Lost | Flash Post 417

What have you lost now?

Pangolin’s pink ears, Button. But what flashed through my mind was one of Sukumar Ray’s nonsense verses from his book Abol Tabol translated by his son, Satyajit Ray, called “My Missing Whiskers”. Sukumar Ray was a noted writer and poet who wrote mainly for children and Satyajit Ray of course needs no introduction.

How can whiskers go missing? And what is nonsense verse?

Nonsense verses are funny and make use of coined, meaningless words that are purposeful. This poem does a funny take about a head clerk who is sure his whiskers are missing and thinks his colleagues are responsible. When they hold a mirror to his face and show him that his whiskers are very much in place, he refuses to accept that those whiskers belong to him because they are so unkempt and look more like a butcher’s. He gets angrier, proceeds to cut their wages and drafts a memorandum condemning them for their incompetence. He calls them fools for failing to realise how crucial moustaches are to a man and how they would understand his predicament only when their own moustaches went missing.

Pink ears! I know baby pigs have pink ears. Isn’t Pangolin an animal? Do they have pink ears too?

Button, this Pangolin is the name of one of the more successful brands of face masks.

Do face masks also have pink ears?

Well, these masks come with ear-like rubber fittings in the same colour as the mask that give the user a better fit. If the mask is black, the detachable ears are usually black or sometimes even blue. The one I use is pink and has two lovely baby-pink ears crafted with the softest rubber.

These are the ears that went missing! Did you get as angry as the clerk in Sukumar Ray’s famed poem?

Since I use it, I was angry because I had left it in a particular place and they weren’t there. These masks are unique because the manufacturers, Pangolin, have done an extensive research while manufacturing them and wanted to give their users the best. Understandably, they also wanted a mask that was unique to look at. Not only is it visually different from any other mask but the brand went a step further by designing rubber ears that would lend the mask the perfect fit and safety.

Who do you think took them? Because I didn’t! Did Pangolin, at any point, take them off!

I took them off briefly. Have you by any chance hidden them?

Why would I do that?

What are you wearing on top of your ears? They look identical to the missing ears.

You mean these?  I picked them up from the basket because I was curious and felt you didn’t need them. They seemed like something I could play with and forgot to mention it to you that I had taken them. I’ve been wearing them as a handlebar moustache to see if I look like Salvador Dali and then as a drooping moustache to check which of the two styles will look good on me when I grow my own. I’m sorry because I didn’t know you were looking for these.

But why are they so filthy? What exactly have you been doing with them?

Messi used it as a hockey stick to hit the ball I was throwing at him in the garden while it rained and there was a lot of slush out there. They may have got stained in the process. We are really sorry.

Speak for yourself, Button. You needn’t apologise for Messi. Where is Messi, by the way?

I have no idea. Oh! there he is. Behind that huge cushion but please don’t yell at him—it was my idea and I pooled him in because there was nobody to play with. I can clean it up for you.

Yes, but it will never be the same again. The sheen will be lost and if I wear the mask without them, it will look like any other mask. That prank of yours was callous, Button.

So I’m forgiven? What do you think that clerk did? Did he own the unkempt whiskers or did he go to a barber for a make over?

Show me how both moustaches look on you and I’ll give my verdict about the one that you should go with when you grow your own.