God of Gods

“Finish him!” the lion roared, perched on a boulder at the edge of the scene. A mile away, rabbits scurried into their burrow, birds burst out of the trees and reptiles shuddered in fear, the kingdom knew that some poor animal’s fate was sealed, the perceptive ones deciphered that the victim was some giant beast. Probably a buffalo or maybe even an elephant...

The elephant never expects to be hunted, so when the lionesses manage to separate him from his herd, it isn’t just fear that hurts him. The giant refuses to believe that his majestic life will have to fall before a bunch of cats, but when the king roars and the pride pounces, his knees buckle and the end flashes before his eyes. The rest of the herd realises that nothing can be done. The children peek through their mother’s feet to have a last glimpse of their relative. The herd is helpless against the King of the Jungle.

Once the prey succumbs to its fate, the lionesses step back and the king prances towards his meal. He can smell the hyena crouched under the grass, he can see anger and resentment flaring in the eyes of his victim’s family... he could be more concerned about fleas pricking his mane. “This is the law of the Jungle. This is the way things are”, he thinks. The lion tears open the elephant’s belly. The pride feasts. Life’s good...

            “Got it!” Harish shouts as the bang deafens the grassland and the bullet blasts into the King’s mane. He falls instantly and the pride scramble in fear as a jeep looms into view. They have heard this sound before and instinctively knew that it to be the harbinger of death. The pride scatters and flees in fear, the cubs peek through their mother’s feet to have a last glimpse of the majestic patriarch who lay at his victim’s feet. The pride is helpless against the Gods of the Jungle.

            “The lions know what’s good for them huh...” Vinay coughs as he remarks about the rest of the pride that fled their dead king. They do. They know that the odd looking ape that approaches them has the power to destroy them and everything around them. Their food, their water, the grasslands, the trees, the forests, everything succumbs to its might. They decide how many animals live, where they live and how they live. The meaningless life of the animal kingdom is sometimes a plaything, sometimes a means of leisure, and sometimes a pathetic attempt to quench their greed.

            The hunters are a proud duo, they only want what they have earned. So they remove the lion away from the elephant and click pictures of just their kill, posing with feet on its head and gun in their arms, all the while making plans as to which photo would become their display picture and which ones just an Instagram story. The tour guide asks if they want the lion to be carried away, or maybe cut out the elephant’s trunk. “No we’re good”, Vinay replies, coughing all the while. They are pleased with the pictures and potential adulation it will bring them on social media. Life’s good...

            Back at the camp, Vinay Patel has wrapped himself with a shawl. Incessantly coughing while sipping his hot black coffee, he tells his partner, “I can’t wait to upload the pictures. But you sure there won’t be any issues?”

            Harish Nair just emerged from his room after a shower. Placing himself at the dining table he responds, “There are going to be some environment geeks who try to make some noise. Don’t worry! I will make sure the media doesn’t take it up.”

            “But...” unable to complete the sentence, Vinay starts to cough.

            “And there is not going to be any issue from the Botswana Government relax”, Harish reads his mind. “Our company has made an investment of fifty million dollars and will make another hundred more in the next couple of years. I asked the minister directly that I wanted to go on a hunt and he assured me there won’t be any issues. You just sit and relax. Did you take a tablet?” Vinay coughs and nods.

            “Our venture will provide jobs to hundreds of people in this country, they won’t complain if a few trees are cut or a couple of lions are dead in the process”, Harish grins. “Oye, is the wifi ready?” He shouts for the caretaker of their bamboo hut.

            “In a minute sir”, comes a distant response.

            “At least turn the TV on”, Vinay shouts back and badly regrets raising his voice.

            The caretaker, a member of the tribal community that lived in the surrounding forest, walks in to turn on the TV. He places the remote in front of their guests and walks out of the room.

            “They told me we would get some Indian channels also”, Harish scrolled for Malayalam channels but realises that would be too much to ask for in the forests of Botswana. He settles for an Indian English news channel, which Vinay also prefers. After a few minutes of beauty product advertisement the news was back on and Harish watched in horror.

            “Rains unleash havoc across Kerala! Idukki dam opened! All districts in Red Alert! North and mid Kerala severely hit!” Harish grabs his phone and tries to make a call but there is no network.

            “What happened?” Vinay, who now started shivering, asks innocently. He could sense the panic in his friend’s demeanour. “My house is in one of the low lying areas. God Damn it!” He curses and throws the phone. “Connect the God damn Wifi will you!”

            Soon they get connected to the wifi but the network is too slow to make a call. Harish scrolls through his WhatsApp messages. “Heavy rain... school cancelled... How’s your trip?” His wife had messaged him two days back. But nothing after that... He drops a message which is sent but not delivered.

            “Relax man... (coughs)... They will be alright”, Vinay tries to console.

            “The Dam has been opened. That’s not good. Water can get several stories high”, Harish starts to tremble. He quickly walks out of the room and has a word with the caretaker. Vinay starts to realise the gravity of the situation as he watches images of houses being washed away by the flood water. Relief efforts are progressing but the storm is hindering all rescue efforts.

            “All the airports in Kerala are shut down...” Harish’s face sinks into his hands. His children, ten and six years old, wanted to come with their father on this trip. The helpless father knows that the house will be washed away along with his family unless rescue efforts reach them on time. Even if they do, his parents’ health may not survive the relief camps, their health will deteriorate badly if they miss their medicines. “There is no power or cell-phone signal across the state for over 24 hours now.” Harish closes his eyes shut, terrified of the sights on the television. The people are helpless against the God of Gods.    

           

Love

CAB, 2019

The story begins on 26^th March, 1971 when West Pakistan began its military crackdown on East Pakistan’s struggle for independence. You know some of what happened next – India, under Indira Gandhi intervened to support the Bangladeshi cause, which sparked the India-Pakistan war of 1971, which India won in spectacular fashion. The Pakistani Army surrendered and Bangladesh became an independent country – a massive political victory for India, a greater personal victory for the Prime Minister.

But our story happens in the sidelines, away from the public eye which is always distracted by the limelight. West Pakistan’s military attack on erstwhile East Pakistan created panic, many were displaced from their homes. Refugees flowed into India and the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam had to accommodate them. At the time it was obviously unbecoming of the Government of India, the liberator of East Pakistan, to turn the helpless refugees away. We did accommodate them... at the time...

Refugees are always a tricky subject. When swathes of foreigners flood any neighbourhood, it creates certain concerns and apprehensions. For starters, where do they live, how long will they stay, who provides for them... and refugees obviously overstay their welcome, where else will they go? Can you trust these people, who speak a different language, eat different and even behave differently? Any instance of crime is readily blamed on the flux of these foreigners and if the neighbourhood is not doing too well for itself, they are an unwanted economic strain no taxpayer is willing to bear, not to mention an invasion of the local culture.

Towards the end of the decade Assam wanted these refugees out of the country. “Which refugees?” the Government responded. Ten years is quite a long time and by then, with people settling into their new homes and finding jobs to keep things moving, the differences between local and foreign had blurred out. This led to a series of protests and in 1985 the Government of India signed the Assam accord, promising that the illegal immigrants who had entered the country after 25^th March, 1971 would be identified and deported.

Enter NRC – National Register of Citizens, a document which attempts to identify the refugees... sorry, I mean illegal immigrants and deport them. Last year the Supreme Court gave our Government an ultimatum and this year finally the process was completed. Nearly 19 Lakh people were unable to prove that they had entered the country on or before 25^th March, 1971 and hence will not be treated as citizens. It is hard to imagine what these 19 Lakh will do now, how will they leave the place they thought was home for the past 48 years? That is a humanitarian question and begs much wider discussion. We will come back to that.

Ofcourse, how the NRC identified a person as citizen or not is an entirely different question. There were reports of a soldier who had served our country during the Kargil war being left out of the list. Further, how the destitute people of our own country will prove their citizenship is another question; in our country where even the Prime Minister struggled to show his degree certificate. These thoughts will deeply trouble any person who has been following the news. But over the last week, our Government has given the most perverted twist to the story by introducing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and getting it passed by both the houses of our Parliament.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (or CAB) provides that persons belonging to Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian or Zoroastrian community, non-Muslims basically, who entered India before 2014 from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh fearing religious persecution will be given citizenship in India.

Let me first pay respect to the apparent merit of this legislature. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are Muslim countries and are known to have persecuted the religious minorities in their respective countries, so our nation’s intention to welcome them seems... But let’s look at it a little deeper.

First of all, why have we opened our arms only to these religions and not all religions? There are certain sects among the Muslims, such as the Ahmediyas in Pakistan and Shias in Afghanistan who have faced religious persecution. Secondly, why are we sympathetic only to these three countries? What about the Rohingyan Muslims who were attacked by the majority Buddhists in Myanmar, or the Srilankan Tamils who faced the rife of civil war in their motherland for generations? And till now, I have only spoken about the refugee crisis in our neighbourhood. As a global power, that we claim to be, our country must not turn a blind eye to the civil war in Syria and the strife in Sudan either. Shouldn’t India, as a citizen of the world, take an active part in saving the innocent from genocide, wherever it happens, to whomsoever it happens?

And most importantly, why just religious persecution? What about the people who fled their country following a natural disaster. The Sunderban forests are frequented by floods and cyclones displacing the local community, Hindus and Muslims alike, in both sides of the Bengali border. What about the economically depressed who flee their country from an unbearable load of debt? India could take a leaf from UK in learning to accommodate such people. Oh wait, only the absconding billionaires are welcome?

All these questions only point towards the absurdity of this act. The larger issue of constitutionality and much larger issue of humanity need no discussion. The CAB is an irrational, inhuman, abhorrent piece of cattle faeces, an abundance of which right now threatens to strike at the founding principles of our country.

To understand the real implications of the CAB it must be read along with the NRC. We noted that 19 Lakh people were left out of the NRC. Now, the Government wishes to legitimise a section of those “illegal immigrants” through the CAB. Now, the non-Muslims can stay back as citizens of India, only the Muslims have to leave.

The CAB is a statement of intent. Our eastern borders are quite porous and anyone who is able to grease the RIGHT hands can find his way inside our country. Or inside any country! So what purpose does the CAB serve? A) It gets rid of the genuinely helpless and destitute while silently accommodating the corrupt and fraud. B) Read with the Home Minister’s statement that NRC will be implemented throughout the country, the intent is clear as day!

Now what happens to these “illegal immigrants” where will they go? Will Bangladesh accept them as their citizens? Does our nation have resources to deport so many people? No, they won’t be deported. They will continue to stay in our country, as citizens without citizenship. They will work at our construction sites and our fields, without Adhaar, without ration, without a BPL card, without voting rights, without education, healthcare or even a death certificate when the time comes. The vision of certain pre-independence ideologues is much closer to reality now.

India is hailed as the most tolerant country in history. We have given home to every person who has come in search for one. We are the only country in the world with a thriving Parsee community. We are the only country in world has not been hostile to the Jewish community. Budhism, Jainism and Sikhism were born out of the womb of our Motherland; Christianity and Islam have also found home here. Our country has the third largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan. It was this tolerant spirit that the makers of our constitution sought to protect in framing India. It is that spirit of tolerance and equality that, to this day, differentiates India and Pakistan. It wasn’t religion that split us, it was tolerance. While Pakistan is home for Muslims, India is home to everyone! Today, our soul is threatened by this Bill.

So what do we do about this? Today morning I tried to explain this subject to one of my students. After I spoke, he asked me in a raging voice, “So what do we do about this?” Well, that’s a good start. At least ask the question! So what do we do about this?

Love

Heaven has Another Name

Oh God! Bring me back to Earth
The Land where this view was given birth

For the sight, that was beyond describe
Was every bit worth our week long strife

In our eyes Heaven descended
In every breath our hearts ascended

A Cloud, majestic, tried to hide you
Just magically did it transform the view

Sinking beyond our eyes could reach
God touched me like no priest's preach

Ball of fire, life provider
Your shower of light will last forever after

Kanchenjunga

Third in line, the belly of the Giant
Words aplenty to describe our find

Long and tiring was the journey of 150
Not to mention it was too dusty

Race against time to see the sunset
Just in time, but the clouds upset

Frozen to death - "Oh what the hell!"
As the clouds moved away, the lights too fell

Pitch darkness fell after five
A saving grace was the stars in the sky

Our cameras searched the blackness in despair
Mountains of darkness stood all mighty - but we didn't care

For the jewel of the crown was hidden
A mighty view forbidden

All was for naught, we cried
"Oh! Don't fret my child..."

A soft glow whispered from the peaks
A saviour gracefully rising from the East

"Oh look!" Light drizzled upon the snow
The mighty began to finally show

The orb of the night arouse in splendour
The creatures on Earth were struck in wonder

As the snowcap basked in moonlight glory
A scene was etched in our life story



Night passed and the moon switched sides
Before dawn our eyes opened wide

We stood as the cold winds blew
The mountain's shine in the moonlight grew

And oh so silently a piece of sky turned gold
That such a beauty existed I was never told

Rays of the sun touched the giants head
With each blink, the colour spread

Majesty that dwarves anything before it
White, Gold and Red it was lit

Under the blue sky, such clear view
An opportunity that befalls on so few

For irony abounds good fortune
Nature plays a weird tune

Left and Right, cameras set to fly
Unnoticed, a pale moon said Goodbye

(Moonlit Kanchenjunga - Photo by Praveen A)

Love

The Child's World

Once upon a time, long, long ago…

“Let’s build a restaurant! A restaurant that serves the best sea-food in the world!”

“Great idea! Just one problem; from where do we get the best fish in the world?”

“We will catch it ourselves! Cook it, and serve it fresh!”

“The fish will stink by the time it reaches our restaurant…”

“Not if we build the restaurant – Under the ocean…”

Alan’s eyes gleamed as he heard the suggestion. Amir quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and started sketching the plans for his dream restaurant, as his accomplice popped new ideas for the under-water restaurant one after another, some penned down right away, some thrown out the window and others kept aside for further deliberation. Jyoti joined the conversation shortly, “How deep under water are you talking about?” and by the end of the day the three of them had built a simple clay model of the building that would one day become a fascinating restaurant. The model was kept under the aquarium in Jyoti’s house and the visual aid provided another flood of ideas that would feed their conversation for the rest of the night.

And such conversations were not rare in the world where buildings grew out of the ground in all strange colours and shapes, where every corner of the street was a treat to the eyes, where even the honking of horns complimented the music of birds and ideas electrified the very air you breathe. Literature, music, art & architecture, drama, poetry, love & romance, politics & philosophy – nobody thought out of the box… Because there never even existed a box! Some spoke of reaching for the stars while others silently contemplated of bringing them down to Earth. In the Child’s World, there were no rules or standards, no protocols or stigma and no benchmark was set to deem anything as “weird”! Everyone, from the child learning to speak, to the grand old people who struggled to speak – They lived to their heart’s content – Free!

Within a month the design was finalised and the three met a contractor, a middle aged man with balding grays, clean shaven face, lean body and a perpetually polite smile on his face, whose excitement knew no bounds on seeing the plans! “I just need a couple of weeks time to assign some of my ongoing work to the sub-contractors. By the end of the month, we will have the work for your restaurant started”, he said, with his smile growing wider than ever.

“In the meantime”, the contractor added, “I will also talk to the banks for financing the project. I don’t think that should be a problem”, and he went on for a short while, explaining the practical side of their dream. The three listened with rapt attention… The line between practice and theory was almost non-existential.

Faces red and brimming with joy, “Well, if the contractor likes our design”, Jyoti turned to the boys and said, “I believe we have reason to celebrate. Oh!” with her arm stretched out she added, “I am Jyoti by the way.”

Amir responded first, with an embarrassed laugh, “I am Amir”, and he then turned to Amir to shake his hand too. “Alan”, the third responded and shook both their hands.

Amir was a twenty-two year old architect with blue eyes and fair skin, who often wore a loose T-shirt with shorts. He had long hair, trimmed beard, eccentric mannerism, an intense love for art and uncompromising love for sea-food. It is was during one of his quests to find the food that would hopefully satisfy his appetite, that he saw Alan sitting across the table. Both ordered the same food and gave the exact same reaction of utter disgust after the first bite. “How does someone manage to ruin food like this!” Amir exclaimed, with little concern for etiquette.

“Well, this is supposed to be the best sea-food in town. It’s not easy to cook, considering the dismal quality of our supplies.” Alan was more calm and a bit shy, didn’t smile much, and preferred to be by himself. He wore a pair of frameless glasses, had head full of slick black hair and dressed quite neatly.

“So what if the fish isn’t great? At least, it can be cooked well”, Amir retorted.

“No, it cannot. Believe me, I have been cooking fish for the past twenty years”, Alan was thirty years old.

“Let’s build a restaurant! A restaurant that serves the best sea-food in the world!”

**********

There is little debate about the fact that what drives people in the Child’s World this way, is love. Love isn’t unidirectional or selective in any respect; it is omnipresent… it is omnipotent; everybody loves everybody, everything loves everything. Love isn’t superficial or fickle, it is deep and well rooted, it won’t succumb to challenges or waver in time. Inside every person’s heart there is selfless love towards the fellow human being and an undying passion towards what one does. The thought of, “how can things be better”, constantly occupies every mind, the thought, which is a product of care for the people and dedication to work. And that drives creativity! The will to make things better, that desire to move forward, it gives the courage to free your mind. When the mind is free to wander, and wander it does with fierce abundance of creative energy – The Child’s World becomes a magical place.

And if someone could be named as an exponent of such love, it had to be Jyoti. The 24 year old artist, actress, singer, dancer and designer was a role model for many, a sister, mother, daughter and friend to anyone who sought her and a creative genius like none other. If she didn’t touch your heart in person, her art was sure to do so. The piercing peacock eyes, dove like face and golden dark skin – everybody admired her. And Alan - he was madly in love with her the second he heard her musical voice, “How deep under water are you talking about?”

That evening, after their meeting with the contractor, the three of them went to the beach to have a whiff of the breeze and take in the sight of their ‘site’. Their minds had finally been relieved of the intricacies of their venture, which was nothing short of a miracle even for the Child’s World.

“Why is it that neither of us have seen you perform anywhere before?” Alan enquired.

“Perhaps because both of you tend to be so deeply engrossed in work that it took you one month to ask my name.”

“It would have taken me longer if you hadn’t said it yourself”, Amir laughed. Jyoti laughed too. Alan meekly smiled. And simply looked at her laughter.

“So, what is it that you do?” Amir asked Jyoti.

“Well, my father is a singer and my mother is a dancer. I started off as an actress… I want to be an arts teacher!” She let her long hair fly with the wind. “What about you?”

“But then why did you join our project?” Amir did not respond to her question, but she didn’t mind that.

“Well, I thought the project was really interesting! And I have done some interior designing, so I thought I could contribute. The lighting and colours under water, it’s going to be amazing!” There was a blaze in her eyes, like the one across the ocean  - Fierce to the eye, cool to the skin. “I believe in soaking in every experience possible. That’s what makes you a real artist”, she then turned to Alan who sat to her left and asked, “And what about you?”

“I am a chef”, Alan responded in a nonchalant way, “Yearning to cook some good fish for years!”

“Yearning?” Jyoti enquired, genuinely perplexed.

“Well, I have worked at several restaurants across the city and nowhere have I been able to find good fish. I have been trying, for twenty years now, to get my hands on the fresh stuff, but it is nearly impossible. The fish that is caught in the middle of the sea, starts to rot by the time it reaches the restaurant, no matter how close the restaurant is to the ocean. I even tried catching the fish myself, but it is no use. I mean, a lot of chefs do manage with what they get, but the recipes I have won’t work. And, Oh my God!” Nostalgia smeared on his face, eyes wet with wonder and hands shivering in anticipation, he said, ‘The recipes I have are going to blow your mind!” Three mouths started drooling.

“Oh! I would love to have some fish now!” Amir exclaimed, got off the rock he was sitting on, and ran towards the waves.

“You can’t catch them from the beach!” Jyoti shouted and started laughing!

“Well, let them catch me then!” And he dived into the sea. Jyoti took off her shoes and ran behind Amir, laughing all the way. Alan meekly smiled. And simply looked at her laughter.

That night he confessed his love to her. “I don’t know why it took me so long? Maybe because with every passing day, my love for you grew so much that I took wanted to know how it would feel the next day. Because I knew that the next day when I see your face and hear your voice, I will love you even more! I wanted to know how that would feel - until today. I can no longer hold it within me Jyoti – I Love you! And I wish to marry you.”

Jyoti looked at his face, as a caring friend would, smiled at him understandingly and said, “I am deeply flattered by your words Alan. And I love you too, but not in the way you do. I hope you understand…” He smiled back at her, understandingly.

In exactly ten days, the materials for construction began to arrive at the beach. The sense of excitement was palpable, as throngs of people came that morning to witness the start of another world wonder. Nobody questioned its feasibility, nobody worried whether it would work, everybody was just looking forward to a having dinner under water and eat the best quality fish in the world! And in the epicenter of all that energy were the three innovators! Amir couldn’t wait to achieve the greatest feat in architecture, Alan died to get his hands on the fish, and Jyoti stood in the middle with childish wonder and amazement. The magic she witnessed flowed from the air into her veins and swirled inside her head. A crane made its way through the crowd along with another fleet of lorries and with the contractor’s thumbs up, the construction began.

In the evening, the three were ferried to the point in the sea were the ‘foundation’ was being laid. The contractor explained the technical aspects to Amir, while Jyoti and Alan listened intently. The construction was to be completed in seven to nine months. “And regarding the expenses”, the contractor spoke ti their blank faces, “The bank has agreed to bear the majority portion, but as proprietors, you too will have to contribute a part.”

For the first time, the smile on Amir’s face faded a shade, “I don’t have any money with me at the moment.”

Jyoti’s face also turned grave, “The works of my dance school are about to start”, she paused for a second and added, “But that’s alright, I will hold that for the moment, we will use the money over here…”

“That won’t be required”, Alan stepped up. “I have been saving for quite some time now, I think I will be able to raise all the money we need.”

“But -”

“And I don’t think the money you set aside for your school”, Alan interjected Jyoti, “Will be such a significant amount, compared to what we need over here. It won’t make much of a difference, you don’t worry.” He smiled at her affectionately.

As they ferried back to the beach, the sky turned black, and as they stepped off their boat, a blast of lightning flashed over their heads followed quickly by the roar of thunder. The clouds burst open with a storm so loud that Amir had to scream, “The design is so strong; nothing less than a Tsunami can touch our restaurant.”

The work progressed much quicker than thought and was expected to be completed in less than six months. But four months into the construction, the entire structure was ripped apart by the only force of nature that could do so!

Gigantic waves lashed into the store and the water walked into the cities - a dirty, uninvited guest, wrecking havoc like a lone elephant in the forest. Several buildings fell, property was ruined and precious lives were lost. Grief struck the Child’s World… It did take a while before the resilient lot got back to their feet. But soon the smiles popped back and work resumed for most people. Most people…

The tragedy that struck Alan was however, much too severe. All the money that he had saved over the past twenty years was lost, but the real loss was beyond wealth or even life… It was hope!

“I am really sorry…” Jyoti struggled to look him in the face. A sob ringing in her voice, and tears washing down her face, she spoke with a lot of embarrassment, “I am so sorry – you put in all the money by yourself and all of it is lost, I am so terribly sorry.”

“But don’t worry man, I have been taking up some designing work for a few buildings in the city now, I promise to make good your loss!” Amir didn’t complete speaking before Jyoti shot back at him a glance to “Shut UP!” but then he couldn’t stop himself. After all the words had been spelt out Alan turned his blood red face towards the speaker, “You think it is about the Money!?”

“Alan…”

“You have been working have you? You have been designing buildings in the city and making money have you? I have been waiting to do the work I wanted to FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS! For the past twenty years, this had been my dream! For twenty years I yearned to make good fish, with no avail. And now finally there is this ray of hope… a ray of hope on which I pinned EVERYTHING! I sat in this room of mine, waiting for the past sixteen weeks, for our restaurant to be completed. Waiting for the moment I would finally be able achieve my dream, and now it’s all ruined!”

“Alan… I didn’t know… Don’t worry man, we will restart work. I will meet the contractor”, Amir blabbered on until Jyoti hushed him to silence.

“The bank won’t invest money into this project once again. Anyway they are short of money, reconstructing all the buildings on land now! And the contractor does not have the courage – what if a cyclone struck next and your stupid design got blown away like straw!”

“Alan, it wasn’t the design’s fault –“

“Then whose fault was it? Nothing short of a Tsunami will touch our restaurant, huh? It was more than just a TOUCH Amir!”

“It wasn’t –“

“And what did you think? We were building in the middle of the ocean, but you didn’t think a Tsunami would come so soon did you? Is that what you learnt in Architecture!?”

“Alan calm down”, Jyoti kneeled in front of Alan and clasped both his hands tightly. Alan stared at her with his bloodshot eyes and quickly snatched a glimpse of the hands that held his. On one of the fingers, he noticed an unusually brilliant shine. “An engagement ring?” Jyoti looked up in shock and turned around to look at her long haired, blue eyed, creative genius and socially stupid fiancé, staring at her, dumbfounded.

“You two are engaged?” He asked again in a cracking voice.

And when neither of them could respond, Alan dropped her hands from his, stood up and shouted, “Get out! Both of you, get out Now!”  

Jyoti didn’t have the heart to leave her friend alone, but eventually succumbed to Alan’s blast of anger. She lingered along with Amir to her art studio a couple of hundred meters away from Alan’s single roomed house. The art studio, which also provided classes for over a dozen students and temporarily housed Amir’s office was empty that evening, dimply lit by the setting sun.

“Why did he shout? The design was perfect and he knows that”, Amir asked. Jyoti didn’t bother to explain the situation, but simply pulled him close to her and sobbed on his shoulder.

“Ma’am, is everything alright?” As the sun set completely and darkness began to creep in, a petite girl with shrill voice entered her classroom, turned on the lights, and asked her teacher who lay frailly on her fiance’s shoulder.

Jyoti quickly stoop up, wiped her face trying to plaster a smile onto it and said, “Nothing dear. We were just thinking about the restaurant. Alan seems to have taken it pretty hard. No worries, he will come around soon.” She stretched he arms, getting ready for the class as a couple of more students walked in.

“Yeah, but I didn’t realise he was so terribly upset. I was shocked to see him walking towards the station…” Jyoti and Amir froze as they heard the last words from the first student’s mouth. The Station!

“THE STATION!? ALAN IS GOING TO THE STATION!?” Amir roared and stood up to run when Jyoti suddenly held his hand. Both hands frozen in fear! “Leave me Jyoti, I have to stop him!” Amir shouted.

“You please stay right here. I will go and stop him”, Jyoti tried to compose herself.

But Amir was overwhelmed with emotion, “You can’t stop him alone! You cannot let him go! No way!”

“And I will not let him go. Let me handle this, please!”

Jyoti literally ran all the way to the Railway station situated at the end of the city, taking every foot with a firm resolve, “Alan will not leave this world. I will not let him!” She entered the station, climbed a flight of stairs to cross the over-bridge and reach the desolate platform. The station was hidden from the rest of the city because it was truly an eye-sore. It was a  platform of misery and hopelessness that people dreaded having to ever step into its premises. Jyoti stepped down from the stairs and saw, standing all alone in the dark, amidst the dust and gloom, her dear friend.

“Alan, please, come back! We can fix things.” Jyoti pleaded.

“Maybe we can Jyoti… And that is what I am afraid of. To build hope once again and have it all come down crashing again. I can’t take any more of that. The anticipation, excitement, all that hope of finally being able to do what you love… I cannot put the effort to build all that one more time. And I will not bear the pain if all that is destroyed one more time. I am sorry Jyoti!” His words melted her resolve. How could she argue with him and convince him that he still had a chance? How could she promise him that he won’t have to suffer any more? She of all people.

“I know I have no right to ask this of you but –“

“You don’t have the right to ask me anything Jyoti! There is nothing for me here in this world now”, he looked at her eyes and then her fingers that bore an engagement ring.

A train entered the station, spewing black smoke along the way, and stopped at the platform for its numbered passengers to enter. Alan didn’t stand by ceremony, he just gave her a smile and entered the train. And Jyoti could do nothing against his weak, soulless smile. She just stood there trembling, unable to say goodbye.

Alan was firm in his decision. He did not even take one final glance at the world he was born into, or at the woman he once loved. Dreadfully, he sat into the train that would take him, in just a couple of hours, to the Adult World.

**********

By the time the train reached its destination, it was almost half full. The passengers had to deboard into a platform to form a queue in front a registration centre. Every person who reached the Adult World had to be registered and given an Identity Card so that all of their movements, work, earnings, marriage and health could be recorded in an organised manner. Even the platform they had entered, which looked plain and colourless, was spotlessly neat and organised. The walls were white and so were the tiles on the floor, there were shiny metal rods that separated various queues and people dressed uniformly, so that it was easy to differentiate between the passengers and those who worked at the station. Alan joined a short queue where he waited for almost fifteen minutes before he reached the counter where an old lady with an indifferent face asked, “Name?”, “Age?”, “Profession?”, “Marital status?” and finally “Place of stay”, for which Alan did not have an answer.

“You don’t have a job over here either do you?” The lady asked without looking at him.

“No”

“In that case”, she tore a slip of paper on which she wrote a name and passed it to Alan, “Give this slip in counter number 8. You will be assigned to a handler who will help you get settled”, she said and pointed to the last counter to her left, where the queue was a tad longer.

Alan finally gave the slip at counter number 8 and the man behind the counter passed it on without saying a word. But shortly he felt a tap on his shoulder and when Alan looked around, he saw a short man with a thick moustache, bushy eye brows and curly hair look up to him and ask, “Mr. Alan?”

“Yes?”

“I am your handler. My name is Vijay, come with me.” Alan followed the man out of the station, crossed the road and walked straight for ten minutes to enter a dingy building on the right side of the road. They walked up a couple of flights of stairs before Vijay opened a glass door to reveal a little office with a messy table a lot of locked metal cupboards.

Vijay took his place on the other side of the table and gestured Alan to sit on a chair placed in front of him. “This is my office. I am a member of the ruling political party, which means I have considerable influence in how things are run around here and that keeps me quite busy. In addition I also try to help people who come to this city as a handler. Just as a hobby, but I must confess, it has helped me build my political influence in a considerable manner”, Vijay introduced himself elaborately, but noticed that Alan did not follow a word of what he had just said. 

So he picked up a sheet of paper and started again, “Well, Mr. Alan, as I told you I am your handler in the Adult World. Which means I will be the one to help you get started with your life over here, which, trust me, is a wonderful life. It is safe, secure, not risky in any manner, and absolutely stress free. So first of all, Congratulation in coming here.”

Alan did not know how to react, so Vijay went on, “So, shall we get started? For you to set a life here, you will have to follow certain rules and procedures. That’s the way it is around here, that is what keeps us secure and happy. The first thing will be to find you a job. I see that you are a chef and you have been in the business for the past twenty years, but right now, this city is not in need of chefs.” Alan stared at the speaker nervously.

“What we need right now”, Vijay continued, “Is accountants. As a matter of fact, we are looking to hire somebody at this office itself, for the party –“

“An Accountant!? But I don’t even know what that is, I am a chef”, Alan spoke finally.

“I know that”, Vijay was calm in his response, “And it doesn’t matter that you are a chef, because right now, this city doesn’t need a chef. No restaurant is going to hire you. I also understand that you are not familiar with accounts, so to get started I will be enrolling you at an Accountancy Training Institute for six months program, where you will learn the basics of Accountancy, after which you will be prepared to take a job.

“So after six months you will be placed in a job, provided you do well in your classes that is. And within one year you have to get married –“

“Married!?”

“Yes, Mr. Alan, Married! You are thirty years old and it is highly inappropriate for someone your age to remain a bachelor –“

“But whom will I marry?” Alan asked, utterly confused.

“You please don’t worry about that Mr. Alan, we have one year’s time. I am your handler and I will find a suitable girl for you and within eighteen months I will get you married. Please understand Mr. Alan, it is very important in the Adult World, to protect our social fabric, that every individual is married at the right age and have children at the right time. How many children you wish to have is completely up to you, but we generally insist on two children, with an age gap of four to five years. The first child has to, of course, be born within eighteen months of marriage.

“So, within the next three years, you will have a great job, a wife and a kid. So easy! And that’s how it works in the Adult World. We ensure that you are Happy!” Vijay’s chest swelled as he said the last words.

The next day itself, Alan started his classes, learning to be an Accountant. And the process pained him to the core! He did not even appreciate the purpose of accounting, couldn’t understand the basic concepts, he couldn’t grasp its application in a real scenario and did not care for the intricacies of the subject that make it special. Every day he sat in the class for almost six hours which pained him physically and after a couple of weeks time he ceased to care about classroom etiquette, to simply slump in class and eventually sleep in class. His mind strained to accommodate the unfamiliar words that blared in the classroom and his eyes could not digest what he read in the books. Every cell in his body rejected the job and when he talked about it to his handler, Vijay said, “You have to put some effort man. Nothing in life is free. Everybody works hard to earn a living and in comparison, you have one of the easiest jobs. So just suck it, and get back to work.”

After six months he completed his studies without learning a thing. And Vijay appointed him as the Accountant for his political party because the teacher said, “Alan is one of the best students I have taught in this batch!” The teacher wasn’t lying. The job was mostly mechanical, where Alan had to pass entries for all the expenses the party incurred for its operations and at the end of the month he had to give a summary statement of expenses, so that Vijay could have an idea of how much money would be needed in the next month and make arrangements for the same. As frustrating as the process was for the sea-food chef, it did give him an opportunity to bond with his handler, whom he soon realised was a really powerful person in the Adult World. The world obviously needed order from falling into “Chaos” and the ‘Government’ was in charge of implementing order. A ‘Political Party’ controlled the Government and Vijay was one of the persons who controlled the Political Party. Which meant he made the rules and made sure that the rules were followed.

“Is there anything you can do to make the process of learning a little bit easier?” Alan asked him one day. Like most politicians, Vijay too took no questions or suggestions from anyone, so Alan had to continue without any response, “I look around and see a lot of people, just like me, who have come to the Adult World from the Child’s World after facing defeat. Some quite frivolous, and others devastating, but somehow they ended up in the Adult World, and all of them suffer. Especially the older people – they cannot learn anything new. And over here, barely anyone does what they like to do.” Vijay just smirked at the last comment.

“I too wish that people who come here are younger. It’s easier for those in the twenties to prosper.”

“I never thought I would come here”, Alan said somberly.

“That’s the real problem with the Child’s World. It offers you an illusion that you can stay there forever. But you cannot. Eventually you have to come to the Adult World, the sooner the better!”

“But nobody knows that… It makes me worry about those yet to come. If only there was some way they could be prepared to face the Adult World right from the Child’s World itself. Just in case you know, so that if at all they end up in the Adult World, you wouldn’t have to struggle”, that caught Vijay’s attention.

“You know what I was thinking”, Alan said, “When they are still young, maybe around fifteen or seventeen, they should be given a chance to learn everything. Everything! Even the things that they don’t like, so that in case someone like me, a chef, ends up over here, will know a little about Accounts and Mathematics and all that!

“And the education must be good. Not like the one you have over here. You must take one or two full years to teach them not just what they want to learn, but Everything! And at the end of the year, just to make sure that they have learnt, you must test them. You know, an examination of their knowledge.”

“An Examination?” Vijay now listened with rapt attention.

“Yes. Everybody must be forced to write this Examination to make sure that they know a little of everything, at an age where they can still learn a lot! And after they clear the Examination, life can go on as usual. But if they fail, they should be forced to study once again – Study Everything! Study, until they clear the Examination. Because otherwise, if they end up in the Adult World, it is going to be Hell for them. It is going to be torture!” Alan stretched his hands to look at his calloused fingers, cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck. His eyes burnt and his back hurt, but worst of all, he was frustrated. And he hated the job.

“That is Great!” Vijay exclaimed. “Yes, that is indeed wonderful! Yes, yes, yes… I will pay a visit to the Child’s World right away!”

“What?” Alan was confused.

“This is really Amazing Alan, what you just said. An Examination! To ensure that if at all people have to come to the Adult World, they will have their way easy. And nobody in the Child’s World will mind, it just more knowledge! And a simple challenge they have to overcome. This is brilliant. Tell me Alan, how did you think of this?”

“It was just an idea”, Alan still did not comprehend the brilliance of his idea.

“An “idea” huh? We could seriously use more of that around here.”

The next day itself Vijay convened a meeting with the senior Party member where he placed the idea of an Examination. “I will lead a delegation to the Child’s World at the earliest and talk to them.”

The Chairman of the meeting, a stout, bald man with not a strand of hair on his face or head, giant belly and intense eyes, asked Vijay, with not an ounce of interest in his voice, “I am really curious as to how you are going to convince the people of the Child’s World to participate in this circus called you can an Examination. Learning everything, that is just stupid! But what I want you to tell me first is why the Hell did you bother to even call a meeting and explain all this to us. Are you trying to waste our time”, anger rose in his voice, “Give me one person who this meeting would give you the permission to go ahead with your plan. What purpose will it serve us, what profit will it bring to the part!?”

Vijay slowly rose from his seat. He was barely moved by the backlash he faced from the leader of the party, but instead, it only excited him further. With a cool and confident smile on his face, Vijay began to explain, “You have asked me two questions sir: How I will convince them to take the Examination? And what profit will it bring us? I will tell you sir.

“Our world is weak, has always been weak. There is little work, little development, little wealth and very little power. As a Government, we claim to exercise power, but over whom? A bunch of grand old people lying on their death beds? If we wish to yield power, there must be progress in the Adult World and for that we need young and energetic people working over here. But there are so few youngsters working here and even the ones who do are extremely inefficient.

“We need to bring people from the Child’s World to work for us. And that is the aim that an Examination will achieve. If implemented, people in hoards will flock to our land!

“Sir, as a handler I have learnt that there are very few people who are flexible with work and almost no one is capable to doing every work. The human potential is limited in that respect. Humans can do miracles but only with work that they love. Only with work that they are meant to do. If you force somebody to do a work that they have never loved – that person will eventually crumble!

“This is what an Examination will do sir! We are going to ask fifteen year olds from the Child’s World to write an Examination that will test their knowledge in Every Subject. Each and every single person is bound to fail in at least any one subject, if not all the subjects. We will convince them that they will achieve Nothing in life if they do not pass this Examination and force them to study Everything. Trust me sir, they will break! They will all break, and when they do, they will come to the Adult World.

“Fifteen to twenty years old, hundreds of perhaps thousands of them coming to this city every year; just imagine the kind of work we will be able to do with such a workforce. A workforce which has been already trained to do Everything. Flexible, moldable, young and energetic workforce sir! All under our control.”

“And how are you going to make this plan work?”

It didn’t take much time for Vijay make travel arrangements to the Child’s World. Unlike the trip from there, a trip to the Child’s World was cumbersome as a lot of formalities and paperwork had to be cleared at the offices of the station. For that very reason, Vijay decided to travel alone, but on further contemplation he realised that travelling alone would in fact be more effective in achieving his goal.

“Excuse me, Miss Jyoti?” Vijay did not have much difficulty in reaching Jyoti’s art studio, which by then had expanded to a three storey building. On top of the art studio, she also conducted dance classes above which a Drama club was in operation and the entire building was abuzz with activity. Amir had moved to a building nearby, where he employed a handful of young (younger) architects. Both had made a name for themselves through their work and everybody knew where to find them.

“Hi!” Jyoti emerged from behind one of the canvases she was working on and greeted the short man with her charming smile.

“Hello Ma’am, my name is Vijay.”

“Hi Vijay, please call me Jyoti”, she shook his hands and said, “I am not used to such formalities. Please have a seat” She guided him to one of the empty seats behind a canvass and herself pulled a chair and sat opposite to him, “How may I help you Vijay? Are you here to learn art?”

“Actually Jyoti, I am from the Adult World.” A queer silence quickly fell upon the room. Tension replaced excitement in the air. “I was Alan’s handler and now he is my employee. Alan told me that you run a school and that’s why I came to meet you.”

“How is Alan?” Jyoti asked eagerly.

“He is doing fine. Struggling a bit, like most people over there do. And that is what I came here to talk to about Jyoti…”

Vijay went on to explain about how people struggle to do unfamiliar jobs in the Adult World and how it creates misery; and that if an Examination was conducted in the Child’s World, they would be well equipped to meet the challenges once they move on…

“First of all, this idea of an Examination sounds ridiculous! How do you expect a fifteen year old to learn Everything? There is no way I am going to force my arts students to learn Maths, Science and History to write a meaningless Examination. And secondly, why would we ever want to come to the Adult World?” Amir had just dropped by to meet Jyoti when he heard the conversation.

“But it is not really your choice is it? Can you make sure that there won’t be any suffering at all? Can you ensure that nobody will fail?”

“What is he talking about?” Amir asked loudly. Jyoti hushed him and replied to Vijay in a manner as calm as she could, “No Vijay, I cannot ensure that everybody will succeed. But over here, we will try until our last breath, and no matter how much we fail, we will only do the work we love. You wouldn’t understand that.”

“And you will not understand that not everybody is as fortunate or as strong as you are. People are weak; there are faint hearted people in this world too, who will sooner or later come to our world. Don’t you care about them? They have suffered enough in this world, do you want their suffering to never have an end?

“And moreover”, Vijay continued, “What do you have to lose? This Examination is just going to be another challenge. Is it not good for you too? It will build their character, teach them to face stress -”

“We don’t have ‘stress’”, Jyoti put her foot down. “This is one challenge we do not want Vijay. You may leave!”

“Alright! I will leave”, Vijay stood up, but before he turned around he reached into his purse to pull out a letter, “But before I go, I wanted to give this to you. It’s from Alan…” He handed her the letter and walked off.

Amir entered Jyoti’s room later in the day to find her, as expected, crying over the letter she received from Alan. He went to sit next to her and hugged her with one arm by the shoulder. “I read the letter too. Jyoti, you cannot take it upon yourself to mourn for the suffering of every single human being. We tried our best to stop, but he wouldn’t listen… Now we must just ignore it. And focus on our work here. Focus on your students.”

Jyoti stopped crying to look up to her husband and say, “That is exactly what I am thinking about Amir. Alan was, and still, is a dear friend of mine. And it pains me terribly to hear what he is going through right now, his dreams crushed, living like a machine… But I can take your advice and try to look past it. But what about my students? What will I do if one of them goes to the Adult World?”

“Jyoti –“

“Amir, we have to prepare our students for the worst”, Amir’s face turned aghast as he sensed the thoughts going through his wife’s mind. “They have nothing to lose and even a little knowledge to gain. Vijay was right, what harm could come out of learning a little bit of other things.”

“Jyoti, this is absolutely ridiculous. It is torture, nothing less than what Alan is going through right now! I will not allow it!”

“It is better for them to suffer while they are resilient than later in life. We have to prepare them Amir, we have to give them the strength.” For the first time, she went against her instincts, she succumbed to her fear and another’s logic, she declared, “Next year… For all the fifteen year olds in our world… I am going to conduct an Examination…”

**********

In less than two decades, Examinations accomplished the purpose for which they were unleashed into the Child’s World. Clearing them proved to be no mean feat, which meant that children had to spend an entire year studying unrelated, uninteresting and perhaps utterly useless information. Even then many students failed the Exam, and successive failures, eventually led them to the other world. Even the ones who cleared had spent so much time in their preparation that after the Exam, they turned out to be dysfunctional in the Child’s World, with a rotten creative mind and dire social skills, and eventually ended up in the Adult’s World.

“This has to stop! No more Exams!” Jyoti exclaimed at one point. But by then, fear had crept into the hearts of children. They began to question their abilities and convinced themselves that if they do not clear the Exams, they were not worthy of a dignified life. So Vijay suggested, that instead of stopping exams completely, it would be more useful to have them better prepared for the Exams.

“And how do you intend to do that?” Jyoti asked and heard the most revolting and repulsive suggestion.

“We start conducting Examinations from the age of thirteen itself. So that by the age of fifteen, they will be ready.”

Slowly, the Adult World took completely control over the Child’s World. Logic triumphed over creativity and order overruled freedom, as everyone got convinced that clearing an Exam was the only way to ‘Success’. “Be successful in life. Get a job, make money, be wealthy, get married, have kids and ‘Enjoy’ Life!” Simultaneously, the concepts of success and fear of failure invaded young minds and fear led to a craving for order. Children preferred to write Exams at the age of ten, and nine and eight and even five, if that led them to greater ‘Success’. ‘Success’ they were taught, was the only means to enjoy life!

At one point of time Alan himself stepped up to put a stop to things. “And why do you want to stop the Exams?”

“You are destroying the Child’s World!” Alan shouted angrily.

“And what if you stand to gain from the destruction of the Child’s World?” Vijay asked, looking at his accountant with a menacing gaze. “The destruction of the Child’s World is the sole responsibility of Jyoti. It is her greatest defeat and soon enough, she will succumb to her guilt. Soon enough, she too will get on to a train for the Adult World. Don’t you want her Alan? Don’t you Love her?”

Yes, Alan did love her. But in the Adult World, love was a little different. Love wasn’t so much about care and affection; it was selfish and greedy.

Twenty years later, Alan returned to the Child’s World for a short official visit. The streets were empty, the buildings were dirty and the air was gloomy. Children no longer raised the head trying to reach for the sky, but instead dug themselves into a book they were forced to learn. Anything ‘different’ was swatted off like a fly. Being creative was deemed useless and for a child, the only thought worthy of having was “How to clear the Exam?” The brilliant ones had a greater thought – “How to be successful in life!”

One lone wolf still lived, believing in the glory of the Child’s World. A thin, middle aged man with long black matted hair, thick grey beard and bright blue eyes, still filled with hope. “It has been such a long time my friend!” Alan greeted his long lost friend Amir with a hug.

“How are you?” Amir asked gleefully. It was clear that there wasn’t enough food in his stomach. He lived in the ruins of the good old days, whilst there was no hope for recovery, not even a shade of concern or worry was seen in his face. He was happy as ever.

“I am doing great. My son is fifteen years old, he just cleared his Examinations with very good marks. There is a lot of opportunity for Doctors in the Adult World, so I am sending him off for medical training. My daughter is ten, she is doing great too.”

“Medical training huh? Ever asked him what he wanted to do?”

“I didn’t. And I don’t regret it one bit. The world has changed Amir. This is the right way, everyone knows that.”

Amir laughed at the remark. “Even you are not convinced of that!” He said laughing even louder.

“I am happy now!”

“No! You are trained to not be sad. You are just so busy that you don’t have the time to be sad. That is not Happiness my friend.”

“And are you happy?” Alan asked with a  smirk.

“No… but at least I am honest. I know what I am…”

“And how is that going to feed you? Admit it Amir, you have lost. Your world has lost!”

“Oh No my friend. I may have lost, but the Child’s World will not lose. Your Exams may have built a huge prison, each and every child may be raised in a cage, which is definitely bad for us… But just beware… Just beware, that even if there is a single Child powerful enough to break through your prison… if there is even a single Child strong enough to get through all your exams and rules and still be Child… Creative, innocent and Loving child… Just beware of him my friend… He will take on your world like a Tsunami!” Amir winked his twinkling blue eyes and walked away.

“So you met my ex-husband today huh?” Jyoti was a completely changed woman. She weighed thrice as much as before, her cheeks drooped, her hair had become thin and her eyes lost every trace of the abundant joy it once possessed.

“Yes, he gave me your address”, Alan asked with a smile his face constipated. “So, what do you do now?”

“Well, I am a sea-food chef.” Jyoti took one good look at the disbelief in Alan’s face and laughed. “Just kidding man. I work at a hospital nearby.”

“Oh, are you a nurse?”

“I was… But the hospital decided that it would be better business if they had a really pretty girl for the nursing job, and apparently people with golden dark skin are not pretty, so now I am a janitor. I won’t complain, I guess I deserve it for all that I did. And moreover, it pays alright…” She gulped a glass of rum. Alan too followed suit and ordered for more drinks. He couldn’t bear to see the Love of his life the way she was?

“So, how are your children?” Jyoti asked, and Alan went on to tell him the ‘achievements’ and ‘ambitions’ of two children.

“And what about your children?” Alan asked.

“Just one boy – Howard. He is with Amir now. I thought it would be better that way. The boy has a taste for architecture too…”

“I would strongly advice against that Jyoti”, Alan took the liberty of advising her about her own son, “People like… Amir! They don’t have a future… It isn’t safe for your son.”

“I know Alan. But…” Jyoti didn’t have words. Maybe she had a spark of hope left in Howard. Maybe she believed in the revival of the Child’s World. Maybe she believed that her son would be the one to change the world. But she didn’t dare to voice her opinion, for it would be stomped out by anyone who heard her. She simply downed another glass of rum.

“I didn’t know that you drink”, Alan asked with a tone of shock in his voice.

“Sure I do. Everybody in the Adult World does…”

“Why?” Alan asked naively.

Jyoti looked at him with a crooked smile, as if the answer couldn’t be more obvious. When she realised that Alan had asked a genuine doubt, she replied, “Why? To escape the Adult World of course!”

Love