Seeds of rebellion

    My indulgence in intoxicating drinks after a tedious rummaging throughout the city for economic

    independence renders my homecoming late. I thought I was but the world itself is surreal. I learnt

    some surreptitious aspects of my not geting a white collar job inspite of holding a sound academic

    degree. Nepotism is pestering our society just as much as a kinky schoolteacher is gripped by lookism.

    There are nocturnal gods who paves the way to a job- the crow, the hyena and the snake. They resemble the

    good looking monster I have been encountering these nights. A friend of mine, Leach, told me that

    these Gods are hard to please. They take offerings from a lot of people but very few of them

    are actually able to appease them. This friend was one of them. They take your blood and soul as well

    as all your strength. But, once you get this deal, the very magnanimity that the job offers will

    not only compensate for your blood and soul, it will renew your vigour and health to the point of

    accentuating you beyond the mortal world.





              After this new discovery I came back to my habitat with an empty stomach. I shoved some

    plain rice into my mouth down to my deserted belly but it was far from full for it could

    take no more. I went to bed and suddenly the monster crept in. This time he was furious, anger

    bellowing like brands of conflagration, "This is the height of blasphemy. How dare you go searching

    for the nocturnal Gods instead of me?" The comestibles that I had eaten were about to veer up due

    to the convoluting retchings the monster had subjected me to. But I restored myself firm and retorted with

    undaunted nonchalance, "They will help me strike a deal. All they want is offerings."

    "Do you have enough to please those animals? They are in hordes pretending to be convivial.

    They will devour you as time passes."

    "I have to work hard to appease them. I have not met them but my friend , Leach, intends to fix

      a meeting in near future" I said defiantly.

      I warn you again since I don't want you to perish like the multitude that have succumbed to their

      traps. Come to me and join my syndicate. We are already in a state of war with the Gods"





                            By this time, his innocuous utterances became limpid to me and he is here

    only to wheedle me to join him. I scarcely have anything that I can offer as a collateral

    against a loan. I ranged up Leach to ponder over my problem and we met at a road-side tea shop.

    We talked it over about the initial offerings that should be made. Since the required offerings

    were in excess of what I can provide, I bade Leach goodbye and assured to call him when I'm ready.

    He bought me dinner which I savoured with great relish- a goodman who is ready to help a man in

    distress. Now my debility knows no bounds as I have forsaken my health for a better tommorow-

    to pay a price at any cost. The monster, tonight, thought of skipping me by as my reticence

    had him annoyed to the point of no return. I'm taking a turn from the usual straight road which

    would either have me eaten by the snakes, hyenas and foxes or get me a place for survival.



              A man is leading a large group shouting slogans, protesting maltreatment, deprivation,

    nepotism, corruption, wheeling, misappropriation etc. He is known as the Protester, a prototype

    of the monster in my dreams. His is an endeavour at convalescing our paraplegiac society; the

    rotten part of our society is hidden and the sparkling embellishments are visible. I decided to join him since

    he is out in the streets for you and I and fighting for our fundamental rights which have for long

      been denied to us. A person can be an iconoclast till he is not privileged enough to attack. We

    can no more depend upon providence and benediction for our well being. One of us has to assume

    the role of a God, for God only can stand against god.



                 

                    The libation granted by me failed to appease the nocturnal Gods and it is pushing

    me further from my goal. My condition is as hopeless as a person suffering from AIDS. Someone is

    spinning a wheel, that too relentlessly. Something is being made and destroyed as well, good and

    bad, melancholy and happiness, optimism and apprehension, heaven and hell. I can hear it clearly,

    the silk being made into cocoon as well as the sound of the fly shuttle( also known as throw shut-

    tle) as if coming from a disant place. This weaving sound seems to herald the outcome of a sinister

    event.



                Leach took me to the Fox. His demeanour threw cold water on me and made me ever more

    suspicious. Inspite of the impending fate, I, reluctantly, offered whatever I could with necessary

    formalism. My friend Leach was in a very jovial mood and I, too, had returned not without some

    hope. He drivelled on about what would be my next step, i.e. extolling the Hyena and the Snake.

    That night I dreamed about a dog. Lured by a piece of meat, as he was led to a roof top, the

    escape door was shut. The roof became a mere observatory as the dog watched helplessly his Intended 

    about to be raped, with guilt and anger stirring within him. I woke up in horror to the sounds of

    weaving.



          I kept wondering about this dog that was duped. I had narrated it to Leach but he denounced

  it as a trifling. The Hyena is in second position in the hierarchical ladder whereas the Snake wields

  unquestionable power and authority. The serpent was not at all satisfied with my offerings. He also

  accused me of perfidy as well as for taking him as a trifle. Hyena was happy with his share but even

  after taking his share, the Snake kept tormenting me for more. When the serpent realized about my

  inability to offer more, he made his intentions clear to kill me. I was fortunate to be able to

  make a narrow escape from that oubliette.



            The hound was fidgeting here and there, slamming the door once in a while, but in vain. A

  crow was looking at the piece of meat without any hope of getting access to it. Perhaps it wasn't

  hope but the hunger that kept the crow starring at the piece of meat. After an agreement with the

  crow, the dog decided  to part with piece of meat if the crow provides its plummage to him. The next

  moment, the meat-piece was in the crow's possession. The exchange deal went gravely wrong for the

  dog as the crow refused to part with its plummage. The dog's last hope of landing on the ground with

  the help of the crow's wings to help his Intended was torned asunder.



                According to the government's diktat, I'm an encroacher for I stay in a restricted

  area. The nocturnal god's agents are planning to evict the residences of so many people like me.

  Like so many denizens like, I, too, have responded to the clarion call of the Protester. We were

  demonstrating peacefully in front of God's working place for granting of minimum paraphernalias to

  sustain our life. The Prostester was addressing the confused but optimistic crowd while the

  heavily armed police personnels looked on, "We are here to demand the legislation of our inalienable

  rights as genuine citizens of this country. We are the sons and daughters of this land. We will never

  tolerate such injustices. We are now being forced to leave our own premises whereas the illegal

  immigrants are settling legally on our native place excercising suffrage rights. In this era of

  economic boom, and the marauding influence of shopping malls, showrooms, multiplexes, five-star

  restaurants through which an unprecedented amount of state capital is being stashed outside; the natives

  are struggling to find shelter in the land of their own forefathers".

  In the meantime, some unscrupulous and malevolent persons dissolved into the crowd and ignited the

  silent wrath of the crowd by demonstrating some acts of violence. Slowly the crowd got dissolved

  into the minds of those malicious men. Suddenly the crowd wanted their grievnaces addressed

  immediately and were asking for a tete-a-tete discussion with the nocturnal gods. What is God but an

  ubiquititous thing who knows all but would not consent to us worldly creatures so easily. The gods

  refused to come out of their heveanly abodes.



            The Gods pledges allegiance to ruling Progress party. Progress(the ruling party) has done some real work

  apart from the insufficient and untimely relief during floods, which has become an annual phenomena

  and a spurt of criminal activities and embezzlement scams. Probably the dog is not happy with the

  progress and the deceit; some bones might break from an evident jump but the seeds of rebellion has

  to be sown at any cost or else be ready to face the incorrigible ramifications. The dog would jump or not

  depends on you reader as the dog can symbolize a fettered man or a man independent enough to protest

  against the tyrannous rulers.