Lahore, India.
Burak just ate, prayed and read. He had enjoyed it
thoroughly. He tried to imagine the characters, and they were there in front of
his eyes. He had grown fond of some of them – Shantanu was a righteous king,
Devavrata was brave and yet humble, Ganga was true to her words. But then all
were wrong – Shantanu had a weakness for the woman, Bheeshma had abducted the
three girls of Kashi, Ganga left her husband alone. It was a perplexing story
where, till he had read – he could paint all the characters grey. Satyavati was
greedy, but a good wife and had a sense of responsibility as the queen, Salva
was arrogant and haughty, but honourable – no one was completely right or
completely wrong.
He entered Mujeeb’s room next day. Prof. Sujeet Ranjan
Kalia, the head of philosophy was there with him. Without waiting for Burak to be seated
comfortably, he began – “What did you last read?”
“Three sons being born to the two princesses and the
maid.” Burak answered.
“Who is your
favorite so far?” Kalia asked.
“Devavrata Bheeshma – the son of Ganga.” Burak answered.
Mujeeb smiled, “that is your first lesson in history –
never identify yourself with any character in history.
Everyone is right in his
own way and his own circumstance. You are here to see what happened, not judge
if what happened was right or wrong. And who’s wrong and who’s right when we are
all pawns on a special board – with limited powers and our moves governed by
someone who doesn’t know what way the next dice is going to turn. ”
“That is a part of philosophy.” Kalia smiled and
remarked.
“When Wazir Khan first talked to me about your
intentions, I knew that your knowledge of history won’t be enough to serve your
purpose. You need to read about comparative philosophy as well. Otherwise it
would constraint your mind. As they say –a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing.” Mujeeb said. “I think that it would be good if you join a starter’s
batch at Prof. Kalia’s department for now. It would help you a lot.”
“I’m going on a sabbatical, Burak. My students move with me. Be prepared for a
journey - we are going south –where a great seer waits for us. We leave in a
week’s time” Kalia said.
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