Victory's Defeat

May 2050. Banwari Lal was a happy man. He was finally satisfied with the way things were going. The India he wanted to see had materialised to his liking, to everybody’s liking. Agreed, it had taken him a better part of 30 years, but the time was worth it. After all it’s not every day that you see a country being purged clean of corruption, malice or guilt. The India he had envisioned for so long had finally shaped up to his desire. For his untiring efforts he was also awarded every top prize in the world, be it the Nobel Peace Prize, the Bharat Ratna or the countless honorary doctorates from every other country. People had started calling him the Greater Gandhi and he had deserved every ounce of that appreciation. But then, he hadn't done all this for the accolades. The reward of self-satisfaction and watching his dream come true in front of his own eyes could not match any other applause. The perspiration on the forehead had finally stopped. Banwari literally heaved a sigh of relief.

Initially though, there had been a lot of hiccups. It really had been a tough ride for him. When he started his campaign against corruption, people had chastised him for almost everything, even his nerve for trying to battle it out against the big-names. Yes, he did agree that some of his decisions were hasty, drastic, even banking on the lines of being preposterous. But in the end, after so many battles, he had won the war. The results of which was much more rewarding than he had expected. After the introduction of the People’s Anti-Corruption Bill, all the black money had been brought back; crime rate had fallen to an absolute zero; each and every citizen of the country had become much more responsible towards his/her duties and a non-corrupt, value upholding person; Peace and Harmony had spread across the country and people had stopped even trivial wrongdoings such as lying to each other; Bribery, Murders, Rapes and all other malpractices were now a part of popular folklore; People had also become environmentally responsible and every citizen was doing its bit towards eradication of global warming and poverty in general. They hadn't really become angels, but they were no less. They had realised that the deceits, cheating, fraudulences, or crimes weren't worth it. India had become a model nation for the world, and the others were catching up fast. Within 3 months every nation of the world followed suite and gave up its nuclear weaponry and extended hands of friendship to even its staunchest arch-enemies. The governments were no longer needed to control the population any longer. It just paid the employees and never really needed to intervene in any of the public’s daily affairs. People also gave up other societal vices such as alcohol, smoking and even non-vegetarian food. Not even the great Lord Ram could've imagined such a world in which the humanity was in a better condition than at the time of the first humans themselves.

And then, within a year, in a jiffy, it all came crashing down. The first casualty was the judiciary. No crimes, no grudges, and tranquility all around meant that there was no lack of law and order. The lawyers and the judges were now out of jobs. They missed the violence all around, and to be fair to them, they hadn't really seen anything else throughout their lives. The police were also not needed as even the smallest of vices of the common man had deserted the society. As if the dissolution of one-third of the government in a matter of days wasn't enough, the next victim of the ‘humane population’ was the defence. The armies, the air-forces, the navies, were all disbanded. Since the countries did not even show the slightest hint of hatred towards each other, the war for political supremacy had ceased, and the protection was no longer needed. The great public awareness also meant Social Workers and Activists had absolutely nothing to fight for. The media had become an epitome of virtue. Most of the reporters lost their jobs because of lack of news items. The disease incidence and accidents also went down to almost nil, as people had started taking really good care of themselves and others as well. Natural deaths had become the order of the day and illnesses a rarity. 90% of the healthcare business had crashed and the doctors had nothing to practice upon except for really rare emergencies. The inactivity of public services and the desire of the people for a simple living also meant that industries, economies, soliciting, environmentalism, marketing, banking had all become things of the past. Ecology now became extremely unbalanced as the number of animals had grown to be unnecessarily large when compared to the number of resources available. Scientists had stopped discovering anything; Astronomy, Geology and Genetics were now regarded as a waste of time, as people weren't really interested in any materialistic entities at all. They had learnt to accept death and illnesses as a will of God and started leading a life of penance. The NGOs, the philosophers, the Statisticians, the Engineers and the Sociologists were rendered useless. Temple donations stopped, Architecture was dissolved and even Academics were seen as a road to a vicious lifestyle. The margin between the rich and the poor decreased drastically. Virtually no one worked for anyone else and most businesses were shut down as production had come to a standstill.

As a result, now more than 75% of the world was out of jobs, people now started struggling even for basic survival. It soon became apparent to them that the road they had taken would lead to nothing but a painful end. They became concerned. And concern is indeed the biggest enemy of mankind. The people thought about their future, their children’s future, and started making decisions by themselves. They needed food for survival and money for food. The hunger provoked anger which in turn promoted longing for the life which they had had before. Slowly and steadily they started stealing from others, wrenching every possible mongrel of any edible item they could from one another. Chaos and confusion were at their prime now. Petty fights ensued and the animals were hunted at random at will. And now, since there was no check left on the law and order, people started robbing, killing, cheating, forging, extorting etc. for virtually anything and everything. The world was a much worse place than before. Meanwhile, a rugged looking man barged into the gates of Banwari Lal’s house. Scared by the commotion outside, Banwari put his family into hiding and went out to check upon the trespasser. He was aghast to see the ex-MLA who had presented him with an honour a few months back. The man bellowed, “Khana de bhookha hoon” (Give me food, I’m hungry). Banwari himself didn’t have any left and had to refuse. The man in a fit of rage took out his dagger and plunged it deep into Banwari’s heart.........

 ...........Banwari woke up with a start (You already saw that coming didn’t you?). There was no blood, but still a lingering pain in his chest. To say that he was horrified by what he had just dreamt about would be a massive understatement. His daughter who lay awake beside him inquired about his reaction. He recounted every detail of the dream to her. After all, she was a big girl and deserved to know the gory details of the real and the dream world. His daughter was flummoxed on hearing all this. Scared that she already knew the answer, she asked him the inevitable question, “Dad, is this the end result of the dream you have for our country?”

To her surprise Banwari smiled, and nodded his head.

“Then what is the point of your fight against the system?” she asked desperately. He sighed and then smiled again, for the answer was simple, and he had always known it.

He replied, “My dear, Nothing can be perfect, Nothing should be perfect. The Good cannot survive without the Evil, and vice-versa. Both the groups have to keep on fighting for their respective sides, while knowing that there will always be a stalemate. The rule of nature says that ‘Neither shall win while the other loses, and it shall go on till the end of time.’ ”

“So will both of you keep going on even though there is no end?” she asked.

“Yes we shall. Both of us know that victory will embrace neither, but we shall die trying” replied Banwari Lal, and quietly put his daughter back to sleep.

            Namaste!!! Jai Hind!!!