A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

The speaker fell silent all at once since
he had suddenly appeared at the control
room door in his night suit.
‘Sir, I was making a call to you only.’
The shift In-charge said, taken aback.
‘I had gone straight to the boiler. I
am coming from there only. The furnace
has opened up near the ‘C’ row burner.
Such a big leakage! What were the other
indications?’
Everyone in the control room used
to get stunned beyond wits. All the things
started moving in the right track — as
usual!
After his departure, whispers started
again, ‘The old man is incorrigible. It
appears that some transmitter of the plant
is directly connected to his mind.’
When his difficulty started increasing
in the meeting, he started using the ‘hearingaid’
machine much against his desire,
heeding to Saroj’s advice and the doctor’s.
He used to keep the battery in the pocket
and put the machines in his ears. He used
to feel awkward. Immediately after the
meeting, he used to take out the machine
as if till then he was doing some obscene
activity in the open. He could not manage
much for long. It appeared to him that
by using the machine, his weakness had
become evident to the world. He himself
used to feel inferiority in his personality.
People used to be over-awed by his
brashness without the machines. Many
problems relating to management used
to get solved by the dint of his command.
He appeared to lose this facility due to
the machines. Sometimes, he used to think
- A man’s body becomes dependent on
so many crutches - specs for the weakness
of the eyes, hearing machine for ears and
wig for a balding scalp. lf he starts using
all the crutches, it will seem as if he was
part of some drama with make up. He
is not living his real life.
Then he used to hear the voice of
the plant. ‘See me, how much I limp.
You can see the stress on my limbs. There
is no proper care still I am running. I
am going on producing with varieties of
make ups.’
This does happen. The world moves
in this way, like the law of nature. Men
and plants keep on moving, not like the
trees, but like mountains, moon and the
sun, and the rotation of the seasons. Nobody
pauses. As if the man made plants are
also a part of nature. To keep them moving
is the same divine work like keeping the
time in motion. Coming to this turn of
his thoughts, he used to experience
unfathomable self-confidence and power
of the Creator of the universe within himself
and feel re-assured.
But after coming to Delhi, this reassurance
seemed to be slipping out of
his hands. He was feeling himself helpless.
Surrounded from all sides by buildings,
roads, vehicles and cosmopolitan thinking
January-March 2012 :: 97