Very long post. Please do not read if you are pressed for time...

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Offered to Astrology with love by RR, no response sought or required from

individuals ...

 

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Segment 11 in a series: (NOTE: Please consult the glossary of acronyms in the

footnotes for partial elaboration)!

 

 

.... " MAYA -- thaaray kinnay roop! " , between bouts of coughing, Kisunjee (KG)

expirated these words in a fragmentary fashion.

 

His new fascination for this earthen pipe in which he smoked tobacco, a new

hobby or preoccupation, this hermit who some said was from Gujrat, others said

from Rajasthan had come recently into the life of TA who was hardly a TA any

longer but being and feeling are two poles of existential realities, are they

not?

 

The telegram from $ was short and urgent, as always. " Kisunjee arriving on your

birthday STOP Bring him from Railway Station and take good care of him STOP Do

not let him smoke STOP "

 

This time around THE train came on the dot just as the Railway Almanac had

promised! For once TA's obsessive punctuality of being on time no matter what,

paid off! Can't keep $'s guest waiting, can we now?

 

At first a bit perplexed, even taken-aback, Chela gradually grew to like this

*creature* from nowhere over the days. Kind of like a new pet who just slept

most of the day (like a cat!), ate very little (also like a cat!!) but was up

all night and active (Also like a ... well, you get the picture!).

 

When TA came back home after his gruelling shift after serving at the parking

lot, he found KG waiting. The oldtimer looked famished, so TA cooked a simple

repast and they had a quiet meal and during that exchanged a few words, mostly

pleasantaries or chit chat about a$hram during the frugal meal. TA found out

eventually that KG was the gurubhai of $ji and was very knowledgeable about

certain things ...

 

That weekend, he discovered too that this marginally crazy KG was a wonderful

and resourceful cook! After the first few minutes of single-mindedly eating

somewhat greedily (ahem!), TA suddenly felt the pang! He longed for his mother

who cooked such a wonderful repast out of pretty much nothing. " Make sure you

clean up the utensils after you are done licking them, for I am off to my

siesta! " , with those words KG vanished! Back from his momentary pleasant

reverie, TA realized that this KAT was no mother, but all Klaws! Kind of took

away the sweet memories and feeling of being cared and pampered for a moment.

But what was never promised cannot be assumed to be an offer, can it be?

 

 

TA had always been interested in this weird arcane game that he and other A$hram

mates played, between fantasies about someday becoming acolytes of Maiden

*Jwalataranga* and learning how to do the Fire-Dance under her tutelage!

 

Much less interesting and even lesser intriguing, was this other game played in

the A$hram involving the drawing and cutting of 21 symbols on pieces of

pieceboard (cardboard as it was called in India back then) -- Funny shapes! Kind

of like the game of MONOPOLY as TA recognized when he grew up and moved to

METROPOLIS also known as BOMBAY where he saw the game being played on real turf.

KG was apparently -- unless $ was lying and even after so many decades away from

him that would be anathema for TA to even imagine -- a wizard in this strange

game of 21 pieces. Twelve of these moved very very slowly backwards while the

other 9 moved kind of haphazardly, sometimes backwards and at other times

forwards, and some always forwards -- hence those two were named leaders: King

and Queen. Some of these cardboard pieces were changeable, in fact ALL of them

were! Temperamental to the hilt, sometimes they would be nice, other times

naughty and at times really really naughty! But the PRIMARY RULE of the game

was: You CANNOT remove even a single of these 9 pieces out of the game. Over the

centuries there were innovations introduced and using the wobbly and uneven

terrain of the game-table as an excuse some suggested removing a few of the 12

pieces but no-one ever thought of removing even a single of the 9 pieces that

were the more active and vibrant and more ALIVE. Even the sluggish deep Blue one

that had some problem with one of his legs, was never seen as a liability by the

team which would happily always wait for him to catch up without ever wondering

if they should have waited! Firstly because it was just a GAME AND because he

always DID CATCH-up! And once he CAUGHT, he would not let go until the victim

said the magic word: UNCLE!

 

The team of 9 always felt kind of overwhelmed by the Team of 12 and so

eventually they began looking around for more players for their team! As their

" perspective " expanded, they saw these three little boys sitting sadly at a

distance seeing these 21 having the fun of their lives. They were invited to

join in and even though now the teams were balanced and had 12 members in

harmony with each hour of the day -- some of the 9 embraced them readily but a

few were a bit luke-warm. The biggest resistance came from the original team of

12 though! Well you see, they did not like change or their supremacy challenged

perhaps and were pretty happy with the earlier arrangement (status quo?).

Wherein, two of the original 9 were connected with two of the 12 and the

remaining 5 that mattered were connected with a pair of the remaining of the 12.

That left the 2 remaining in the team of 9 who were treated as 2nd class

citizens and only sometimes allowed to sleep in one of the palaces that were

'owned' by two of the members of the team of 9. So you see, this was no domain

known as EQUAL-cITY and there were hierarchies and so on, just like the game of

Monopoly that is played in the real Metropolis in real life!

 

The 'new' boys soon proved their worth to the <original> team <of 9> and despite

some bickerings and whinnings and forum fights, the newcomers had to be assigned

three of the 12 Palaces that belonged to the old team <of 9> and three of the

heavier and outer and slower players in the team of 9 had to give up one each of

their PaLACES of rest. They gave up the Palaces that were the farthest out based

on the 'logic' that 'they were there first and so must keep the palaces that are

closest.' [AN: CLOSEST TO WHAT...?]

 

These three 'new' boys really turned out to be resourceful and in-tune with the

here and now and brought along some 2400+ spectators and cheer leaders that

added to the joy of the game of Monopoly, thus making the 'game' really popular

worldwide and so much so that every tournament and game was reported in nearly

every magazine, newspaper, radio and TV show WORLDWIDE! Gazillions of books and

T-Shirts and emblems, bracelets and so on flooded the market and the Team of 12

really attained STARDOM.

 

Gradually there grew an unease and sometimes animosity between the players. The

periodic and predictable 'tackle' that the original two 'homeless' members of

the team (often relegated to the benches, also known as the home of the

" Shadows " ) were allowed on occasion to administer to the king and queen was

suddenly looked upon as disrespectful and rebellious behaviour, even sacrilage.

Stories of all kinds were unearthed to explain some enmity going back a few

millennia. The team was getting more fragmented each day as they never were when

they played at the A$hram near the beautiful snow-clad mountain near the frozen

brook, until they moved to the Metropolis where the rules of the Game became

REAL and somewhat vicious. That was when the game begin to lose popularity and

decay, essentially...

 

What did not change through all these times was the original team of 12! There

were a few half-hearted attempts at bringing in a 13th member, but they stuck to

their *boundaries* and while there were attempts to move them left and right,

the 12 really stuck together and did not change really, not even their names!

Other than looking more like folded cards on which passers by scribbled their

words and some strange ones at that but not entirely unmeaningful, there was

really no change. Words such as marriage, liaison, open enemies, the part below

the navel, the center of gravity and balance, the travels, the people we meet,

the kidneys, the bladder, DEATH?

 

 

" When KG wakes up, I shall beg him to teach me this fantastic game of MONOPOLY " ,

weary old TA yawned and tired by the toils of the day he eased into his comfy

little cat-cushion, shifting a bit to fit snugly. As he changed gears and

drifted into slumberland, he murmured, " Red car goes to the stall number 8, the

yellow one goes to stall #12, NO wait -- into the Stall # 9! Be careful because

they are moving the walls between the different stalls a wee bit to the left...

 

 

 

 

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GENERAL ACRONYMS:

 

*TA= Teenager, Chela (Disciple, acolyte)

**$ = $wamiji (Teacher preacher kinda sorta)

***M1 = Misirji the chowkidar, night watchman pretty close to retiring and still

going strong with his " Jagtey raho " alarm going throughout the night and

irritating both the householder who he was trying to protect and also the rogues

who leave town when Misirji shows up. Darogas and thanevalas still consider

Misirji a nuiscence except a couple of highly placed officers with their

far-reaching sight, naturally from their higher perspective.

& BEE & = Bhikaran a mysterious creature of the night that sometimes shows up as

mystical and at other times just a pathetic illusion.

[AN: Author's notes ...]

KG = Kishunjee the hermit

& & & & & & & & & & ... = The rest as you know has been history!

 

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Love,

 

Rohiniranjan