Parables of the Day 2

Chapter 2. 

 The Ordinary Man in a boat

A boat headed to the future, in 2020, had many creatures of the universe on it. Out of all the wondrous ones, the most interesting one was the ordinary, common man from India.

Somewhat still reeling from the onslaught of history, torn apart by the geography and made into a caricature of sorts by famous Cartoonists, the poor fellow was still hopeful of living out his dreams in a promised future with some dignity yet left to lose.

 

The boat of the day was now commanded by the formidable right aspect of the Indian passenger group, while the Centrists and the Leftists, found it too difficult to accept, that it was their wanton denial  and suppression of the majority right thought during their reign, for over 7 decades, that had brought the matter to such a circumstance.

 

Unable to accept that power can rest in others' hands too, the two forces (Centrists and Leftists) had lost all logic and sense, behaving and speaking like psychotic schizophrenics, reacting with alarm and cacophony over every single action of the right.

 

But the ruling right wasn’t too far out either. Having had to fight hard to reach a commanding position on the boat, their bitterness spilled out at the tiniest of provocations.

 

To cut the story short, the level of the conversation on the deck was crass, insulting and seriously lacked a mature, decorous civility. It was as if nobody was bothered about the boat and its passengers, just their own pride.

 

As the year turned around, a storm had begun to build in the horizon and the small boat began to get pushed around by the overpowering waves. A huge wave threw the boat with such power, that it almost seemed that the boat would capsize, but with a timely smart maneuver to the right, the captain prevailed and the boat was saved.

 

The rightist rejoiced and clapped, the centrists claimed the captain was only imitating their earlier exploits, the leftists cursed the captain for making a ‘rightist’ maneuver, while our poor little ordinary man, afraid out of his wits, spoke out a little too loud. A little too loud, it definitely was.

 

“I am afraid.”, said the common man.

A rightist pounced on him immediately, “You are lying! How dare you be afraid?”

Another, grabbed the common man’s collar.

“You *#$€! We will fry you! We will make your life hell for lying! Tell the truth! You are so gone, man! You will regret you ever said this! Tell the truth! Come clean, you are so happy, you have never been happier!”

 

Too confused to react and scared of getting a severe beating, the poor common man succumbed.

‘When did I say I was afraid? I am happiest human being in the history of mankind!’

 

The rightists looked around satisfied that his dissenting voice had been silenced now focused on the rest and asked blatantly.

“Anyone? Afraid anymore?”

Everyone shook their heads to claim, ‘Not me’. Now feeling superior at their ability to have controlled and calmed the situation quickly and swiftly, the rightists moved on.

 

Almost immediately, the Centrists closed in on the ordinary man.

“This whole storm is fake. The Rightists deliberately took the ship into the storm, so they could divert everyone’s attention and no one will ask them about basic administrative issues, lack of law and order, complete mayhem. They have been secretly planning to dump passengers overboard at night. Specifically those who stand in their way, and those who should have taken another boat ages ago.”

“As if you didn’t do similar stuff, when you had the command?” The common man was definitely enraged.

“We would never do such a thing. We are planning to come back to power and make gold.”

“How?”, asked the dumbfounded man.

“From the wood of this ship. We will make lot of gold!”

“What?”, reacted the shocked commoner.

Meanwhile, the leftists had started taking the boat apart, they had put up a huge fire in the center with wood taken from parts of the ship. The fire grew so large due to the winds, that it was uncontrollable. Then disaster struck as the fire touched a few cans of oil and it was indeed as if hell had broken loose, the whole ship caught fire almost simultaneously. The main frame of the boat couldn’t hold it any more. It broke into pieces and began sinking into the stormy sea.

 

While the boat sank in the water, and all the passengers were drowning, a leftist next to the common man reassured him,

 “Now there is nothing to be afraid of. We will all, soon be dead.”

Another leftist added with unbridled glee,

 “We have saved you from the rightists, fundamentalists, fascists, capitalists... hey don’t forget to thank 'the left' before dying!”

The third leftist hit the final nail on the coffin,

“Now you too will be a socialist, you know? Dead. Like the rest of us.”

 

A drowning parable writer, a few feet away, called out to the higher powers that be,

“God, Save us from these maniacs!”, but his voice was barely heard in the chaos around.

 

While in some arbitrary space and time, Winston Churchill, Lord Mountbatten and M.A. Jinnah clapped, rejoiced and celebrated with a sense of triumph.

 

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Coming Soon

The Gardner and the Angel’s Trumpet

The Lady Statue and the child

The Bicycle ‘Handle’

Death and the Billionaire

The Bees & the Farmer