigger &fatter,
But not any more stronger.

4p.m!Time to go shopping! Exclaimed his wife from the next room dining.
Don’t worry darling! I’ll buy you a frock, as soon as I recall,
The web-site of snow-white or Big Jos. or Ebony or all.
This saves him a walk to the near-by mall,
As he scrolls the hardware for clothes&books&medicines&gifts,
All to be delivered in the next few minutes.
Browsing through, he comes around-
A”F-a-t-F-r-e-e” aspirin (to be taken after a big Mac burger)
That helps you lose 10 pounds a week if not more.
There calls his wife again-
“Applebaum!! Won’t you help me move the couch?
I’d like to clean before guests are around.

But unfortunately Mr.Applebaum,
Has just established connection with Ricketyfawn.
Just this time honey! He cried to his wife,
I’ve met a friend after a long long time.
This was the story of Mr.Applebaum,
Who remained glued to the monitor,
Except to sleep and visit the ‘loo’.
And so he grew fatter and obeser,
Very soon experts had to be called,
To help Mr.Baum get up from his chair;
For by now, he’d put on too much weight,
Much more than he could help to lose in a decade.
Thus in future everything a man does will be on his computer,
Soon his legs will become useless, and he’ll lose his sense of direction too
And end up fatter winding up in a Fat City with millions of others to accompany him.