‘’Osama Bin Laden dead”
Now this was the headline which really upset me.
I kept the newspaper aside and decided to go on a walk.
As I walked, I was dismayed at a thought that with Osama gone now there will be no thrill in the world he has left behind...... No blasts in pentagons, no crumbling of twin towers, no rides in hijacked planes, no bombing of embassies, no video releases on Al- jazira.......(sob)
.....What business will FBI,CIA and intelligence agencies all over the world have now? Who will the terrorists smuggle the poppies for? And beyond all what will Obama do? Delivering speeches on change is not a man’s job!
......Whosoever may curse Osama, one thing was sure , he had added some spice to the otherwise boring lives of multitudes like me ,some news of terror and violence to savour along with the otherwise insipid lives of many.........He provided a fear that submerged daily life worries. You could always make excuses for excesses in routine life...... (sobs)
.....Well, its different matter that vegetables are getting costlier day by day... And fuel and houses and medicines also... And it’s still different matter that I have to stitch my pants torn exactly where it should not have been........... And what will be the life on the earth with Osama gone?
Now with these sorrowful thoughts in my head as I was passing by the old pond in my farm, a voice called me,
‘’shh, shhhh !”.
Startled, I asked,
‘’ who’s this”?
The voice said,
” First you bow before me and touch my feet, and then dare ask about me “.
Now I was already grieving Osama’s death and was in no mood to show respect to unknown voices.
“Go to hell.” I said.
But the voice was too stubborn. It won’t let go.
It insisted, “No you must do it. It’s a ritual to bow before one’s ancestors.”
“Why? Are you my father or grandfather? ‘’ I yelled back.
The Voice laughed and answered,
‘’ No I am still older. Older than your oldest imaginable greatgreatgreatgrandfather. I am Amoeba. “
At this I turned back and looked at the pond. And there he was. A really tiny amoeba whirling smartly on the turbid water in the pond, looking at me and smiling intently.
But I was in no mood to entertain him.
I clenched my fists and asked,
‘’ Do u know what has happened to the world today?
“I know all that has happened to the world since ages.” He said and winked at me.
“Do you know who the Osama is? Who the Obama is ? Or at least who I am?” I asked.
“You all are my descendants. Don’t play it hard.”
As he said this with his hands behind his head, a witty smile on his face, and whirling round and round, I knew for sure that there is no escape from this annoying creature. I gave in.
I cooled off and then I narrated him the whole story about Osama and Obama, earnestly, to which he heard like an omniscient fakir, smiling cunningly every now and then. After I finished ,he let a sigh out and said,
“You seem to overreact. I will explain why. I will start from the beginning. The very beginning”
And then he started narrating from the real very beginning, still whirling round and round.
“I was the first to be created. And I was created shapeless and shameless, as all of you were supposed to remain even after the ages... But then you wanted your distinct identities, your Concrete selves, tribes, nations, religions... And you created myriad walls around you. Worse yet, you wear clothes. How disgusting! “
(I felt less embarrassed at my pants torn exactly where they should not have been)
‘’ Look at me, I don’t even have a cell wall. Remember friction occurs only among the rigid entities separated by walls, be they people, nations or religions. And then every action has its equal and opposite reaction, as was proposed by one of my descendants. But you don’t seem to have listened about Newton. You look so dumb.”
And as he was saying this he was frequently pointing one of his pseudo pods towards me as if admonishing me and still whirling round and round.
“Look at me, I am flexible. I will demonstrate this to you, because you look too dumb to comprehend what I am saying. Now look how I can make a Cross out of my shape.” And then he transformed himself into cruciform sign.
“And now look again, how easily I can make a Crescent out of my cruciform shape, that too without breaking a single bone! How many bones do you think you will have to break to convert the Cross into the Crescent and vice-versa?''
" Don’t laugh stupid! And even more, don’t dare you calculate. Some of my wisest descendants like Buddha have already done numerous calculations over violence. Besides, you look so dumb to me.”
After this he became silent for a moment, and erupted abruptly after a while.
“I tell you, your whole civilisation has gone on a wrong track. Except for a few good things like Wine, Music and Cricket, the whole Post- amoeba world order was a crap!”
“You teach your children to over smart others, to be different from others, to win over others. And you suffer from jealousy, wars and constipation. By the way, what is so fashionable about standing out in a crowd?”
“Look at me, all amoebas resemble each other and we have never fought since ages. We never try to overtake others. Look at me, I am flexible .I don’t break. You amass power out of inherent fear of breaking down. You crave for power and despise the weak and the crawlers. Your leaders with curly hair and black skin and elongated face amass power through money and military, and your leaders with turban and long beard amass power through terror. You do so because you have always wanted to overtake others, to win over the others. You do so because you fear extinction, you fear death! You fear extinction and hence you evolve. Look at me, I have remained an Amoeba throughout the evolution. I don’t evolve. You are cursed to evolve till eternity.”
I was bogged down by his enthralling oratory. My tongue went dry and my legs started trembling. . Suddenly I saw him growing big. Big and even bigger. Growing into something like a gigantic cloud. A cloud with many heads.... One bearded resembling Osama, one elongated resembling Obama, one brainy resembling Newton, one calm resembling Buddha,........one dumb resembling me.
And then came his voice filling the sky- “ Obamas and Osamas have been there many times before. They will be here again. Again and again until you have your rigid walls. But remember, among the Osamas and the Obamas, only Amoebas will survive, the rest will perish.”
And then there was a complete black out.
The next day, When I woke up in my bedroom, I saw a pile of newspapers displaying articles on post-Osama world order. Reflexively I stretched out my hand to reach out one of those, but then I remembered yesterday’s episode. I paused. I looked at those articles... and I smiled at them. And then I looked out of my window towards the distant pond in my farm. Amoeba was waving his hand at me and he too was smiling, still whirling round and round.
