17 Gandhi
(Just after Independence)
"Gandhiji, you have failed in keeping the country undivided."
Satyankar said to Gandhiji, as he was fasting after the creation of Pakistan.
Despite what the media depicted, it wasn't Gandhiji's fault. As a person who himself had taken part in the freedom struggle, and spent years in Kala Pani, he had come to respect the man, despite his flaws he had, and some of the questionable thinking he held.
Gandhiji kept silent, depressed, and knowing that he didn't have much time left. He intended this to be his last fast, despite all his protests, Pakistan was created, and the country was torn apart.
"But it's not your fault. You are just one man. You were always just one man."
Gandhiji sat down on his bed, wearing on his spectacles.
"This should have never happened."
"And I am going to fix it."
"...!"
Satyankar sighed as he took out his notebook from his bag. But before handing it to Gandhiji, he asked,
"Say, have you ever had sex for fun?"
"What kind of question you are asking!?"
Satyankar just kept a straight face. He already knew his views on the topic. From what he remembered, Gandhiji's father died when he was having 'fun' with his wife. From then on, he started seeing it as a sin if done without the purpose of having kids.
The bs that lust is a sin.
If he considered what questionable thing Gandhiji did in his previous world, it was safe to assume that it was a major character building point of his life.
And if he wanted Gandhiji's cooperation, he needed to crumble that thinking.
Both men stared at each other for a minute, and Gandhiji conceded defeat in the stare-down, and answered.
"It is fine if it is for having kids. Otherwise, we shouldn't do it. It isn't our culture. "
"Hmm, but from the research I did, that's entirely wrong. The notion that lust is a sin is formed by the same people who killed cats for no reason, which caused the Black Plague.
According to our texts, that represent our culture, sex isn't something shameful. It's an integral part of Grihasth-aasan*. Kamasutra is one of the earliest scriptures we have had.
You might not know this, but dildo, a tool for women's sexual pleasure, was invented way before the wheel.
So it being bad, or not being our culture is nothing but narrow-mindedness. Your notion is completely wrong."
"What do you want to prove with that?"
"That non-violence, that is also not our culture. Never have been. It goes against how every living being is built. Be it us humans, cows, or even plants. In our bodies, White blood cells continuously fight things harmful for us, which may be necessary for other living organisms in us.
Violence, riots, these can be subsided once, by someone influential's words alone. They can be subsided twice, with people having more control over themselves. But after two times, it explodes. Anything you do won't lead to peace.
You can't do anything. You are, still, one old man. The Cycle of Hatred is much stronger than you.
A million people can be non-violent, but one person who can't control himself is enough to kill all of them by setting the place on fire."
"You are wrong. The million people can pour water and stop the fire."
"And then what? Would the culprit be forgiven? Even though he may have killed someone's kid in the fire? Will people let him go?"
"..."
"And who says that the million people have enough water? And even if they have, they will be left with very less after putting off the fire big enough to kill them all. Won't they die of thirst then? More so if most of their crops got burnt? Will they forgive the culprit? Will you forgive the culprit?"
"... I will. Killing him won't achieve anything. I will try to look for a way to save the people instead."
"Even if the people who died in the fire are your family?"
"Yes."
Satyankar stared at him, before sighing.
"Killer the culprit will achieve a big thing. It will settle the rage of the million people. But if instead of a single culprit, there are a million culprits, things would be very different."
"Then-"
"But the violence can still be stopped. It can be made so that they don't kill each other."
"...How?"
"Have you read Sambhar¹? The Kesalay² I made in my younger years?"
"Yes."
"So, who was right? Indr, or Asur?"
"Asur. People need to understand each other."
"No. Both were right, and wrong. For simplicity, let's say that Hindus are represented by JungleWallah³, and Muslims are represented by PankhaWallah⁴. Both are killing each other, unable to trust each other and have peace.
But, what if someone more powerful than them combined comes into play, and punish the murders of each clans? Wouldn't the violence decrease over-time?
What if, Sukhiram⁵ and Dukhiram⁶ create a village where both clans can live, and punish anyone who doesn't adhere to the laws of the village? Won't the hatred dissipate generation after generation, until they don't consider themselves to be different from each other?"
"So you plan to..."
Gandhiiji understood what Satyankar meant. He would punish the rioters, getting revenge on the behalf of the people who lost their loved ones instead of them taking it into their own hands. This probably wouldn't be death sentence, but a punishment nevertheless.
"But what if Dukhiram betrays?"
"Dukhiram has already betrayed the village, hasn't he? Well, Jinnah doesn't have any noble cause which got twisted. He is just after power for the sake of it, because he won't get if there is competition. He is not even 1% of Dukhiram."
"So..."
"I won't let Pakistan exist. If this mistake happens, we, and our next generations will suffer wars after wars. Pakistan can't exist without hating India. And I can't wait for Sambhar to come centuries later to resolve something that can be resolved right now.
So, I want you to retire. You have already failed, let me, let us do the job right now. What you consider right and wrong are neither reality nor what is described in the scriptures.
Don't try to blackmail anyone with fasting to give Pakistan recognition. You would be killing billions, including what we are right now, and our future generations for centuries."
"Don't tell me you want to pull something like Dani⁷-"
"No. Obviously not. And let me tell you, there are lakhs of Dani's in our country. And for them, Pankhawalah are not Muslims, but Hindus."
"..."
They stared at each other for a while, and after thinking a lot, Gandhiji conceded.
"Then I will stay out of this matter. I am not in the parliament, so I am sure that if you ever take a wrong path, others will correct that."
"Thank you for agreeing with me. I have to prepare for first session of Constituent Assembly tomorrow, so I will take my leave."
"Hmm. Namaste."
"Namaste."
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(Present)
(23rd January 1948)
(Satyankar's PoV)
Thanks to convincing Gandhiji, we didn't have to give Pakistan its share of the money in the RBI. Good thing that I converted all the pounds into dollars, which USA was happy to do so as it not only lowered Pound's value and increased the debt UK has from USA, it also made India more dependent on it.
Well, no other country could buy all the Pounds in the treasury in such a short amount of time anyway, and UK could block our money.
War would have become impossible to win, especially in such a short amount of time. And even if we did win, the army supplies would have been emptied, with no way of buying new weapons and all major supplies, which all come from outside the country.
But apparently, since Gandhiji didn't make a fuss to give Pakistan its share of money, and even after Pakistan occupied Parts of India was defeated and captured back, he didn't make any fuss, he seems to have triggered the Muslims as much as I have.
"Muhammad S. Ansari murdered Gandhiji. He shot him twice, one shot in the heart region, and the other in head."
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*Author's Note
1- Sambhar is a manga created by Satyamkar in his early years. It is an Indian version of Naruto™.
2- Kesalay means manga.
3- JungleWallah for Senju
4- PankhaWallah for Uchiha
5- Sukhiram for Hashirama
6- Dukhiram for Madara
7- Dani for Danzo
