A NO MAN'S LAND IN 2009

My little island country, an atoll, situated south of Pacific is nearly out of reach of any other human habitation. It was a beckon with surprisingly clear blue sky, coral blue waters, uninterrupted green vegetation looking like the small of the back and busy urban backdrops highlighted with skyscrapers. The buildings have nearly reached  heaven but the human mind has not. This land has changed so much that I too often fail to appreciate why and how. Being abandoned with my thoughts and rusticated by the authorities I have taken shelter in a dilapidated rotunda high in the hills, scarcely reached by my fellow countrymen. What are they, my authorities, doing there down below, I looked from the hills. The flags fluttering high on the turrets have changed colours, bolt from the blue to black. The last election held some twenty years back brought about radical changes in my country. The poor man's party who got themselves elected, promulgated a law making every person's identity documented in a single name irrespective of the economic obesity they enjoy. They said, "No more struggle among the classes." As the class burden was removed, the government decided to nomenclature human beings with a uniform title, "Hooligan". Everyone since then was being known as 'Hooligan'. After someone had pointed out the meaning of the word, the head of the state  asked  his subordinate ministers to withdraw  all  dictionaries from the  country together with the man who pointed out the meaning. Thus one great  problem was solved, marking the era as " The great depression of the country."  After the dictionaries disappeared, the authorities brought out tens of millions of copies of a new dictionary containing a new meaning of the word 'Hooligan'. They said 'Hooligan' is 'Hooli' + 'Gan'. 'Gan' is a vernacular word meaning, 'the tribe'. They said, "Our fellow countrymen have originated from a tribe called 'Hooli' who descended from a rare intelligent group from the east."  As confusion arose in finding the proper  person, men and women henceforth were called as 'Hooligan the tailor from fifty-second street' and so forth. Such large were the names that  it  took away valuable time  and people became lazy  like those in the poor third world states.  The king then rose on the podium  after a year of completion of his tenure, delivering a speech  which made  him 'The second great man.' He said, 'Country of the Hooligans, by the Hooligans, for the Hooligans, let us rise and show the world that we too can do it.'  But he didn't say what to do. None asked him 'what to  do.' and the days passed by.

But what do I see today? Flags have turned blue to black. The whole population is out on the streets, with cheerful outbursts. Colourful grafiftis, joy in every one's face and music in every heart. I can't believe what I see. I just can't believe. Let me have my binoculars on. Oh my God, what do I see? Are they the same Hooligans turning the slogans on? Where did they get those black costumes and black flags?

Suddenly I remembered, there is a foolish hermit who stays next to my broken house, right inside the caves. He too was boycotted by the authorities for his idiotic deeds. Truly a fool indeed. He still should be remembering 'Goopy Gayen and Bagha Bayen.', Ray's film. Does he have that pinch of drug when blown by the wind changes the whole lot of human population. Let me try that pinch. Let the whole generation change for good. Not just a change by changing their clothes.