Scattered Fates by Ram Garikipati (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

Moon understood that the caste system was a complex and outdated system that divided people on the basis of their occupation. He also read that the Indian government had outlawed this practice, but the people were not ready to let go. It was however the first time that he heard a defense of this system.

‘How do you know your God appointed Brahmins to rule?’

‘It is mentioned in the Vedas, our oldest sacred book written 1500 years before Jesus Christ was born. You can read it if you doubt me.’

‘Maybe it was written by Brahmins.’

‘Aren’t you a Buddhist?’ Vinay asked ignoring his statement.

‘No, I have no religion.’

‘What do you mean no religion? Everyone has a religion. I was born a Hindu and will die a Hindu.’

‘In Corea, no one cares what our parents religion is. Every individual has a right to choose his own faith.’

‘That is impossible.’

‘No. I am not lying.’

‘How can you have no religion? I don’t believe you.’

By now Moon was getting really exasperated, wanting to give him a tight slap, turn around and leave, but he was hungry and spotted a restaurant ahead.

So glad this guy is leaving town soon.

‘Is that the restaurant?’ he pointed ahead.

‘Wrong, this street is littered with idli-sambar and halal restaurants. Our place is just behind that building, the best vegetarian food in Madras. It is owned by a pure Brahmin from Allahabad, he is also a Sharma, belongs to my sub-caste.’

‘Vegetarian? I could do with some pork or beef.’

‘This is not England. You don’t get pork and beef here, tauba, tauba.’

‘What about chicken?’

‘Don’t worry it won’t be like that sambar you get in the mess. Brahmins are not supposed to eat non-vegetarian, I do not even eat onion and garlic. The food here is strictly made according to the Vedic traditions, very healthy and delicious. There is our restaurant.’

It was dingy and dark, mostly empty with just two other customers seated on a table, a shaggy young boy digging the dirt from his nails with a matchstick and a pot-bellied old man sitting at the counter.

They took a corner table, and without asking, Vinay shouted out an order to the boy, who returned immediately with some strange smelling dishes.

Seem like leftovers from yesterday.

‘No rice?’ Moon enquired.

‘No, we don’t eat rice. We eat roti. Rice makes you lazy and dimwitted, like all the madrasis. We eat wheat which keeps us strong and active.’

Moon cringed as he saw the food laid out in front. There was some brown fluffy pancake like stuff, a bowl with brown ttong which looked even more disgusting than sambar, a lump of fried vegetables floating in oil, and a piece of raw mango stuck in gochujang. There was no way he could eat this.

I can even tolerate rice with sambar now, no wonder he is so fat and dumb. Shikya.

‘Oh, I completely forgot, Professor Subbaiah wanted to meet me in his office. I am sorry, I have to rush.’

‘Are you sure? Fine, I can finish everything. Just pay me your share; one rupee.’

Moon hurriedly placed a few coins on the table and fled. He made his way to the hostel mess, expecting to find it empty, with all the students protesting at fort.

Arriving, fifteen minutes later, he was surprised to find it buzzing with activity; even protesting students cannot avoid lunch breaks. Looking around for familiar faces, he was disappointed. Andy and his other friends were still out watching Goldfinger.

Moon chose a corner bench next to some local students who were arguing at the top of their voice. Relatively, it was the least noisy place in the entire room.

They gave a quick glance as he bowed his head and continued their discussion, ignoring him.

The rice and sambar tasted quite good today, and he actually enjoyed the taste. Maybe it was the rebound effect from the disgusting tin shed food that he just escaped. He silently finished his plate and fled again, this time to Professor Subbaiah’s office.

The door was not locked, but it was closed shut from inside. He put his ear close to the door, and heard a radio. Taking a moment, he knocked on it hard.

‘Professor Subbaiah?’

No response.

He tried again, knocking harder. This time there was a click and the door opened.

‘Hello, Moon, I was expecting you.’

‘Sir, is everything under control?’

‘Not yet, this is a historic moment, you are lucky to be able to witness everything firsthand, and will never forget it.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘At 2.30 our Prime Minister is going to address the nation, and make an announcement that will impact the future of India as one country.’

‘Sir, can you explain?’

‘You have been here for a month now. I am sure you know the anti-Hindi agitation.’

‘I have the basic information, Professor Ganapathy gave me the background in the morning.’

‘Ganapathy? He may have omitted some basic facts which he disagrees with.’

‘He explained about the agitation, but said that some political parties are taking advantage of it by making it a caste issue.’

‘He always argues that with me, but it is a historic fact. Brahmins, who are a minority run the Congress party, yet control all the power in India. They have manipulated the system to push the majority out of power. Ours is a self-respect movement trying to put a stop to this oppression.’

‘Isn’t that different from the language issue?’

‘No, it is all connected. It is very simple. I can understand the North Indian’s wanting to make Hindi the national language, they want to get all the jobs and benefits by keeping us out, but why do the Congress politicians from South India support this policy? It is all a Brahmin conspiracy.’

That is possible. English or French politicians would never support German as the national language of Europe.

‘Maybe they are just following orders from their leaders.’

‘Exactly. If they are just doing that, then they have no right to represent us, we need leaders who understand our concerns and are not bothered about what their bosses say. You know our chief minister is from Madras, but he is trying to force this issue.’

‘I heard they promised to continue English as official language.’

‘Yes that was the promise Shastri made us, but there are other powerful politicians in the Congress party who want to sideline him, and are using the Hindi issue to become popular in their own constituencies. Anna got information that they may announce a new policy starting next month.’

‘Doesn’t Shastri have the final say?’

‘He is the most powerful man in India, but very simple and naïve, always in the shadow of Nehru who was a globally recognized statesman, the others can easily manipulate him, including Nehru’s own daughter who thinks it is her divine right to be Prime Minister.’

‘Isn’t India a democracy, where the people vote to decide?’

‘Yes, but because of illiteracy and poverty, it is a few powerful people who finally get to manipulate the end result and decide what is best for the rest of the country. They are using Hindi to weaken Shastri and gain control.’

‘Sir, excuse me, I just realized that you are using the family names for all North Indians, although you are against using family names.’

‘You are right, very sharp observation. In North India, everyone uses the family name to identify people, so unconsciously we also tend to use the family names when we refer to them. This is the kind of slimy cultural imperialism that I am against.’

‘What will happen if Shastri sticks to his promise?’

‘That is what we are waiting for.’

‘What if he backs down?’

‘We will relaunch our agitation; our party has already started discussions with other South Indian leaders for the future course of action. Although they did not join our movement earlier, we are convincing them this time,’ he said glancing at the clock.

‘You mean from the other states?’

‘Yes. Andhra, Mysore and Kerala. We should also be able to convince Pondicherry and Goa. If all of us agitate together, the other states like Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra may join. The Center will have no option but to keep English as the official language,’ Subbaiah said, turning the volume knob on his transistor.

…. you were just listening the afternoon news. This is All India Radio. The time is 2.30 pm. We regret to inform you that due to unavoidable circumstances the address to the nation by Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji has been postponed. We will let to you know the rescheduled time after confirmation. Please stand by for our next program Krishi Darshan.

‘Something is not right, definitely wrong,’ Subbaiah said.

‘Maybe he will give his speech in the evening. In my country, our Prime Minister always gives a radio broadcast either early in the morning or evening.’

‘You are right, 2.30 is not the right time to address the nation. Somehow, I still have a feeling that something bad is happening, maybe Ganapathy knows. Where did you see him in the morning?’

‘He was near Senate Hall, and went home saying that he has to talk to someone in Delhi.’

‘I better go to his house.’

However, there was no need for that, as Ganapathy suddenly barged into the room, panting.

‘Subbaiah, Subbaiah, I have some news for you.’

‘Hello Ganapathy, I was just thinking of you.’

‘I talked to my brother-in-law, Damodaran, who works in the Ministry of Planning. You met him last summer.’

‘What did he say? Any news about the Hindi policy?’

‘Something even more shocking, there are rumors that Shastri will resign, and is going to submit his letter to President Radhakrishna today evening.’

‘What? Why?’

‘The Congress party has split; Indira Nehru has set up a rival party and has the support of 251 Congress MPs, only 110 are supporting Shastri. As you know, of the 494 seats, the Congress has 361, and it takes the support of only 247 MPs to form a government.’

‘What is the reason for this split?’

‘Hindi of course. The Indira coterie wants to make Hindi the national language which is opposed by Shastri.’

‘Wait, if I remember right, in the 1962 elections, there were around 96 Congress MPs from South India, 41 from Maharashtra, 22 from West Bengal, 16 from Gujarat… you mean some of non-Hindi MPs also want to impose Hindi?’

‘That is right.’

‘Shameful, truly shameful, they will do anything for power.’

‘Indira will be announced as the new Prime Minister today evening. She may make a statement about Hindi in her acceptance speech.’

‘Isn’t she a member of the Rajya Sabha? How can she become Prime Minister, she has never won an election?’

‘She doesn’t need to, the Constitution allows for our Prime Minister to be from the upper house. I am sure there will be many more Prime Ministers in the future, who are unelectable.’

‘Oh my God! If she announces that Hindi will become the sole national language there will be riots here, it will be worse than last time. Today’s demonstration was just a scare tactic, and we never expected this.’

‘Sir, should I go back to my country? Vinay was mentioning something about a civil war,’ Moon interrupted.

‘Who is Vinay?’

‘My roommate, he has decided to go back to his hometown in North India.’

‘Bullshit, we are all against another partition. You know India was already divided after independence. Millions died and it was traumatic. Once is enough, we love our country as much as the North Indians, although, we do hate this obsession with Kashmir.’

‘What if your leaders decide to fight for a separate country? Will you support them?’

Subbaiah kept quiet, as Ganapathy shrugged his shoulders.

No one knew what lay ahead.

Whatever happens, happens for the good.

Chapter 5: CLOSE ENCOUNTER

‘Hope your friends are cool guys,’ Maya said, seated comfortably, as Naga steered the car away from Anna Square, towards the Taj Coromandel, a five star hotel with the best choice of restaurants in the city.

‘Yes, Mathew is one of my oldest friends in Madras. We were together in MCC during our Bachelors, actually next-door