Friday 14 June 2013

in conversation with Akbar and his nine jewels

As soon as I saw this contest on Indiblogger I thought this was my opportunity  to put to rest the minds of   people who are always worried  and  suspicious of what I am chatting and with whom .

 I thought of  inviting Akbar and his "Navratanas" or nine jewels and discuss the state of affairs prevalent in the  country .

 I invited Birbal first, but he ,the sensible one that he is, said I should first seek permission from  AKBAR  only then will he or any of the other jewels think of talking to me. Now that was understandable ----he belonged to the times(era) when the king was the boss ;any reason of  displeasure and it could be OFF with your head ---not like today when agitations and dharnas would give such a headache to  the king  that he would wish he could order his  own head to be chopped off.

So I invited  Emperor Akbar ,and what a stylish picture  he made  wow !! that majestic aura was there but he wasn't half as fierce looking as Prithviraj kapoor  so when he came on line I asked his permission to chat with and interview his nine jewels he not only allowed me but also showed his willingness to join the group chat on " WeChat "

I couldn't have asked for anything better!! surprisingly he knew all about chatting and messaging ,mobiles and computers. Here is how we went about the whole thing .

I---salaam Jille Ilahi please let us start the conversation and kindly declare the chat session open

he ----let it be so ---let me introduce you to all my jewels -in the orange "achkan" is  -Birbal

I ---who does not know ......( suddenly  I caught Birbal's eyes he was warning me not to praise him more than required that could ruin the whole show ...hmm.... I understood and decided to play low and talk only when required.

he ---( obviously annoyed at the interruption ...but mughal etiquettes prevented him from being rude) .So here are   ..

Birbal---------------in orange 
Raja Todarmal------- in blue
Raja Mansingh-------in green
Abul fazal--------------in pink
Abudurrahim khan-e-khanaa------in brown
Tansen---------------------------- in yellow
Mullah do pyaza----------------in white
Faizee-----------------------------in dark blue
Faqir Azioddin-------------------in offwhite

We exchanged greetings 

 Then the Badshah announced----"this  lady   wants  to  interview  you all, please be honest and straightforward  in your answers "
.
All in chorus---jo huqm Jahapanaah!!!

I shot my first question --what do you think about the state of affairs prevalent in our country ?
They all looked at Akbar and said that they would like a tour of the country before answering this question 

Permission was granted but not before HE himself contacted GOD and took permission from him --matter of protocol---now that is what I call strictly following the rules  how unlike what happens today,no doubt their days were the  golden period  in  Indian history.

So it was decided that we meet after exactly one  hour as that was all the time  they needed to tour Delhi because they thought Delhi being the capital represented and portrayed the state of affairs in the whole of the country.

I logged in exactly after one hour and lo and behold!! they were all there punctual to the dot ---one look at their faces and I knew they had indeed toured the city 

The emperor asked Birbal for his report ---and this is  what he said


"We are lucky Jahanpanah that we don't reside in the Delhi of today
 Delhi is no longer the city of dil walahs (people with golden hearts)
Hoarding of money is what everyone is, in foray
Hoarding money is the main pursuit  the main occupation 
Honesty , piety love reverence are no more the situation 
These things are now missing
There is no consideration for humanity
 The only characteristic is money money and money 
The dignity of women is at stake  
All that rules is a society, which is fake"

Saddened on hearing this the emperor turned towards Raja Todarmal the Financial adviser 


He in turn said


"I am  aghast at the state of affairs
clothes and food are scarce 

 inflation is at its peak 
death and hunger and illness are playing hide and seek" 



It was Faqir Azioddin's turn now 
and he quitely mumbled


" the only way that may be effective and which may bring some solace
is to be very very strict with the law breakers
otherwise nothing would be saved and total anarchy will win the race"

Raja Mansingh who was the general of the army  too had nothing to say 


"I am  aghast and devastated
  corruption has even entered the forces

but  there are  a few people who are still honest
and they  may curb the wave which coerces"


On hearing ,that there still were some honest people  remaining Akbar said 'Amin' and turned towards Tansen in the hope that he would have some good news about music and dance and other cultural activities but Tansen too had nothing optimistic to say He  lamented that


" modern music Alampanah
has no characteristics of peace
and is  very far from the soothing effects
which makes music  valuable and worthy of feast "

Abul fazal

and 
Abudurrahim khan-e-khanaa

excused themselves even before the Badshah could ask them anything,
they said 

"Pray
we are  disgusted
and have  nothing to say "


Now it was Mullah- do- pyaza's turn and everyone was astonished to see him sobbing, all that he uttered was



"Jahapanah please don't ask me anything
we are all reduced to names of cuisines
 we are sold as 'murg do pyaza' and 'navratan' korma
 people relish us and eat us till they are bursting at the seams "


Everyone now turned towards Faizee Sahab who was waiting quietly; saddened  and in a state of shock ----when we asked him about his comments he said

"what happened to our teachings
we had handed over to the peple things like Din - e- elahi
and a rich heritage with a message of tolerance and love underlying
how come all that has vanished
has some bad omen fallen on the people to make them become like this ??"

He then raised his hands towards the Gods and prayed to them to bring more sense in the heads of the people and to bring better days on the nation .

On hearing his prayers and seeing him plead, we too all of us put up our hands and with tears in our eyes begged the lord to bless our country once again and to bring better days on our land 


After this we thought of logging off --we all had heavy hearts and tears ---I felt ashamed to be a representative of the times and people who had .brought about this deplorable condition on our country ---but Akbar said I need not lose heart and he was sure better days will come back again ---we all said AMEN  and then logged off .


It was quite late and I was so depressed that I could not suppress my sobs which irritated my husband 

"What is it now ? what has caused you to sob ?"

"Nothing ,you will come to know tomorrow about the cause".I said and wrapped myself with my blanket.







this is my entry for the   contest 

 "WeChat with Anyone, Anywhere!" on indiblogger and the link is ......

 WeChat's Youtube channel



10 comments:

  1. What a bright idea,chatting with nine jewels & hearing their lamentations in poetry.
    Despite all the progress we are supposed to have made-what is the result?
    Wish you all the best for the contest!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WOW Indu ji

      what a pleasant surprize ----THAANKYOU so much for the visit and the wishes I do need them badly .

      thanks once again Indu ji
      warm regards
      rajni

      Delete
  2. Superb idea penned very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Rio De La Sciocco

      for the visit and the appreciation ,You are welcome to my blogspace please do keep visiting
      regards
      rajni

      Delete
  3. Poetry, history, current affairs - you packed all of it so neatly in this contest! Loved the chat, more so the way it was written in poetry form. So much creativity, wow! All the best :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Arti

      seeing you after a long time

      thanks for appreciating
      regards
      rajni

      Delete
  4. Lovely post Rajni :) loved the touch of history. all the best :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Saurabh

      so glad you liked the writeup.

      seeing you after a long time

      do keep visiting
      regards
      rajni

      Delete
  5. Very wonderfully put :)
    Great group of people & I love the way you captured the essence of history with current affairs & presented it in prose :)
    All the best for the contest!!

    ReplyDelete