It was long past the time when bureaucrats went home on Fridays. Everybody else had left, including Airawathi Devi’s own PA. Airawathi was conscious of the time racing by. In any case she wanted to get out of the office by 8pm. Her daughter, Tara, was visiting her, and, it was the one evening that Tara had agreed to go out for dinner with her. While Airawathi Devi could say ‘No’ to the most powerful business magnates, her daughter Tara could twist her around her little trunk…she would not answer her text messages, and, would suddenly cancel dinners they would set up at Bamboo Hut where Airawathi had taken Tara as a child and which they still enjoyed going to…nobody other than Tara could do this to Airawathi Devi, IES (Indian Elephant Service), Cabinet Secretary to the Gods…
The dinner buffet at Bamboo Hut was one that both Airawathi Devi and Tara had always enjoyed…Large chunks of jaggery, tender shoots of bamboo, mounds of freshly cut sugar cane, iced sugar cane juice, apples, all the food that elephants loved to munch on…Mother and daughter, when daughter was in a good mood, would spend hours in their favourite corner of the restaurant as mother told daughter her childhood stories…
Of how Airawathi had topped the IES/EFS (Elephant Foreign Service) exams without studying…and why she decided to stay in the country working for the IES rather than join the EFS…”What do the EFS do, in any case ?” Airawathi Devi would say, “Just stand around in circles sipping iced sugar cane juice and making diplomatic small
talk ?”…Airawathi Devi quickly brought herself back to the more mundane world of the Elephant Civil Service (ECS)…
She had half an hour to go before leaving and she had just finished reading the proposal from one of her departments for a sanctuary for elephants wounded and/or rendered destitute in the fighting that had gone on in the neighbouring country. It was a heart rending story, of young elephants separated from their mothers, and, left to wander around the countryside, and, what particularly caught her attention was the story of Gajendran.
Gajendran, a male tusker in his fifties, had been working as a guard at a temple library, and, throughout the battle was always at this post, sharp at six in the mornings. He would always trumpet loudly if he saw anybody who looked suspicious coming up to the temple, and, once or twice ensured that a suicide bomber did not make it in, by deftly putting his trunk around what seemed to be a coconut and throwing it far away just as the grenade exploded.
One morning, coming to work as usual, Gajendran stepped on a land mine and it blew the ten thousand pounder to high heaven. He was found a few days later lying on the roadside, blinded and with his trunk severed. Airawathi wiped a tear as the memory of her own brother, wounded in another war, came to her mind. How she wished she could immediately sign off on the proposal so that the sanctuary could be established straightaway. However, that was easier said than done…
Over the years, as she rose to become Cabinet Secretary to the Gods, Airawathi had realized that, however good the proposal it would not pass muster unless the proper vote bank was pacified. Gajendran belonged to the twice born temple elephants, a dwindling race, that traced their origins to elephants who had served in temples over the years as opposed to elephants who had worked with contractors clearing forests to make roads. The twice born temple elephants were a dwindling community, and, also had come under attack for cornering all the privileged coconut groves that belonged to the temples. Today the votes were with the contractor elephants (who, btw, did not also practice family planning, and, whose numbers were increasing). With Gajendran at the centre of the proposal, no way this proposal would fly…
As she was thinking these thoughts, her eyes went to a palm leaf envelope that her PA had left on her desk just before going home. She opened the envelope and inside it was a palm leaf letter, “Sending the Maharaja of Jambalpur to you. He needs some help. Pls do what you can. Best wishes, BG…” It was from Big God her friend from days gone by when as an Elephant Collector posted in the districts she had met him.
Big God had a successful and roaring business when Airawathi Devi started her career in the IES. He was in the business of removing obstacles…no one could do anything without making an offering to Big God…Big God was also very ethical…once in a while when he realized there was an obstacle that he could not remove, he would tell the client to go somewhere else rather than lead the client on a wild goose chase…
Five years into her career Airawathi Devi had got money from the government to build a stable for ageing elephants abandoned by their children…though she did not believe in doing so, she went to Big God to get his blessings before starting the stable, at the insistence of her deputy…”Big God is all powerful” the man, her PA, had told her…”better to keep him happy”
Since the District Collector herself, the symbol of power and authority in the district, was coming to see Him, Big God kept himself free…he offered her a drumfull of iced sugarcane juice as they chatted…finally, as she was getting ready to go, she wanted to know how much it would cost to remove any potential obstacles…Big God snorted and said, “No. I will not take any offering for such a good project where elderly parent elephants will be looked after…go ahead and you can be sure nothing will happen…”
She was surprised as she returned to her office. Big God seemed a tough trunked businees elephant. Where did the softness come from “How did Big God make all this money if he was so kind hearted ?” Did not seem to fit in with the way she had seen elephants make money and thrive.
After this initial contact with Big God, Airawathi Devi kept an eye on him. His career seemed to be paralleling hers. As she moved up the ECS hierarchy, Big God also seemed to be making it up the social ladder. As the best remover of obstacles he was sought after by many political parties, including the Communists and Atheists, who, theoretically, did not believe in such things. At the same time, Big God was maintaining a somewhat unusual reputation of rectitude…no fiddle faddle…and still doing so well politically and socially.
On one of her business trips to Mumbai while she was Deputy Secretary, Airawathi Devi had some time free one morning. She had heard much about Andu Gundu Maharishi. More than anything else, Andu Gundu seemed to be very attractive to women twenty five years his junior. That was the age group that Airawathi Devi was in, and, she decided to go and see for herself whether Andu Gundu was the hottie that he was made out to be.
Andu Gundu used to hold his morning sessions facing the sea, in Mumbai. He once told someone that he had no need for any other place because ‘He had no solutions to offer and who would want to come to anyone who could not offer any solutions…” In any case, some ten or twenty came every morning to listen to Andu Gundu.
At Andu Gundu’s place if you wanted to talk to him, you sat in one of the three seats facing him, otherwise you sat at the back and listened to the conversations that went on between Andu Gundu and his disciples or the people who came to see him. Airawathi had no need to ask him any questions, she just wanted to see the guy, and, so she took a back seat and fanned herself as she waited for the Maharishi to come in.
As she waited, who would appear out of the blue ?
No other than Big God…Big God, slowly ambled in, trying to look anonymous…took a look around, recognized Airawathi, nodded to her in recognition, and, seated himself in the first seat that would be facing Andu Gundu.
This made Airawathi Devi sit up. Why would Big God land up at Andu Gundu’s place ? After all Big God had everything made for him. What did He need to talk to Andu Gundu about ? He was the remover of all obstacles. What could Andu Gundu tell him ? And, in any case, Andu Gundu always said that he had no solutions to offer.
At the appointed hour, Andu Gundu walked in. Now in his seventies, he still retained the physique of the body builder that he had been. Before seating himself, Andu Gundu bowed to all who had come, acknowledged a bouquet of flowers that someone had brought and then sat down. After a moment of silence, Andu Gundu looked at Big God, sitting in one of the seats in front of him…
“What brings you here, Sir ? What do you do for a living ?” Andu Gundu asked Big God.
“I remove obstacles for anyone who asks me to do so…that is what I do for a living…” Big God replied to Andu Gundu.
“That is a wonderful profession to be in. Sir, how did you acquire the skill to do that ?” Andu Gundu asked Big God.
“Actually I am a graduate of Leading School of Management in Western India for elephants…” Big God started…
Andu Gundu sat up. Leading School of Management in Western India for elephants was very well known. Graduates from the school were straightaway employed as elephant managers, bypassing all promotion procedures, managing large herds of elephants cutting down forests. The skills of these graduates was legendary…they knew of the most sophisticated techniques of cutting across mountain pathways…even Andu Gundu started wondering…Graduate of Leading School of Management in Western India ? The only place in Elephant Land where connections did not matter…Remover of obstacles ? Why is this person here ?
Big God stopped for a moment, then continued.
“However the skill to remove obstacles was not something I learnt at the Leading School…it was something my Father gave me…”
“Tell me more, Sir…” Andu Gundu asked…
“My father was the Big Dancer. Everyone was afraid of him and his Dance. The only person who was not afraid of him was my mother…she knew what He wanted, and, the Big Dancer always danced to her tunes…”
“One day, my mother had gone to sleep and asked me to stay on guard outside her room and let no one in…I was munching away when Dad comes along…I stopped Him and said ‘No entry. Mum is sleeping.’…Rules were rules…”
“Dad flew into a mad rage…being very young, I did not realize why Dad wanted to go into the room…and in any case, rules were rules…Mum would be upset if I bent a rule, even for Dad…”
“In a fit of fury…Dad pulled out a knife that he always carried and cut my head off…” Big God said that without much ado as if it were the everyday thing a father did to his son…
There was stunned silence in the room. This was the strangest story ever told at Andu Gundu’s place…and if the Speaker’s Dad had cut off his head…how was the Speaker still around ?…
“For the next few minutes I did not know what happened, since my head had been cut off,” Big God continued. “So I will have to rely on what mum told me later…my brother who had just returned from a world trip searching for fruits was also watching…he has been too traumatized to say anything…in any case he was always scared of Dad…”
“Mum came out and naturally she was shocked at what had happened…Dad was still dancing around in his anger…’What the hell have you done to my son ?’ she demanded of Dad…”
“Quietening down for a few seconds Dad said, ‘I cut his head off because he refused to let me into your room…”
“God what a man I married !! My dad had always warned me about you…a bloody freak Dad had called you…I was so angry when he did so…now I know how correct Dad was…You murdered your son just because he didn’t let you into the room…by God, I am dialling 911 this minute…Mum reached for the phone…”
“By now, my Dad, the Big Dancer had realized what he had done…killing his own son was just too much…he needed to resolve the matter…and resolve it fast…”
“Hold it, girl…Dad said to Mum…Let’s not talk about your Dad…we all know what happened when you went to your brother’s wedding against my advice…coming to the matter of our son…I can deal with it…I will give him a new head and bring him back to life…”
“Big talk, you pervert,’ Mum told Dad…after you fought with the Creator and the Preserver you think they are going to help you ? Let’s see you bring my son back to life…”
“Now, even for Dad this wasn’t going to be easy. To begin with, he would need the head of another young child. He knew that mothers fiercely protect their children, and, the only way he could bring me back to life was to find a mother-child combination where the mother had abandoned her child. If he brought any other child’s head, Mum would not accept it…”
“Dad shifted from foot to foot, trying to work up a Dance…as he did so, in the distance he saw an elephant that had wandered away to eat a particularly ripe clump of bananas, leaving its child alone…elephant mothers are always there next to their children for the first two years of the child’s life and this mother had moved…”
“Dad saw the opportunity…the child had been abandoned, even if it were for a few minutes by its mother…he quickly cut off that elephant child’s head and put it on mine, mouthing some words and as he did so, I woke up from what appeared to be a dream…”
“Okay…now are you happy ?” Dad asked Mum…”Your darling son has been brought back to life…let me go and have something to eat…”
Mum didn’t say anything…which everyone knows meant that she was not happy…
“Now what happened ?” Dad asked.
Silence from Mum…she started clearing the clothes in the room and walked away…
“Okay…I understand…this child does not have the face your child was born with…isn’t that your problem ?”
Mum continued to remain silent…Dad, as always, wanted to move on and get down to having his evening chillum…
“Let me do this, girl. This child of yours who has a new head will have the unique ability to remove all obstacles that may come in the way of any activity…all that one has to do is to ask him…He will be the only being who can ensure success…. “ Dad proclaimed and said something in a strange language that I did not understand whilst touching my head…
“Having said this Dad walked away to smoke his chillum…Mum remained quiet for several days thereafter…”
There was a hushed silence at Andu Gundu’s place…while there had been the strangest stories told of wine, weed and women in the past this one beat them all…even Andu Gundu himself had fallen silent…nothing to say
“And all my life,” Big God continued, “I have lived off my patrimony, off what my Dad gave me just to keep mum quiet…I went to the Leading Institute of Management, and, have never been able to use the knowledge I acquired there…I am now nearing fifty and remain my father’s son…nothing more”
The time was running out…Andu Gundu always ended his sessions promptly on the hour…he signalled to his disciple who came forward with an iPod and linked it to the speakers…the voice of MS Subbulakshmi singing a bhajan composed by the blind mystic Surdas…
‘….akhiyaan Hari darshan ki pyaasi…” My eyes keeping searching desperately for Hari (God)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4G9Mzs7XOw
Interesting that one who was born blind talked of eyes and eyesight…
That morning, as Subbulakshmi’s voice came through over the iPod speakers there was a strange silence at Andu Gundu’s morning session…
So Big God, the all powerful remover of obstacles, had his own issues…what about mortals ? Would things be allright if everyone caught the eye of Hari ? Would that resolve everything ? Was that why Surdas went blind ? Is it that he caught the eyes of God ?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment