This is a Russian tale I read as a child and I am rewriting it: Read to the end and see how it connects with India Today…
The Russian Tale of the Rock of Salt on the Shelf and My Indian Tale
Once upon a time in Russia, there lived a tall strapping, dark-bearded young man named Igor, married to a pretty Russian woman, Anya and they had a sturdy 6-month-old baby boy, Svetoslav. They lived happily in a Russian village, busy with their farming lives.
One afternoon after lunch, as the baby was sleeping peacefully on their huge double bed in the bedroom, the wife suddenly started to weep and wail, rocking herself back and forwards crying out, “Oooooiii, oh God, ooooiiii oooo, waaaaahhhh.”
Her husband shot out of his chair in alarm and ran to her demanding in deep concern, “What happened dear, what is the matter?”
She kept shaking her head and wailing and crying uncontrollably and he begged her, “Tell me fast, please tell me, speak, I can’t bear this, please tell me what happened.”
Anya could barely speak and kept crying unstoppably and beating her chest. The distraught Igor kept pleading with her to tell him what was the matter. Igor rushed to the kitchen and brought back a glass of water and commanded her, “Drink, calm down, and breathe deeply. His wife took the water with trembling hands. Finally, after a few sips of water, the wife took a deep breath and pointed to a shelf above their bed, and said to her husband, “Do you see that shelf?”
He nodded breathlessly staring at the shelf wondering in fascinated horror what was wrong. She continued, “Did you see that rock of salt on the shelf?”
Igor stared hard at a huge piece of glistening white rock salt on the self. In those days, Russians would break off a little salt and grind it to powder from a huge piece of their rocky salt for their cooking.
Igor asked his wife, “So tell me what about that salt?” Igor could not even think what about that salt made his wife weep so heartbreakingly.
His wife continued, “You know the baby is sleeping below that shelf?”
Igor nodded and asked with a tinge of curiosity creeping into his voice, “Yes, and now what about it?” He could not fathom what connection the salt could have with the baby sleeping below.
Anya whispered in horror, “I just thought, if that salt slips and falls down, it will fall on the baby and the baby will die.”
Igor stared at his wife, opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. He could not believe his ears and he pinched himself to make sure he was not dreaming. He asked himself in shock, “Did I just hear what I heard? My wife is crying because a piece of salt may fall on baby and kill him?”
After this, the usually calm Igor suddenly exploded in anger and almost shouted at Anya saying, “Have you lost your senses? How is it even possible? The salt is safe on the self, and for this matter, anything can happen to anyone at any time, be it salt or a storm or lightning. This is ridiculous. I never thought you were so silly, however, if you feel uncomfortable, just pick up the salt and remove it. In fact, I’m putting it in the kitchen, that’s the right place for it to be.”
Igor picked up the piece of rock salt and put it in the kitchen.
Anya looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling silly.
The End
So this is the end of my little Russian tale, but how does it connect with India? Well, today, in 2022, there is a group of people scattered over the country of India. Hovering over timelines and oil lamps, they are peering back into time with historical lenses. We often bump into them in the market places and over Internet spaces.
They are suddenly ridden with a frenzied fear, and many frothing all over with rage. The other day, I saw some of them running down the street carrying swords and shouting and screaming like a band of warriors ready for an invisible battle.
I took the courage to ask one of the raging youths who was wearing an orange band around his head and carrying a pointed red flag, “Why are you so angry, and why are you carrying a sword?”
He snarled at me, “Don’t you know we are going to be attacked?”
I asked him, “Who is attacking you?”
He answered curtly, “The Jihadis”
I asked him in stupefied bewilderment “Jihadis, where?” wondering how they came, and that term “Jihadi” sounded like an alien word from the distant past.
He snapped, “You don’t know anything, they are going to massacre us all and we will be all reduced to nothing, we are going to stop them.”
I looked down the road in interest and asked him, “Where are they?”
He pointed out vaguely, “They are there, all plotting, and very soon you will see them advancing on us to attack us all.”
I asked him, “So they have not started yet, they are going to, did they tell you?”
He said rudely, “You are very dumb, of course, they will attack us. Did you see what Aurangzeb did? They are going to do the same to us.”
I said in shock, “So they are not attacking you but because of Aurangzeb the king who lived in the 17th century, you want to attack them today in the 21st? Also, Aurangzeb was not always a Hindu hater, did you know he also built temples and gave land to Hindus and the Rajputs also helped him?”
He answered flatly, “You are telling lies, and also, we are ensuring the Christians don’t convert us, we will suppress them so hard that they will never dare to convert us.”
I took a deep breath and said to him, “Bhai, the Mughals ruled India for 300 years, in fact, they ruled along with the Indian Rajas and the British ruled for 200 years, and after this, India has 16 percent Muslims and 2 percent Christians, today, but still you are afraid of them, thousands of years later when you are probably ruling in power and in majority all over? Where is the logic in this?
The youth glared at me and said, “You are an agent of the enemy, you are an anti-national. In fact, this is an international conspiracy, you are spreading all these lies, I will report you to the government.”
I replied, “Go ahead, report my international conspiracy.” I walked away to a shop to buy myself a bottle of cold Coca-Cola in the sweltering sun and walked back slowly home.
Unfortunately, my story did not have the same ending as the Russian tale where Anya looked down at her feet, feeling silly. Here in my Indian story, the man instead was threatening to report me to the government for an “international conspiracy.” How ridiculous have some people become nowadays, isn’t it?
The End
Rita
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