Love is Gone
‘Cheri, Cheri Lady’ is a good old 1980’s classic by German disco duo Modern Talking. That song is about a ‘cheri’ who is being courted by her smitten male counterpart who is desperately trying to convince her to give him a chance. The art of persuasion takes lots of patience and personal investment; not public investment though. The lady in that particular song is encouraged to give in to the devotion of love. But life being what it is, utopia does not exist. Love fades. Hearts break ruthlessly. Or, as William Shakespeare would have it: ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost.’
Anyway, when the sweet romcom turns sour, everything stinks to high heaven, and one should think of turning off the local propaganda box because it will be useless, as always. The scoop of heartbreaks is quickly gobbled up by private radio stations, which recognise a good opportunity when they see one. The airing of dirty laundry constitutes a fabulous feast for hungry hyenas avid for sensational details about what went so wrong. Is that the art of love? Spreading some juicy gossips when a love story has sadly expired? Mind you, there was no issue at the stage of the best before date. Now, that the ‘Love is Gone’ (by David Guetta, featuring Chris Willis), anything and everything is possible. The formerly exquisite ‘Cheri, Cheri Lady’ can now be vilified to the likes of the infamous Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most influential characters, for instance. Just like every cloud has a silver lining, every sunshiny day has its gloomy day lurking somewhere. All good things eventually come to an end. Cheri Cheri Lady is no longer a cherry.
The Real Lady Macbeth
At the risk of shocking many, many people, I will iterate that we got it all wrong about the portrayal of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. A lady she was, loved and appreciated by all, even held in high esteem and trust by the then king of Scotland, Duncan. She took on the mission of ensuring that her husband would become the next king, fuelling his ambitions. But that had a horrific price tag attached. She had to ‘unsex’ herself by calling upon evil entities, which illustrates that the change in her nature took some coaxing.
She could not kill Duncan herself as he resembled her own father. Once Duncan was dead and her husband became king, the power couple started going through some difficult times. Lady Macbeth was gradually alienated from her husband and was perpetually tormented by her guilty conscience. She hallucinated and sleepwalked, which point to her feeling remorse as she tried to wash her hands off the blood of Duncan: ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ Finally, the whole situation became so unbearable that she resorted to committing suicide, psychologically drained due to her evil manipulations and her rogue husband’s murderous spree.
Clearly, nothing compares. The merciless ‘Cheri, Cheri Lady’ does not have a conscience in the struggle for more power and money. Unlike the real Lady Macbeth, she is brazen, heartless and does not care who gets hurt in the process. Loyalty means nothing. Past years are callously tossed away as the carnage continues, with the common lots being the big losers, as usual. People are pawns in her cold hands and as the Queen on the chessboard, each of her move is a cleverly and meticulously calculated one. Those, including princes, who are no longer of benefit are unceremoniously tossed away.
Sniffing our Intimacy?
Shockingly or not, there have been allegations of the Cheri Lady’s team trying to play hard to get a whiff of our deeply personal space online, to the extent of restricting free speech. That is a common occurrence in dictatorships, but resorting to foreign third parties in an attempt to gag us in Dodoland is a new level unleashed in the political power game. Your most elusive secrets, your passwords, your scathing criticisms of the rulers and their filthy tactics, as well your wildest thoughts, are sought after treasures that could be used to control every inch of your body. As an ordinary pawn, you are at the bottom of the hierarchy and are considered disposable. To hell with your rights and needs! You are used as a sacrificial lamb as will others following after you, unless you belong to the exclusive club of Cheri Lady’s monstrous creation.
With a cleverly spun web pertaining to national security spun by Cheri Lady’s witch doctors, all excuses are good to tap into your intimacy, and then to shup you up. Will you tolerate the sniffers?
Hellish Kitchen Duties
Cheri Lady, being a homemaker on the side, has a busy kitchen to run. Her trusted personnel are given all the privileges and leeway to keep themselves nourished like leeches. When the latter are content, they can perform their daunting tasks admirably. They are the mechanical bees that follow the orders of the Queen Bee. No questions asked. Just executing orders, casting ethical concerns out of the window.
In Dodoland, the land where the impossible becomes possible, our hard-earned money is generously gifted to greedy vultures, who are modern-day vampires soaking their fangs into bank notes. A particular state bank has written off loans amounting to Rs 12.8 billion. But that is all fine, as per Cheri Lady’s hellish kitchen orders. Her stalwarts must be fed while the subjects are condemned to starve. By the way, a quick supermarket tour will make your head spin round and round. Just look at the prices of oil, milk, cheese or pulses! Bewildering!
While Cheri Lady’s kitchen is cooking up a storm, Dodolanders will no doubt be forced to diet, as they daydream of sweet and savoury treats. Adios ‘baja, samoussa and gato pima’!