Assam 2009 - Posoowa
Assam 2009 - Posoowa
Assam 2009 - Posoowa
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Earth. In our Kingdom, even<br />
motorcycles and cars can travel at<br />
supersonic speed. Our cars and buses<br />
can go up to hypersonic speed. It<br />
shouldn’t surprise you at all!”<br />
I, then, asked him, “Can I get<br />
acquainted with the people on the bus”<br />
He replied, “We keep the bus<br />
dark so that riders cannot see each<br />
other. If they are able to talk to one<br />
another, they may conspire and escape.”<br />
I changed my approach,<br />
“Brother Conductor! I am so heartbroken.<br />
I constantly remember my<br />
home and my family. I was married only<br />
a few years ago. I just have a son and a<br />
daughter; we are not a big family.”<br />
The Conductor finished his<br />
cigarette and threw the butt away<br />
through a little hole on the side of the<br />
bus. “It is nice to smoke in complete<br />
darkness. No one can see who is<br />
smoking.” I had some more cigarettes<br />
left in my pack; I gave him another. I<br />
lighted one up too.<br />
He displayed compassion this<br />
time. After lighting his cigarette, he told<br />
me “When we arrive at our Kingdom,<br />
you should go to a pharmacy. There is<br />
a special medicinal ointment you can<br />
buy. Make sure you rub it carefully all<br />
over the body. All your sadness will go<br />
away. Make sure you get the special<br />
talcum powder that comes with it,<br />
spread it all over as well and then let<br />
the powder absorb all the extra<br />
ointment. You will never be sad any<br />
more. By the way, I commiserate with<br />
you for not having a lot of kids. The<br />
population in your part of the Earth is<br />
low anyway. Haven’t you heard about<br />
other places on Earth They have kids<br />
like weed. It is the era of democracy in<br />
your country. Whichever community<br />
has higher population dominates. Not<br />
only that! When the kids born today<br />
become older and are able to vote, their<br />
votes will fetch fifty to a thousand<br />
rupees in the open market!”<br />
“It’s true, brother!” I said and<br />
cried.<br />
The Conductor was softhearted.<br />
He asked me about how much I made<br />
in my job.<br />
I told him, “I am a teacher. As<br />
you can see, I am so thin. You can see<br />
my bones in the back. I have wrapped<br />
5<br />
myself in a shawl in the middle of the<br />
summer; you should know my shirt is<br />
torn.”<br />
“Oh, I see. You seem to have too<br />
many inconveniences in Life. Anyway,<br />
I can do something for you only if you<br />
can grease my palm. You don’t have any<br />
money for that, I suppose, do you” The<br />
Conductor blew some smoke out of his<br />
mouth and said.<br />
“So, there is the system of bribes<br />
in the Kingdom of Lord Jom, as well<br />
Brother Conductor, please take pity on<br />
my situation. Can’t you release me out<br />
of this bus somehow Please think of<br />
my dear woman!”<br />
The bus changed its gears again.<br />
This time, to hypersonic speed. I was<br />
impressed again.<br />
The Conductor deliberated for<br />
a moment.<br />
“Does your woman really love<br />
you”<br />
“She wrote to me a long time<br />
ago that she did, in letters professing<br />
eternal love before we got married.<br />
During our married life, I haven’t seen<br />
anything in word or deed that says she<br />
loves me!”<br />
“Oh, right! I understand the<br />
situation perfectly. This means you will<br />
have to give a substantial bribe. Anyway,<br />
let’s get to Sitrogupto’s office first. He<br />
is the Recorder of Deeds for all human<br />
beings.”<br />
I couldn’t tell if the bus was still<br />
traveling or came to a stop. I saw bright<br />
lights and a cacophonous crowd of<br />
people. The Conductor announced<br />
that we had arrived at the Kingdom of<br />
the Dead. Armed police escorted us off<br />
the bus. I had told the Conductor that I<br />
wanted to do some sightseeing. He<br />
whispered asking me to be quiet and<br />
said that he was going to request a<br />
mechanic to recharge my Life’s battery.<br />
Thus, after giving me a little<br />
encouragement, he said he would see<br />
me in Sitrogupto’s office in a little while.<br />
We were all sad and tired as well. I did<br />
not want to go to the pharmacy; if I<br />
could miraculously come back to Earth<br />
again, I needed the ability to feel sorrow<br />
and grief—otherwise, Life’s experiences<br />
would be too light and trivial.<br />
I do not want to take any of your<br />
valuable time describing to you the City<br />
of Jom, the capital of the Kingdom of<br />
the Dead. You must have read all about<br />
it in textbooks and religious books, and<br />
even in magazines. “Pillars adorned with<br />
precious stones, marble walls, doors<br />
decorated with ruby and diamond!”—<br />
such things were the usual in the<br />
Kingdom. No one in the City seemed<br />
surprised; perhaps everyone here<br />
consumed pills that prevented the usual<br />
intrusion of surprise and astonishment.<br />
My co-travelers on the bus and I did<br />
not look at anyone; we were all worried<br />
about our own individual impending<br />
fates. Once when I saw an armed<br />
policeman preparing chewing tobacco<br />
on his palm with his fingers, I looked at<br />
him earnestly. People who consume<br />
chewing tobacco regularly are a<br />
friendly bunch. It was the same in the<br />
Kingdom of the Dead as well.<br />
Surreptitiously, he gave me a bit of<br />
tobacco. I asked him in a stealthy way,<br />
“Lord Jom’s city is so beautiful, Heaven<br />
must be a hundred times more<br />
gorgeous!” He distorted his face and<br />
laughed silently. Then, he told me<br />
quietly, directly to my ears, “Heaven is<br />
a broken place now. A lot of the<br />
devotees have left Heaven and have<br />
settled here. God is so unhappy about<br />
it is that He no longer leaves His palace.<br />
No one listens to Him any more,<br />
Heaven has become a democracy, didn’t<br />
you hear”<br />
Although I understood the gist<br />
of what he said, I couldn’t master the<br />
courage to ask any probing questions.<br />
We were already at the Recorder<br />
Sitrogupto’s Office.<br />
I heard rumors that King Jom<br />
hardly came to office any more. He<br />
spent all his time consorting with his<br />
Xabitri. Everyone was badmouthing<br />
King Jom these days. He was<br />
supposedly a “very hen-packed<br />
husband,” I heard repeatedly. Xabitri<br />
was Jom’s legally married wife. This<br />
Xabitri was not the pious and devoted<br />
wife of King Xotyoban that we read<br />
about in Hindu mythology. King Jom<br />
gave back the Life of Xabitri of<br />
Xotyoban because the woman<br />
fortuitously had the same name as that<br />
of his own wife. For this lapse of<br />
judgment, Lord Jom had to answer<br />
scathing questions in the Council.<br />
Sitrogupto, the Official Recorder of<br />
Deeds of the Living and the Dead, had<br />
a large cash box next to him. That was<br />
POSOOWA • June <strong>2009</strong>