Prologue
I held them one in each hand. Excited and nervous and
scared all at the same time. Excited because I wasn't sure if someone would've
actually tried it before and nervous and scared because I probably was breaking
a law. A law not written or declared explicitly, but, a law defined by the
society, a law which we unobjectionably obey. If somebody came to know I did
it, I'd most certainly become a social outcast, not supported by either of the
two. I'm still in the confines of my room, this won't get out. I'm good at
keeping secrets, I reminded myself, I can absorb one more. I looked at left
hand and thought, this is smaller, will it be repelled and thrown back further
by the one I held in the other hand? Is the smaller one always the weaker one?
I was then reminded of our very own little master, Sachin Tendulkar. He was
small, but capable of giving nightmares to the most fiercely built (bowlers) in
the world. Which meant, if the one in my left hand was capable enough, its
smaller structure won't be a factor. About to start, my heart started
thumping. Was I breaking a divine protocol? I had seen in the news and it sure
looked like I was just about to do something that's not nature, that's not
meant to be. Why else would human life be put in danger for a thing that looked
so trivial to me? With so much circulating in the news, why did I feel the
matter was trivial? There must be something wrong with me, no?
All set now, I willed myself to begin. Not sure why,
but, I even said a prayer. I apologized to both if this was about to offend
either one of them or even both. Taking in and letting out a heavy breath,
slowly but surely, maybe against social protocol, maybe against a divine norm,
I went for it. . . . . .
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An idle mind is not a devil's workshop, it’s a
creative genius' sanctuary. Or so I tell myself after a long weekend of
idling around in my house watching multiple TV series in my boxer shorts. One
such fine weekend, I had this sudden surge of curiosity to do a social
experiment, the boundaries of which would be confined to my room. I'll
give you a small background on how I zeroed in on planning to making such an
absurd attempt.
Since I've started
reading (wasn't that long ago), I've learned that books can be such great
company. That you don't need to step out of the house to travel. That it's more
refreshing reading a good book over a weekend than sleepovers and wasting a
complete day trying to get that "proper sleep" the following day. Yes I'm boring and unapologetically proud of it.
I've also started to believe that each and every book teaches you something.
Even if it's a crappy book, it teaches you to advice people to not waste their
time on it. Noting the fact that they teach and we learn, I started with the
possibly irrational experiment. Who cares if
it's not sensible? The one thing I love about the four walls, the floor and the
ceiling of my room. They don't judge me!
I was blankly
staring at my bookshelf and not sure when my senses started tingling and when I
started thinking again, but when I realized, I was staring at the cover of the
book I had recently read. I saw Lord Ram's strong musculature, his back arched
and his strong hands with a bow and arrow pointing towards Ravan's Pushpak Vimaan. The Scion of Ikshvaku. I instantly got up and
took out the copy of The Quran from my
cupboard. How and why I have a copy of The Quran, is not a question I like to
entertain. . . The questions wouldn't be thrown like stones if I had Bhagvad Geeta instead of The Quran, which, to me, is worth sighs than
answers.
One with the Mighty
Hindu god who guided us to the perfect way of living, the Ram Rajya, and the other with the guiding
principles of the Muslim fraternity. The disciples of both not necessarily
seeing eye to eye, at times hurting each other in the name of honoring their
respective teachers. If the disciples don't stand each other, would their Gurus
tolerate staying in close proximity to one other? After all, whatever we
learn is from books like these. Our actions must be influenced by these
scriptures, no?
What if I bring
these two books close? Would they repel each other? Maybe there'll be sparks
shooting out before they repel? My mind went to the final duel between Harry
Potter and Voldermort. Their wands always repelling one another. But that was
because they had the same core, like same poles of the magnet repelling each
other. In anticipation of some fireworks, I took the two books in different
hands when it dawned on me if I was breaking a social, maybe a religious
protocol. Will I be punished? Will a god-like creature appear in front of me
and give me a curse that my generations will inherit? I must admit, the weight
of heavy religious burden that I've been bestowed upon by the my past
generations was getting to me.
I stood in the room, the silence aggravating the thrill of the scene, with The Quran in my left hand and The Scion of Ikshvaku in my right, my arms
stretched on either sides. Gathering courage to defy the social norms,
expecting, hoping against hope to see some fireworks and smoke, I started to
bring them close. Progressing in slow motion, I observed in rapt attention like
the audience waiting for the magician to unveil the climax of his trick.
My arms closing in
now, my half engineering mind going through all permutations and combinations. The Quran is smaller in size (like the Muslim
population in our blessed country #sarcasm), will that make it repel easily and
be overpowered? Will my arms burn and
turn to ashes? How will I explain what happened to my arms to everyone? Will it
hurt? If I have no arms, how will I work? Will this be how both the gods punish
me for breaking "the rules"? Idle
mind at full throttle. The two books not about two feet away, I expected
some repelling force forcing both my hands in the directions opposite to where
they were progressing from, but, nothing came. I waited, continuing the gradual
motion. About one feet away now. I would've expected smoke by now, but,
nothing. Maybe it'll explode suddenly on touch,
I wondered, encouraging myself. Six inches to go and still nothing. I won't
lie, but I was starting to get disappointed, like a scientist who expected too
much, but, wasn't seeing the results he'd worked so hard for. Three inches,
nothing. Two, One, nothing. The books finally touched and as soon as they did,
I looked up, expecting to see red streaks of light or some form of magic, still
nothing.
Disappointment
followed the five overly anticipated minutes of unreal expectations. I tried in
vain again, stretching my arms and bring the two books close again twice or
thrice, pretty quickly now, avoiding the drama, hoping that probably the gods
didn't notice the sin the first time. Nothing happened. Accepting the fact, I
returned the books to the bookshelf, this time placing both of them together
and then switching the lights off and burying myself in sheets.
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Epilogue
It's been a week since I placed the two visually
(apparently) polar opposite books on the shelves and there's still nothing
worth noting. They're sitting peacefully where I placed them a week back.
Neither of them has tried to move from its place or push the other. God hasn't
given me a sign to part them so I let them be in their happy place. They spend
so much time together that I won't be surprised if they talk to each other when
I'm not around and bitch about what an idiot I was for trying the experiment.
If they do discuss, I'm sure they share a healthy laugh. As long as they don't
bother me, I'm fine with whatever keeps them happy.
>>>> THE END <<<<
