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
