THE BLIND WORLD… LITERALLY

Scene – 1: The Hungry Army

Vanity vans of different news channels and press reporters had already clogged the Jai Singh Road situated in Connaught Place, popularly known as the heart of New Delhi (national capital of India). The queue extended till Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the sacred religious place of Sikhism. Some policemen could be seen here and there directing journalists to their destination by hand-signaling, and also providing unrelated traffic the right of way. Everyone was headed toward the newly built YMCA International Conference Center.

Some media persons were already inside the building and many had lined up outside with the security guards having a tough time checking everyone’s ID and letting them inside one-by-one. Some were even trying to barge in their vehicles by claiming they were from the so-called premier news channels and one mature security personnel helplessly kept telling them, ‘not allowed as per order.’ There was a small banner hanging on the Ashoka tree adjacent to the entry gate that read, “Press Conference for new novel – Byju.”

Inside the jampacked conference hall, there were roughly 60 to 80 seats, all occupied by journalists with stereotype looks of photo IDs hanging around their necks, and majority of them fiddling pens or smartphones with writing pads on their laps. The place was so cramped that there were a lot of media persons standing behind the seating arrangements and also on the left and right walkways. The middle path was occupied by cameramen who had already set their cameras into position and were standing just next to their tripods waiting to start rolling.

Countless mics had mounted the desk in front of the speaker sitting in a chair on the dais who was waving his hands up and down as if asking everyone to settle down. The intertwined voices of journalists were very loud and unable to be deciphered except a few common words like ‘sir,’ ‘please tell,’ etc. The speaker stood up with his hands folded and said, ’namaste’. He smiled as silence superseded the murmur and started his speech.

’Thank you all for taking your precious time out of the hectic schedule and coming here. I know how difficult it is for a news industry personnel to spare some moments on a writer’s first novel and that too which is under construction. I believe my PR agency has done a great job being able to get you all present here today. I believe in appreciation more than appraisal, so I will write a 5-star feedback for them. Apart from the cocktail and non-veg buffet that will be provided in the YMCA Dining Hall at the lobby right after this press conference, if you have any specific questions related to my novel, I will be happy to answer and explain. By the way, my name is Byju! In case you missed it.’

Byju anxiously waited for anyone to respond. He could sense that the journalists were playing “you first” with each other.

One middle-aged expressionless reporter finally spoke, ‘please explain about the book.’

Byju smiled with closed lips, adjusted his mic, and said, ‘well, the book is all about the problems going on in the world these days and everyone turning a blind eye towards them. Everyone wants a Bhagat Singh or Mahatma Gandhi in the world, but no one wants their own children to be the one. Everyone admires the army men and their sacrifice for the country, but they want their children to do only office work which is considered to be safe. If someone sees an accident on the road, they will just curse others that no one is helping or calling the police, but they don’t want to do it themselves in the first place to avoid any trouble. Houses are splitting because people want nuclear family. Their purpose of life is only to earn more and more, albeit without their own family members. Our legal system is so weak that even when a girl identifies the rapist in front of the judge before she dies of the cruelty she took and also the accused pleads guilty, it takes countless years just for the sentencing, let alone the punishment. If we catch a thief stealing, everyone will beat him to death even if the amount he stole was meagre, but if a big businessman or politician took away a major chunk of our country’s development money, we don’t even file a petition. Malnourishment is prevalent in our country, but tons of food is wasted in parties. I’ve seen ignorant people blocking the way of ambulance and fire brigades. Cheating and forgery are all-time high in today’s society, so much so that even we have stopped trusting our own relatives. Heinous crimes are everywhere, and no one cares till it’s their turn. And finally, when some pure soul comes out to help others or protest, we never support him. It ends either with his murder by the mafia or him being neglected by the society. So, that’s my big question. Are we all blind? Can’t we see what’s happening? Can’t we no longer judge what’s wrong and what’s right? The world has intentionally turned blind with ignorance and selfishness.’ Byju took a deep breath as if to calm himself down.

Everyone got speechless. The truth opened their eyes to reveal the difference between being practical and reality. The pause denoted element of surprise and strong agreement.

A super-slim reporter commented, ‘you are right sir. These days, when someone is fighting on the street, our first preference is to ignore and stay out of it even if the person involved is known to us. We even instruct our children and family members to close the doors and windows and not to go there.’

Byju agreed, ‘yes, and that’s considered to be the default and most acceptable behavior in today’s society. No matter who is wrong and who is right, if it’s a fight or protest, I’m not participating.’

A female reporter with a big red bindi on her forehead asked, ‘you mentioned about nuclear family. Isn’t that a personal choice? How come it’s affecting the society?’

Byju raised his eyebrows to the silly question asked and replied, ‘that’s the root cause of all the problems ma’am. Firstly, the tendency to be alone or separate is in itself a big issue. If a person is taught or experiences this in childhood, he will not relate to his own family members, let alone the society. This will give birth to selfishness and of course ignorance of other’s well-being in the long run. Society is a team effort where everyone should contribute towards mutual welfare. In fact, religious extremism and terrorism flourishes where children learn to separate and to be separate.’

Byju then turned his face toward a spectacled reporter wearing kurta-pajama who had his right hand raised and was waiting for the turn. The reporter noticed the cue and spoke, ‘sir, you didn’t mention about the widespread corruption in our country. Isn’t that an issue as well?’

Byju started by saying, ’yeh bik gayi hai gormint.’ Everyone laughed. Byju continued, ‘I forgot to mention in my intro speech, but of course I’ve written a lot about it in the book. Let’s take the example of politicians. You might get bored when I ask you to compare their monthly income with their total worth, as you might have already heard this and calculated yourself multiple times in the past. Rather, I will just ask a few questions that will have the answer in itself. In any locality you go, tell me who owns the biggest and most expensive houses and properties? Was the individual this rich before he won the election? Also, everyone knows there will be distribution of money and benefits during the election time. Where does the money come from and why does a person want to spend this huge amount for a position which will legally yield him a salary less than a private firm’s B-grade employee?’

Byju had the attention and silence of everyone present in the hall. After all, it was the oblivious reiteration.

‘So, what do you suggest?’ the same middle-aged expressionless reporter asked.

Byju smiled broadly and replied, ‘well, that’s what is under construction. I’ve the idea in my mind but am yet to write it down. I’d rather mention it here first. Just working on perfection in two aspects of the society can solve all these – Education and Legal System. Education will yield knowledgeable citizens with the power of questioning. An unflawed legal system will empower reliability and faith, thereby increasing responsibility. If a society has strong education and legal system, it will definitely grow and prosper.’

A reporter sitting in the front row asked, ‘one final question sir. What’s the name of the book and when are you going to launch it?’

Byju strengthened his voice so everyone could hear him, ’the tentative name of the book is The Blind World. Actually, I named it this way because even though people are not literally blind, they are acting as blind. As the saying goes, “it’s easy to show something to someone who is actually blind than to someone who doesn’t want to see.” I will be launching the book by the end of this month.’

Byju anxiously looked around for further questions, concerns, or suggestions. There were none. Moreover, majority of the reporters were checking on their wristwatch for the time.

Byju folded his hands and said, ’namaskar.’ His eyes blissed as he could sense the journalists were really interested in his book, as some of them wrote notes in their respective writing pads before standing up. As everyone left the hall toward the YMCA Dining Hall in the lobby, Byju sat on the dais with all smiles and happy face. He took a sigh of relief turning to his friend, Rohit, who was all this time standing near the entry-cum-exit door of the hall and helping with crowd management. Rohit came running to the dais and shook Byju’s hand while congratulating him.

‘That was a killer speech man,’ Rohit said with eyes wide-open in amusement.

‘When you write a book, you should know all the aspects about it thoroughly,’ Byju said with his eyes on a poster hanging on the farthest wall. He murmured something as if reading it.

Rohit asked, ‘what are you looking at?’

Byju replied, ‘you see that poster on the wall there?’

Rohit struggled to find it.

’Arrey baba! There, behind the sitting arrangement. What a great quote by Mahatma Gandhi ji, “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”,’ Byju spoke as he pointed his finger at the poster on the wall.

Rohit tried to focus and make sense on what was written. He spoke on a low-tone voice, ‘well, I can see that there is a poster there, but I can’t really read what’s written because it’s too far of a distance to be read by any normal-eyed person. Your eyes must be very sharp.’

Byju pulled his earlobes and spoke with a naughty smile, ‘God’s gift. I don’t take the credit nor the pride for that.’

Byju and Rohit giggled. Rohit took out his phone and captured a selfie. He noticed the time in the cellphone.

’Let’s go and take some lunch bhai. We started late today, and it is already way past lunchtime now. Moreover, it will take a while to get our car out of the parking lot because of the rush outside,’ Rohit said as he attempted to speed up the departing process.

Byju got confused and said, ‘hey, wait! Don’t we have lunch booked here?’

Rohit rolled his eyes and replied, ‘brother, you can’t see the obvious trouble here that I can foresee. We booked the buffet for 50-60 dignitaries, but I stopped counting after 100 who were present in the hall. Apart from that, we have cocktail also on offer. The reporters’ intentions don’t seem to go to work after this but rather gorge on the chicken and drinks till they pass out. YMCA is going to buy a new building with the likely amount due on us.’

Byju was about to say something when Rohit interrupted him and continued, ’also, you are a pure vegetarian and everything on buffet today is non-veg including the dessert which has egg as an ingredient. I’m sacrificing my mutton tikka and the prestigious Royal Stag just for you, so hurry up before I come back to my senses.’

Rohit was the kind of person who was both bulky and active. He looked like a heavyweight MMA wrestler. Calorie was his want and need. So, when he said gotta go, Byju hafta go.