The phrase was followed by a qissa (anecdote) that unfolded with several rounds of bone tickling and ended with a social message that compelled introspection.
And as always, Mirza is witness to his plight in the typical sentence, "mere dost Mirza mere dard se waqif the.." The high point comes when he launches a humorous attack on corrupt officials stating, "afsaron ke laakar khole gaye to karoro rupyon ka desh prem baramad hua.." It ends with the message that the empty locker of honesty should not be spoiled with offerings of bribery.
"His art of story telling was an embodiment of Lucknow's Ganga-Jamuni tehzib," says Sarvesh Asthana, city- based satirist.
"He generously used terms like 'amaa miyan' (hey you), barkhurdar (son), baat ka chalan (due course of conversation), fasad ki jad (root of trouble), tabiyat hui ki (I felt like) any Lucknowite would relate with to weave his stories that wittily attacked cultural decay and social insensitivity," adds Asthana.
A time came when his talent and style became the fourth pillar of Indian satire and humour as he joined the league of stalwarts like Harishankar Parsai, Sharad Joshi and Srilal Shukla.
"The beauty of KP's style lies in its simplicity but the attack on the 'wrong' haunting his mind was always the punch," says Ashok Chakradhar, poet and satirist.
For instance, he damned India's consistent poor show during the Olympics by stating, "Olympic woh ghaat hai jahan hamare khiladi apna sar mundwate hain aur naak katwate hain magar doob ke mar nahin paate kyunki unke andar haad maas ki jagah shayad hawa bhari hui hai."