THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM HILARIA: EPISODE-5

As the queen got to know about the trifle, she called for an urgent meeting in which all the wise men were seated to pour paraffin to exasperated queen. After a long period of conversation and chit-chat, the queen reached to a conclusion which was not condign to the minors. All the members of communion assented except the senapati. He objected that carnage of poor people would ruin the soil of the land by their dirty blood and their souls would wander around the castle. The reason not only appeared logical to the queen but also ominous to others. He also said that these people if began to protest, their man power would dominate to that of the militants in the kingdom.

“Better is asking them directly what they want to leave the state. Once they agreed to leave we will invade their new homeland and conquer that area also.” the senapati said. The suggestion was acceded by all the wise men along with the queen.

Next day, the queen announced for a gathering in which all the citizens of Hilaria came. The queen put her words which were decided in the last meet, in front of all the citizens. But, none of them accepted her titillating offers of precious jewels or uncountable gems. There was a broad chasm among both parties and finally by the grace of almighty so called ‘conciliation’ took place.

"We would like to have a game of 'Hide n Seek'; the loser will have to leave the state." The senapati declared boasting of his acumen and the queen approved as it was one of her favorite games from the childhood. On the other hand poor citizens also agreed to it as they had no more options left.

Both the sides were given a week to hide them and at the same time opponents had to seek them. The one who would seek all the members in lesser time had to be declared as winner. The first chance and advantage to get hidden was given to the regal group. Many of them hid inside the kingdom, some got buried under the ground and others left the state. The queen and the senapati hid behind a wall somewhere inside the castle as they knew that entry of poors was prohibited inside. As the opponent got to know about it, they put fire into the castle and in a few minutes both of them came out bawling due to fire burns. As the time passed, the chasers dug out all those who hid under the ground and spied those who flew out of the state by the end of sixth day.

Now it was the queen’s turn to run and catch citizens. But the notorious queen restricted their entries into the castle and blocked their way out of the state. This appeared inequitable to the minors but they had to accept the command of their queen.

THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM HILARIA: EPISODE-4

The ‘Mission Transformation’ initiated by the poor people was on the right way and they got an indication of it from what happened that morning. Instead, they wisely managed the sufferings to the cruel prince and also made him realize his mistakes. It is well said that if a lesson has to be taught to someone then pinch his nerves which may make him cry; surely the queen would have realized the miserable conditions in which poor people of Hilaria survived.

The senapati was not less than a nightmare for the queen. And before the queen could take a sip of relief, the devil entered. He assured the lady about attrition in asperity of her bad days and suggested her to gear up for the next level, which was much tougher to make choice for her. The senapati said “Oh majesty, the almighty demands your throne this time. I know your emotional attachment with it but…..” and suddenly livid queen interrupted “Shut your mouth up otherwise I will push my sword into your mouth and pop it from another way.” The only thing which she could never give for granted was the throne of the Kingdom Hilaria. Everybody knew that the queen and the king’s forefathers had been fighting for years to retain their position. She was such a desperate for throne that once her father asked her to merge their states, she agreed to his statement and threw him off the throne cleverly.

Before the queen would start abusing him, the senapati continued “No. No. You took the statement other way my queen. Actually your sufferings are because of this jinx throne. You will have to change it. I didn't suggest you another option because you won’t accept it at any cost my lady. Our state and your temper can’t afford to impart education to poor.”

“I accept the throne to be replaced. I was also planning to replace my throne with another, higher than the previous one and made up of antique gems and stones. Tell your god that I accept the challenge.” the queen replied to the senapati’s words with a devil’s laughter echoing all around.

But none of the challenge is a challenge until and unless it chokes the throat of the survivor. “Surely your throne will be higher this time and made up of stones, but the ceramic stones with a pot. I told you before also that conditions are told thereafter making the choice. You will have to fix a toilet seat in place of your throne as only that can counter the jinx throne.” the man said and brought the queen into jeopardy. The queen accepted the terms and left the hall with crinkled and upset face.

The regal men and people inside the castle watched the whole drama like curious infants and seething inside also. Now, whenever culprits stood in front of queen, they couldn't stop chortles inside, watching their supremo over the ‘Ceramic throne’ and deciding his fate. It was rather a cheap trifle with the lady but whatever she did for the lust of throne was also not acceptable. The queen also refrained from having even routine meetings in the hall, as it was the most insulting remark ever for any ruler to rule sitting on that throne.

“Kill the bastards. How they dare to banter with the queen?” the senapati ran amok to kill when a mole put the whole reality into the ears of the senapati. And by the next moment, the queen heard the matter, roared aloud and called her men for an urgent meeting. 

THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM HILARIA: EPISODE- 3

The new morning brought ‘rolling chuckles’ for the citizens of Hilaria. The crowd gathered on the streets for a view of the fleshy leg-piece covered with garnish of tamarind leaves. For the first time in the history, the queen’s any son was on the road without regalia, covering his censorious parts with tamarind leaves. And the man was Prince Barbie, the eldest son who was girlish by name but the cruelest of all. The queen had a dream to name her first baby on her mother, however a prince born in the kingdom. Barbie was a notorious ruler who punished his workers severely and also ate from their lunchbox many times. But this time, citizens were in majority. They teased him, adding fuel to the fire. A lot of naughty children started chasing him, pinching his back and running away calling him the “hairy tamarind”. Neither the prince knew why this happened to him nor could he do anything, just following blindly a command by the matriarch.

A night before, the senapati Dismal Das had suggested a number of remedies to Queen Persnickety to overcome the ‘Aster-risk’. He suggested the queen to keep all the matter confidential as if the citizens get to know about it, they would stop worshiping god for such a misbehave with their mother-like queen with a benign heart. “Every time, I will show you two paths of which you will have to choose one. Once you choose, you can't back out and you will have to implement it by the next morning. Shall we start for the very first step?” the senapati asked and the queen nodded.

“Choose the one: Either you will have to accommodate poors in the castle and provide them a shelter inside, instead of leaving them to shiver in cold in their polyester camps or throw your eldest and the most lovable prince out of the castle for a day.” Senapati said. Queen fell in great quandary because she couldn't see Barbie suffering even for a moment as he was her right hand in every situation, be it a war or to choose a brand new sari (dress) from the market for her. Beside emotional attachment, he also helped her to punish the poor workers and culprit citizens. So, Queen couldn't leave her in that state.

“Fine. I order you to throw Barbie out of the castle for one day. I can’t afford the dirt to enter my castle at any cost.” an unexpected reply came from the queen, which showed how much poison she had inside for the poors.

“But there is a problem in sending him out.” Senapati said. “The prince will have to give up his regalia and tie the tamarind leaves over his body, as it is not of his own earnings. Moreover, he will have to work like other workers and have a pie of his earnings only.”

The queen cried over senapati for not telling the conditions before asking him to choose and she couldn't even back out then.

Senapati said with a quivering and shrill voice “This is also a condition of the challenge not to tell the conditions before you choose. Now, Walk the talk.”

The queen did what she said and next morning Prince Barbie was on the streets. He earned a few pennies after a laborious and tiring work but could hardly arrange for a piece of cloth. Being familiar to the nature of the prince, the workers still came out to help him and also shared their lunch with him. He also played cards with them and the queen had no objection over it because he was a poor for one day.

By the end of the day, before the queen could taste the relief, senapati fell with another conundrum. 

THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM HILARIA: EPISODE-2

Listening to the chatters of four poors working at the Yellow hill, queen’s sanitation dump land, senapati ran to Queen Persnickety. “Did anybody committed any mistake or you are suffering from constipation that dawdling around and calling me?” queen asked with a cunning smile but the senapati nodded horizontally. “Did Dasi forget to put salt in pickle? I will kill her if it is so.” Queen continued with hundreds of such silly questions and finally allowed senapati to put his words. Senapati jabbered “Asters are not in our favor. My lady I heard few cunts talking of your misfortune and this time not one or two but four were talking of it.” He continued “I heard people mumbling that all the nine planets ran out of your pocket, in different directions. The consequences of it will be so destructive that your all sons will start committing mistakes in their respective business.” The queen never wanted her sons to make mistakes especially when it comes to learning lesson. Moreover she could never see them standing even second in their school’s merit list. Once there was an exam in which along with students, teachers also appeared for. And when results were announced, the queen’s third son attained 2^nd position. The exasperated son when came in front of the queen, she cut his both hands and both legs. And before he could tell her the reason, the queen also punched his face burnt his tongue with wax.

Trouble always arrives in bundles. Before the queen could contrive any solution, senapati put another problem “Oh my helpless queen, storm hasn't reached the acme of devastation yet. Besides, the warriors will throw off their swords and hold carrots in their hands to protect the castle. Think about carrot inflation in Hilaria and who will buy swords as scrap from us as it can be dangerous for them.” The queen tapped his back and said “you are my real commander. Your post-catastrophe analysis is appreciable.” The senapati continued “Moreover your enemies by birth, those weird poor citizens of the state will dismantle your throne from the hall and grow cacti there. The worst of all is that your dasi will put hair removal cream, by mistake, over your head and you will turn bald.” Queen’s face turned pale and she shouted over senapati “This is my city and I am it’s Queen Persnickety. I don’t want any of the poor even to enter my hall.” The queen sent senapati out to search for the solution of it within twenty four hours.

It were hardly twenty minutes, that senapati came back to queen with a smile on his face “Eureka! Eureka! We got the solution to get out of the trouble.” The queen took a breath of relief and asked for it. Senapati said “I heard those four workers again, talking about the solution to your misfortune.” Senapati told her a dozen of solutions out of which she had to opt one, if not successful then another and keep on till she get rid of it.

THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM HILARIA: EPISODE-1

Millions of years ago, when people used to roast their goose on dragon’s fire, there existed a kingdom named ‘Hilaria’. As the name suggests, the people of the kingdom were fun loving and they were so intrepid that even after uber-torture, they never feared of bantering with their ruler. But the ruler was not an ordinary lady, rather she was a symbol of valor- Queen Persnickety-007. It were the rumors all over that during a war with King Pompy, who led an army of dinosaurs to fight, the warriors of the Hilaria frightened and moved out, joining the spectators who were circumscribing the battlefield. But the queen didn't gave up and fought alone killing all the dinosaurs with her sword, which appeared so comical that the opponent king died of laughing. The queen received a huge round of applause all over.

Inside the kingdom, Queen was a benevolent lady with some strict credo applied in her jurisdiction. By name we should get a sense that she wanted everything to be error less, error was the only thing which she could not tolerate at any cost. It was heard that she also assassinated her king just because once she caught her king playing cards with poor people, under the banyan tree. Mingling of royals with poors in a kingdom, where poors were the despicable one, was a huge mistake in the eyes of queen. The poor citizens were highly disparaged because queen didn't want them to stand on their own. They were allowed neither to get education facilities nor to start their own venture; they were born to work under the bellies of the queen and returned with two meals a day and clothes to wear. She also had a commander, Senapati Dismal Das, who was kept to lead the wars, instead he used to wander all over and put the hot news of the day into the ears of the queen. One day, he saw two poor citizens were talking to start rag picking as a side business; he took them to the Queen who found their idea as a new venture and captured them. All in one, poverty stricken citizens were not allowed to grow in Hilaria. Another strange and strict rule was that if she found any lady with shaved head, she would be guillotined. Besides, Queen was a benign lady.

One day, all poor communities gathered under the banyan tree and shared their grievances. Hearing to all, one of them spoke “The lady is over ruling us and the need of the hour is a change in this torturous trend. It’s time to tell her that we are poor by money, not by brain.” and the others nodded, accepting his statement. It took a day for them to plan & plot and next day they began their play so called “Mission Transformation”.

“Oh my royal lady, save you. Save the kingdom from errors. Thunderous news for you.” Senapati ran vociferously to the queen.

TOUGH TASK: A DAY UNDER A POOR’S SHELTER

Having a cup of tea and hogging snacks with our cunning eyes on plate of biscuits is what we do when we visit our far-far relatives, who may be much closer to our parents. And inside, we also mumble “Couldn't they ask me for a soft drink in this hot summer?” But the thing is that at least we have some advantages over there, like we get to hear the banal stories of uncle’s job, which may make us sleep well or we need not to start the conversation with them that can be initiated itself by our parents when the topic of our studies is raised by either of the sides. Now if someone asks whether we can spend a whole day under the shelter of a poor, hearing his grievances, tough replies are blatantly expected.

It was quite hot and humidity due to light rain teasers was so irritating that my forehead abraded wiping off the sweat. It was a location, hardly a kilometer from Ghaziabad railway station, where some slums were settled over both sides of the road. I was heading to visit one of the slums, but the conditions were so pathetic that I thought if they would throw me out of the entry, how to run from there as quickly as possible. It was muddy all over; the slums were built on the same level at which the sewage water was flowing, forming gullies around heaps of garbage over which pigs were scrounging for their meals. A herd of kids, wearing torn underwear, were throwing stones into a dirty pond and chortling when the waves on the surface of water appeared diverging. Women outside their shelter were blowing their coal braziers from which choking smoke was diffusing into air. I stopped in front of a man who was sitting beside his slum and looking at the people passing by the road. He stood up and looked at me as if he was an eager participant of any reality show and I would be announcing the winner of that sequel. I appeased his curiosity by telling him about my motive, though a bit exaggerated, but not as much as those fake wishers who do for lust of power and money. The man let me come inside his dilapidated cottage, where a year old baby, crying for milk, checked me if I had a bottle of it, I gave a cunning smile also feeling sorry for the disturbance. Suddenly a lady entered who covered her face when she saw me. It was suffocating to stay inside a place with paleness spread all over and a strange smell moving into my nostrils, but I controlled myself trying to develop acquaintances and share their problems. The man had a wife and three children, of which two were girls. “What do you do to arrange for meals?” I asked looking at his wife who brought a glass of water, a glass which lost its shape several years ago. I quickly checked what can be possible water borne disease if I would drink it because the whole arrangement was unhygienic. Without any second thought, I drank the whole, coddling myself “If your body can bear hostel food for three years, this water is far better than it”. The man replied that he was a rag picker and his wife was a sweeper. “None of them want to study and we can’t even guarantee them a meal for the next day, how can us…. Education” the man said with wrinkled face showing his inability to survive. There was lying a basket in which rotten meals were collected, pointing at which I asked about and the man replied it is the food which his wife gets from local people for sweeping the streets. “If I will teach your children and take responsibility to make them stand on their own will you let me?” I asked him but his reply was nonchalant because he was a bit concerned about his girls and present conditions regarding the safety of girls. I didn’t put pressure to my words and asked the permission to leave with a smile, but this one was showing my helplessness. Moving out of his shelter, I assured him that I will meet him again with a guarantee for support, a support with education, a support with a quarter of basic needs and encouragement, from my group of humble members; because the people are waking up gradually and a time will come when there will be more hands to help than the poor themselves.

Poverty in India

Human beings are probably the most valuable resources for the growth of a country. The attributes like diligence, improvisations, courage to take risks and many more that human beings have, cannot be embedded into machines for today, who guarantees the future. We call the humans as a creation of God, who has a manufacturing unit up into the heaven. Everyone is fitted with a heart, a pair of lungs two kidneys, limbs and few grams of brain (except few characteristics that distinguishes between male and female). But as they are parceled down to earth, few turns to be tycoons, more than the few turns to be middlemen and a few fall into a quagmire, struggling for a peaceful life. The quagmire is named Poverty. All the royal places are already occupied, so we cannot blame almighty for it. And the unlucky guy curses himself inside and if asks for help then we should not turn our face. Poverty is turning to be incurable malady everywhere, but its effects are more severe in India.

Everybody is busy in grooming his career, concerned about self-development but he expects some respect from the society. We should ask ourselves what we have done for the society, and the maximum would reply “Cut the topic.” The small children working as tea vendors know that their future is into the dark. What need them to overcome their misfortune? A teaspoonful of education plus some monetary assistance and a pinch of encouragement is their requirement. But, again few freebies lovers may demand what they will get in return. This is the era when even education is ranked on the basis of annual salary packages as quid pro quo then such questions are expected to arise. Let’s inspect how our indulgence to poverty is stymieing the growth of nation.

As per the reports of the World Bank, about 11.8% people in India fall below poverty line, which means hardly 30% of would be able to arrange for basic amenities i-e food, fire and shelter. When it comes to shelter, a pale image of slum areas comes inside and our face expressions turn weird. A question waving its hand comes “why over government has failed to help them?” we should have ask ourselves first that thousand times we pass through such streets why we couldn’t help them? And these areas occupying the roadsides however question our system regarding infrastructural development. An infrastructure is the basic thing that reflects the growth of a country at first sight.

Poverty and illiteracy are interrelated. Poverty stricken cannot overcome illiteracy, unless he is given selfless support. Similarly, an illiterate person cannot overcome poverty, except the one gifted with acres of land from his forefathers. The per capita income of nation is total wealth divided by population. It means the country having more poor will have low per capita income and will be economically weak. In 1947, the average annual income in India was US$619, compared with US$439 for China and by 1999; the numbers were US$1,818 for India and US$3,259 for China.

We all have informal debates, standing by the corner of the road, arguing this country is technically advanced and that country is well equipped and ultimately feel that we still need more advancement for our nation. Had we supported the poverty stricken, from the beginning, who knows we would have more idols like PM Narendra Modi. We have now analysed that poverty is necessary to be overcome in order to see better growth. We need to support the poor people either with direct interaction or by cooperating with government and NGOs. If we are expecting the ‘Achhe din’ we need to have a sense to do the same for others also.