Karikula stood aghast.
In his hands was the bludgeon and at his feet lay the
village chief Maurya. There was a lot of blood around him and the villagers
were rushing towards him. The strange thing was he had no memory of where he
was at or who this was. Or did he? He was confused. He did not run.
The Chief’s
house
I walked into the village. It had been six months since
Karikula had been imprisoned for murder. He had left my companionship a few
months after the murder case of the Queen and I had not heard from him for 3
years till a story reached my ears. It had taken me six months to find this
village. I did not go to the place where he was imprisoned.
I walked up to the Village Chief’s house and shouted, “
Will someone serve this poor Brahmin some food. I have travelled long and far.
Please..”. The lady of the house came out and invited me in with a smile. She
had the servants serve me food immediately. I ate and conversed with the
servants.
The chief, the new chief i.e., Kataka, walked in as I was
washing up. He saw me and fell at my feet at once. I smiled and said, “I do not
deserve such respect Kataka. Karikula has but hyped my abilities!”. Kataka said, “But he hasn’t! The mere fact
that you just deduced why I fell at your feet with such ease gives me a lot of
confidence.”
I looked at him and said, “Why did you put Karikula in
the cell when you knew the truth, my dear Kataka? “. He looked distressed and
said, “I cannot say”. We talked for a while.
The Cell
In the search of
truth
The so called
truth
At time we put
ourselves
Up to experiment
For the cycle of
prototype
And test
But little do we
understand
What is the
outcome, we seek
And bias it from
the beginning
Karikula sang in a sweet melodious tone. I sat outside
the cell separated by an iron wall. I said, “Without that we do not learn”. He
stopped and let out a happy laugh! Karikula said, “ I knew you would come for
me. Forgive me for leaving without telling you. But I had to. I could not stand
your insane logic.”. I smiled, “ Karikula, I wanted you to leave 6 months
before you left. I drove it so that you would leave and seek what you wanted.
So what have you found my friend?”
He cried, “You elevate me to the level of friend. I do
not deserve that. I have thought long and hard in the cell. I killed the chief
of this town mercilessly. I do not understand how or why. But these past six
months I have come to realize that I probably do not understand myself. I must
have tricked my brain into forgetting. I feel so much pain, shame and embarrassment.
I cannot come to terms with the violence or the murder.” Karikula had lost it.
I smiled and asked, “ Calm down. So what are the exact
feelings that you have gone through over these past six months? Did you think
of anything else but of the brutal murder?”
Karikula hesitated and replied, “ Not till a few weeks
ago. I started exploring the feelings of killing someone. But then I could not
replicate the pain or pleasure. It seemed like an illusion. It didn't exist, it
was more engineered…. “ and then he laughed. Laughed almost like a maniac. But
then again he was the sanest of them all at this moment of revelation.
The journey
begins – Again
We had escaped into the night. We were about 20 kos from
the village. Kataka bid us farewell and turned back towards the village.
Karikula looked at me and said, “ I now understand better master.” I
interjected, “ Not master, but friend”…
He continued with a firm tone, “No master. At times we
create the illusion based on the information surrounding us. Sometimes the
information was lacking, sometimes it is just not true though we think of it as
the truth.”
I bid him goodbye and said, “Someday, I hope our paths
cross again, my friend”.
- A filarial special story
a seqel of sorts to
http://filarial.blogspot.in/2007/07/odyssey-of-karikula.html
and
http://filarial.blogspot.in/2008/04/rise-of-karikula.html
:)
