The Thar Incident - 12
Continued from Part 11.
******************
The National Security Advisor sat cross legged in front of the Sage.
Behind the Sage stood the great temple, with its towering gopurams constructed by great Hindu emperors and kings.
The National Security Advisor briefly took his attention of the Sage and looked at the beauty and majest of the temple. It was this beauty that had inspired the Traveller to compose the famed sivanandalahiri.
Without much warning the Sage rose, the NSA's attention shifted again as he looked at the Sage. The Sage anticipated his question and asked him to rise.
They began to walk, the Sage ahead and the NSA one step behind on his right. Seeing the Sage walking a number of junior priests at the Shrine walked towards him in case he needed some assistance, but he waved them away. In the distance the children of some visitors played and the Sage made his way towards the river.
"He is going to the Mandapam" the NSA thought. Legend had it that this was where the Veeracharam ritual was once performed, a supreme and bloody act of devotion, self mutilation as a form of surrender to the Almighty... "Ancient history" thought the NSA, but the Sage said nothing and the men walked in silence.
Slowly the two men made their way down the steps, towards the river and the NSA spoke,
"Swamigal, how does one know that this is not some conspiracy to get us to hand over what we have?"
Swamigal replied, "How does one know anything?"
The NSA continued not understanding, "We have no evidence of this treaty, we are reliant completely on their word."
Swamigal replied " What is evidence? the Truth is self evident"
The NSA sensed something,"If it is self evident, then why search for it?"
The Sage said nothing, the NSA continued, "Why not accept that position of ignorance?"
The Sage looked towards the river, the NSA spoke again "What is the price of ignorance and how does it compare to the price paid in the search for the Truth?"
Swamigal finally tired of this line of thinking and spoke "The Truth is self-evident, we seek only the negation of falsehood."
"Then Sire, what is falsehood" the NSA began.
"One can scarcely anticipate that, it is the removal of falsehood that one may seek with some success, the search for evidence of Truth, is a mere phantasm, the evidence will itself become a new falsehood, a shield to the eyes against the light of the truth.." the Sage replied.
" If the Truth is surrounded by Falsehood, its eternal light will cast long shadows. " the Sage continued.
The NSA was unsure, "If I assume that this treaty of 1954 is a lie, then I must treat it as the shadow of the Truth and then by induction"
"The tools of logic ill serve those that seek an end to falsehood. " The Sage interjected, "Look at the shadow and determine which way the Truth lies, and seek only the end to delusion."
Suddenly as the NSA saw what the Sage had been indicating all along.
The meeting ended shortly there after and the NSA prostrated himself before the Sage and left the Temple. Dressed in the most ordinary of ways and lacking any sort of escort, his arrival and departure had gone unnoticed.
As the NSA boarded the bus to the railway station a few miles away, He realised he would have to choose his man carefully.
A few days later a tired and weary Khalid, returned to his home in Delhi. It had been a very trying time back in "the shit", the kilos in their brilliant search for "self-determination" had managed to fill every single graveyard and in most places the only ones left alive were old women and children. Orphans and widows, that was all the Kilo dream of self-determination had left them with and yet the bastards managed to get seduced by it, time and time again.
Things were better now than in the late 90s, but what a pain in the ass, ingrates these kilos were. Though "the Shit" was a large place, Khalid was the Shahenshah of the Kupwara Kings. The title went back a long way to a time in the nineties when the Kupwara Kings had helped pacify a Kilo city. Their efforts had layed the groundwork for a seamless operation by the regulars who took the city in a few days after the Kings moved in. In a little known action, a major Kilo stronghold was reintegrated and the troublemakers done away with. The fellow who headed this was Rustom Kaikhusrao, a good man who went on to do much better elsewhere but Khalid had to stay behind long after Kaikhusrao's men were back down to their CASO routines. Eventually Khalid was moved to other places but now it was right boring, he had finally managed to get some leave to take care of his son's college admissions.
As Khalid relaxed in his house, he pondered what he would do. The bastards upstairs would not let him go farther, there was really nothing for him to do further up anyway, paper pushing was not his thing. He reached for his cup of tea and stared out of his balcony.
Khalid was pissed when the phone rang twice and then stopped and then it did that again. The beeper went off too. "F*CK!!" thought Khalid, a recall. Khalid now raced to his mobile and dialed the number on the pager.
"Khalid here" he said into the phone. The voice on the other end sounded metallic, "do you recognise my voice?" it said. Khalid replied, "Sir I do".
The voice continued"Good, come to see me right now"
"Sir." Khalid replied.
So much for time off Khalid said... and a few minutes later he was off. Well, atleast they don't expect you to dress up.
The trip was a short one, but Khalid was a bit surprised to see the other man in his COs room.
He knew the face, it was too well known among the people that count. As Khalid saluted the man, the CO quietly left the two alone in his office.
"Very fucking odd!" though Khalid.
The NSA sat down and asked Khalid if he wanted anything, and Khalid answered he didn't.
The NSA began, "So you were at North Sentinel Island during the Tsunami relief ops?"
Khalid replied," Yes sir, I was asked to provide aid to the Sentinelese tribals."
The NSA, " tell me more".
Khalid," Sir no one knew their language and no one knew how they would react to seeing outsiders. There was a high risk of them attacking the relief units, and they had already tried to bring down an IAF Helo with arrows, so my squad was sent in."
The NSA said "And?"
Khalid, " we established contact with them and gave them medical support and food supplies."
"How did you communciate with them?" the NSA asked,
Khalid, " We used lookee-see-pointy langauge Sir. they seemed to understand what we were saying, I think they wanted to communcate as much as we did."
Now Khalid's mind was racing," WTF was this about? This shit was all part of civvy-aid ops from ages ago. What did the NSA care about this? was I going to be made a teacher for Sentinelese at the school for langauges? wtf..?"
The NSA gave nothing away, and continued to ask questions, "Give me more details, how many were in your squad, what did you have, communications wise, etc..."
Khalid began to respond, "It was just five of us with AKs and we had one handie between us. There wasn't much ammo, mostly food and medical supplied, IAF ops had reestablished at CarNic so they gave us a lift and dropped us on the shore. The tribals were ..."
This back and forth lasted an hour and by then the NSA knew he had what he wanted.
Finally he looked Khalid straight in the eye and said, "I have something for you to do. You will leave your current deputation and report to me.."
"Very fucking sweet" Khalid thought "And WTF am I to do" he said in his mind..
Seeing Khalid's silence the NSA eyed him again, "Assuming you are in agreement?"
Khalid realized it was not really a question but replied anyway "Yes Sir, but if I may ask, what is this about?"
The NSA now looked at him and after carefully considering his words simply said "It is similar to the Sentinel job, I think we shall call it Sentinel II."
Sweet Asss... though Khalid a paid vacation to the islands at GoI's expense... yahooo!! the last one in the Shit hadn't been nearly fun enough... now this
The NSA continued," Actually it may be a bit more but we will take it as it comes"
Khalid simply replied "Sir."
The NSA asked, "when does your leave end?"
Khalid replied "in a week sir."
"Well you might as well get some rest", the NSA said, "you deserve it. Report to me at this number (handing him a small piece of paper) in 7 days.."
Khalid was pleased, man it was good to be out of the Shit, that place was fucking boring. He sensed that the meeting was over and rose to salute the NSA.
The NSA waved off the salute and said, "You have no questions?"
Khalid replied, "I do Sir, but I figured that you would answer them when the time came.."
The NSA smiled, ah.. the SF.. the only ones you could one hundred percent count on..
"Good then", the NSA said as he walked Khalid to the door, "I have one request, when you get home, and are resting think about something called "First Contact". "
Khalid was a bit confused, he had heard that term used somewhere before but couldn't recall what it meant. "Sir" he replied and walked out of the office.
The NSA now sank back into the chair and stared at the list of honours on the wall. The CO walked in and asked him if he wanted any tea. The NSA indicated now was as good a time as any.
(with apologies to the Great Khalid himself and to Lethal Weapon who gave us Khalid as we now know him)
******************
The National Security Advisor sat cross legged in front of the Sage.
Behind the Sage stood the great temple, with its towering gopurams constructed by great Hindu emperors and kings.
The National Security Advisor briefly took his attention of the Sage and looked at the beauty and majest of the temple. It was this beauty that had inspired the Traveller to compose the famed sivanandalahiri.
Without much warning the Sage rose, the NSA's attention shifted again as he looked at the Sage. The Sage anticipated his question and asked him to rise.
They began to walk, the Sage ahead and the NSA one step behind on his right. Seeing the Sage walking a number of junior priests at the Shrine walked towards him in case he needed some assistance, but he waved them away. In the distance the children of some visitors played and the Sage made his way towards the river.
"He is going to the Mandapam" the NSA thought. Legend had it that this was where the Veeracharam ritual was once performed, a supreme and bloody act of devotion, self mutilation as a form of surrender to the Almighty... "Ancient history" thought the NSA, but the Sage said nothing and the men walked in silence.
Slowly the two men made their way down the steps, towards the river and the NSA spoke,
"Swamigal, how does one know that this is not some conspiracy to get us to hand over what we have?"
Swamigal replied, "How does one know anything?"
The NSA continued not understanding, "We have no evidence of this treaty, we are reliant completely on their word."
Swamigal replied " What is evidence? the Truth is self evident"
The NSA sensed something,"If it is self evident, then why search for it?"
The Sage said nothing, the NSA continued, "Why not accept that position of ignorance?"
The Sage looked towards the river, the NSA spoke again "What is the price of ignorance and how does it compare to the price paid in the search for the Truth?"
Swamigal finally tired of this line of thinking and spoke "The Truth is self-evident, we seek only the negation of falsehood."
"Then Sire, what is falsehood" the NSA began.
"One can scarcely anticipate that, it is the removal of falsehood that one may seek with some success, the search for evidence of Truth, is a mere phantasm, the evidence will itself become a new falsehood, a shield to the eyes against the light of the truth.." the Sage replied.
" If the Truth is surrounded by Falsehood, its eternal light will cast long shadows. " the Sage continued.
The NSA was unsure, "If I assume that this treaty of 1954 is a lie, then I must treat it as the shadow of the Truth and then by induction"
"The tools of logic ill serve those that seek an end to falsehood. " The Sage interjected, "Look at the shadow and determine which way the Truth lies, and seek only the end to delusion."
Suddenly as the NSA saw what the Sage had been indicating all along.
The meeting ended shortly there after and the NSA prostrated himself before the Sage and left the Temple. Dressed in the most ordinary of ways and lacking any sort of escort, his arrival and departure had gone unnoticed.
As the NSA boarded the bus to the railway station a few miles away, He realised he would have to choose his man carefully.
A few days later a tired and weary Khalid, returned to his home in Delhi. It had been a very trying time back in "the shit", the kilos in their brilliant search for "self-determination" had managed to fill every single graveyard and in most places the only ones left alive were old women and children. Orphans and widows, that was all the Kilo dream of self-determination had left them with and yet the bastards managed to get seduced by it, time and time again.
Things were better now than in the late 90s, but what a pain in the ass, ingrates these kilos were. Though "the Shit" was a large place, Khalid was the Shahenshah of the Kupwara Kings. The title went back a long way to a time in the nineties when the Kupwara Kings had helped pacify a Kilo city. Their efforts had layed the groundwork for a seamless operation by the regulars who took the city in a few days after the Kings moved in. In a little known action, a major Kilo stronghold was reintegrated and the troublemakers done away with. The fellow who headed this was Rustom Kaikhusrao, a good man who went on to do much better elsewhere but Khalid had to stay behind long after Kaikhusrao's men were back down to their CASO routines. Eventually Khalid was moved to other places but now it was right boring, he had finally managed to get some leave to take care of his son's college admissions.
As Khalid relaxed in his house, he pondered what he would do. The bastards upstairs would not let him go farther, there was really nothing for him to do further up anyway, paper pushing was not his thing. He reached for his cup of tea and stared out of his balcony.
Khalid was pissed when the phone rang twice and then stopped and then it did that again. The beeper went off too. "F*CK!!" thought Khalid, a recall. Khalid now raced to his mobile and dialed the number on the pager.
"Khalid here" he said into the phone. The voice on the other end sounded metallic, "do you recognise my voice?" it said. Khalid replied, "Sir I do".
The voice continued"Good, come to see me right now"
"Sir." Khalid replied.
So much for time off Khalid said... and a few minutes later he was off. Well, atleast they don't expect you to dress up.
The trip was a short one, but Khalid was a bit surprised to see the other man in his COs room.
He knew the face, it was too well known among the people that count. As Khalid saluted the man, the CO quietly left the two alone in his office.
"Very fucking odd!" though Khalid.
The NSA sat down and asked Khalid if he wanted anything, and Khalid answered he didn't.
The NSA began, "So you were at North Sentinel Island during the Tsunami relief ops?"
Khalid replied," Yes sir, I was asked to provide aid to the Sentinelese tribals."
The NSA, " tell me more".
Khalid," Sir no one knew their language and no one knew how they would react to seeing outsiders. There was a high risk of them attacking the relief units, and they had already tried to bring down an IAF Helo with arrows, so my squad was sent in."
The NSA said "And?"
Khalid, " we established contact with them and gave them medical support and food supplies."
"How did you communciate with them?" the NSA asked,
Khalid, " We used lookee-see-pointy langauge Sir. they seemed to understand what we were saying, I think they wanted to communcate as much as we did."
Now Khalid's mind was racing," WTF was this about? This shit was all part of civvy-aid ops from ages ago. What did the NSA care about this? was I going to be made a teacher for Sentinelese at the school for langauges? wtf..?"
The NSA gave nothing away, and continued to ask questions, "Give me more details, how many were in your squad, what did you have, communications wise, etc..."
Khalid began to respond, "It was just five of us with AKs and we had one handie between us. There wasn't much ammo, mostly food and medical supplied, IAF ops had reestablished at CarNic so they gave us a lift and dropped us on the shore. The tribals were ..."
This back and forth lasted an hour and by then the NSA knew he had what he wanted.
Finally he looked Khalid straight in the eye and said, "I have something for you to do. You will leave your current deputation and report to me.."
"Very fucking sweet" Khalid thought "And WTF am I to do" he said in his mind..
Seeing Khalid's silence the NSA eyed him again, "Assuming you are in agreement?"
Khalid realized it was not really a question but replied anyway "Yes Sir, but if I may ask, what is this about?"
The NSA now looked at him and after carefully considering his words simply said "It is similar to the Sentinel job, I think we shall call it Sentinel II."
Sweet Asss... though Khalid a paid vacation to the islands at GoI's expense... yahooo!! the last one in the Shit hadn't been nearly fun enough... now this
The NSA continued," Actually it may be a bit more but we will take it as it comes"
Khalid simply replied "Sir."
The NSA asked, "when does your leave end?"
Khalid replied "in a week sir."
"Well you might as well get some rest", the NSA said, "you deserve it. Report to me at this number (handing him a small piece of paper) in 7 days.."
Khalid was pleased, man it was good to be out of the Shit, that place was fucking boring. He sensed that the meeting was over and rose to salute the NSA.
The NSA waved off the salute and said, "You have no questions?"
Khalid replied, "I do Sir, but I figured that you would answer them when the time came.."
The NSA smiled, ah.. the SF.. the only ones you could one hundred percent count on..
"Good then", the NSA said as he walked Khalid to the door, "I have one request, when you get home, and are resting think about something called "First Contact". "
Khalid was a bit confused, he had heard that term used somewhere before but couldn't recall what it meant. "Sir" he replied and walked out of the office.
The NSA now sank back into the chair and stared at the list of honours on the wall. The CO walked in and asked him if he wanted any tea. The NSA indicated now was as good a time as any.
(with apologies to the Great Khalid himself and to Lethal Weapon who gave us Khalid as we now know him)
posted by maverick at 12:24 PM
2 Comments:
Great going boss!
Quite gripping and I see streaks of hard sci-fi genre.... the exclusive domain of folks like Stephen Baxter and Stainslav Lem (Frank Herbert too... to an extent). IMO this genre is way better than the run-of the mill space-opera style of sci-fi. Lemme hazard a guess that you are merging this storyline with "The Nine" you promised in an earlier post (but wasn't that to be in graphic novel/comic format?).
Incidently I am trying my hand at some fiction .... fanfiction actually. I am filling in the missing parts of Lord Voldemort's life onlee :) ... first part of my "Muthafu*ka of all Trilogies" :P is set in India and features The Nine. I thought it would be easier to enter dramatic writing thru building up/edititng an existing character (hey, even Gaiman and Moore have done this many a time!) rather than fleshing out a new one.
Anywaya, all the best!
A K
anand,
The Nine is still under development. Apart from the poor cartooning skills, I have yet to make the full story board. I am a great admirer of Kalki, you may be familiar with his works based on the sea faring empires of the South. I want to recreate a Kalki like world but with a modern technological sub structure.
I am quite taken by the repeated themes of proliferation gone wrong in the Mahabharat and Ramayan. The idea that is repeatedly thrust out is that human beings are prone to misjudgement and you might think that it is possible to completely lock away all technology and seek out a pristine state.
I feel this idea is a fallacy, that needs to be exposed. Each state of technological progress comes with a price and proliferation is part of that price.
In the Nine Unknown, I am drawing on the ancient legend to present a portrait of the Maurya Emperor's scientific advisory council - the Nine Unknown. The story board currently starts with a weeping Chakravartin standing on the battlefield of Kalinga, before him thousands of bodies lie scattered and a city that housed millions is now a mass of rubble.
I recently saw screenshots from Gears of War, and read an interview with the creator of the game. The layout of the destruction is a combination of images from Hiroshima and Afghanistan. I was very impressed by the imagery and whatever I draw will be heavily influenced by it.
I realise I am following the oft repeated Buddhist revision of history, the fable of Piyodasi and I apologise but I intend to sidestep this part. I don't really believe this revisionist stand myself but I simply need a setting for the transformation of the Mighty Chakravartin into the humble Asoka.
I will hopefully assemble the story board soon and proceed to the actual artwork afterwards.
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