Dictator

“Write a story” the words were yet echoing in the ears of sandy, “the topic of your story is- an ideal leader” further adding that ” and i dont want any copied substance. Write something original for your own sake and for the sake of this exercise. This is the only holiday homework i am giving you for these vacations”
After the class was over sandy remembers clearly the whole class was discussing this unusual homework.
” r u really interested in that stuff
What stuff
That story about your ideal leader
Are you going to do it?
Yup. Guess how. Simple. Long live google. Copy paste
Oh well & good.& i will copy yours

Everybody laughed. But sandy was not one of those who would laugh on such creative endeavours. Usually he used to fall flat on bed after reaching home. But not today. He was thinking all the way to home, while having lunch. He had a lot of holiday homework at disposal but the only thing he was interested in was the story. He picked up his notebook and tried to scribble just to get convinced that he was writing trash so he tore the page & started thinking. How would my leader would look? How will he work? What exactly will he do? He pondered & pondered with no avail.

Evening had set in & he was still clueless. He saw his father coming home but he was engrossed so he didn’t care. But then something struck him. Papa, yes he has like all middle aged adults consider themselves to be a pro in everything political. They can debate ferociously, can brainstorm over Over government policies more than the bureaucrats, can criticize govt in such a fashion that will bring shame to the finest intellectuals of the country

So sandy rose from his bed perhaps for the first time in hours. His father was as usual watching a news channel & occasionaly commenting on people and parties.
“These idiots. They dont know a thing about governance. God knows who elected them”.

Irony is that dad himself voted for the ruling party, sandy giggled . So he went in.
What happened. Why r u standing there. Dad asked him
Just some help.
What help exactly?
We have to write a story dad & i am not getting ideas.
Father become serious- so how can i help

Our topic is – an ideal leader according to you. You are a pro in political matters so perhaps you can help me in this matter. What do u think would be an ideal leader for this country.

Son, father said. Seriously speaking nothing can change this country. Even if by god’s grace there is a good politician there is no ideal mass for them. Perhaps we dont understand the language of persuasion.
But yeah our politicians are the nonsense in this world.

Sandy became confused- so what exactly is the solution dad

I dont think there is a solution. Yeah maybe a dictator is needed in this country.

Though father said this very casually. It strike sandy like a lightening bolt. Dictator, yes this is what we need. Dictator one who could supress the corrupt, insensitive politicians, dictator who could enforce values, morals laws and can effectively condemn the offender. Yes we need a dictator. But then he asked himself. What kind of dictator?

He thought and thought and thought. & he found the solution lying in his bag. His history book. In the book of history of class 9th he could read the history of Russia and Germany in simultaneous chapters. Stalin and Hitler the two most notorious dictators became his hero,

So he began writing his story. In a world of chaos he wrote, where anarchy, bigotry, communalism all had coloured the nation dark. Where leaders no longer care about their subjects nor do masses respected their leaders. When riots became an everyday business and religion became the only true identity of the people. To save the nation from ultimate collapse the few rare thinking brains found a solution, a dictator.

He suddenly stopped writing. But who was this dictator? Was he a messiah an alien or a superhero. If he was a simple person how was he different from the masses? He couldnt think of something. He asked his mother. Mother told him- ur story lacks emotions. Add some emotions to it. So the dictator should be a victim in the hands of the people. He lost his family in communal riots. He was forced to beg do trivial jobs. He was badly treated by the world. Thus he generated deep hatred for the people. He promised himself that one day they have to pay back.So sandy got a background. So he worked hard and studied via govt schools and scholarships. He became a well to do officer but he still resented the world. He hated everyone.

He again stopped writing. He should also hate the govt or else why would he become a dictator? But why would he hate the govt. Perhaps….. perhaps they suspended him when he tried to unearth a scam. He became so disillusioned from the govt that when the thinking asked him he joined instantly.

He applied the easiest strategy for victory. He provoked everyone. And everything happened as happened with lenin- thesis, antithesis, synthesis. People started thinking- yes the govt. Is bad we dont need it. Many agitated others gave silent support. Those who were against them were supressed.

It was third time he stopped writing. Wait a minute. Dictator is our hero how can he do anything bad. Then he got an explanation. Everything is fair in war and love. & if ur intentions r good then a bit of treachery doesnt count like pandavas did in mahabharata. Another thing came to his mind that made him smile. You dont need to be right everytime . You are right if you can convince others that you are right

So he became a dictator. Dictator…. wait a minute what was his name. He thought some names but then said my story needs universal value. If i name him then people will understand them according to his religion or caste. No he is just dictator.

Now what. What will he do? So now he read his history book & got another idea. Hitler to discriminate different races ordered that every jew need to wear a david star. But my dictator would not do this to kill anyone just to differentiate.

But there are no racial discrimination in our country. Of course not but there are other type of discrimination- religion and caste. There were others types too but these two are like the identity of the population. So the dictator… he gave a star each to all religions of different colours. All religions are equally bad. We should scrap our religion. Oh no but i cant write this. If mom or sir reads this they will get offended. So eventually. He orders. All people will have different settlements acc. To their religions. No person of one religion will live or work with the person of other religion. Oh no, for this he have to change the whole economy and society but afterall he is a dictator he can do anything. In his heart he knows that he is being impractical but he hoped no one would go into such details.

And what about caste. Yes castes are seen through surnames. Surnames show ur caste identity. So scrap the castes. Yes. Hope mom and sir are not so uncompromising over caste. So there would be many ram ramesh etc. What to do. So everyone will have a code. Code made of their date of birth etc. Every person has a unique code which will replace their surname

He stopped again. Oh i am getting bored of this story.i never wrote any ans. More than 2 pages and now…. so he did many developments and the country became prosperous and all were happy again. He wrote things like that and ended the story hastly. Oh i am so tired. He lay on bed and instantly fall asleep

People with different stars saffron green white red in different homes. All were so happy that they forgot all religions. Happy in their own community.

A boy ,a stupid boy appeared. Stupid bcz he was homeless. He had star on his chest but not food. He beg people but no one helped. He went to a colony and never returned. Stupid boy. He forgot that he entered the colony of a different religion. His body was found in a gutter dead. No one cared abt him. But the star. Oh they killed our kinsmen. The people who didnt gave alms to him ever started fighting over his body. Oh the other community killed the person of our community.

Revenge!! Revenge!!

And everything destroyed. Everyone was killed.

People were running to save lives either their own life or that family But a woman and her child were struck in between. He was new born and she due to maternal complications cant move. A passing by man out to kill the rivals with a sword in hand took pity on them. He approached her with compassion. Bit as soon as he saw his star. He changed. Not from my religion. He child whom he had took in his hand become object of his hatred. He slashed his sword and…

No…. he shouted & woke up. Damn the boy the child it was all dream. He wanted to sleep again but could not. The faces haunted him. He could see the face of the boy. No i don’t need a religion. I dont care about my mom i dont need religion. That dictator is a monster. His parents died of riots and now people have to pay back. No this can’t be my dictator. This cant be my dictator he began to sob.

Is this the same dictator i made. No i did not but yes i did. Is this the religion the people follow. No they dont….. yes they do.
School reopens after 1 week vacation. Teacher after taking attendance asked. I havent got all notebooks. Where are the rest. Raise your hands.
Some hands rose reluctantly. Some with the age old explanation i forgot my notebook and i will bring tmrw.
Surprisingly sandy also rose his hand.
Teacher asked him why didnt you submit your notebook
He gave a classic reply but alas the teacher couldnt grasp the real meaning of this statement
“My story….. has not yet completed”

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