THE CONSPIRACY

 

There, we all were well-fed for the next phase of our journey. It was all smiles.  I walked out of one of the sacred house.

When I left the rather traditional and primitive environments of the building to the broad and well decorated world, a strange scene caught my attention. 

While I walked down the way through the modern large houses connecting the path leading to my small enclave and still reminiscing the taste and contents of the good food we were fed in the sacred house, I overheard a chat. It was loud, clear and a purpose driven discussion. I saw and heard ugly servants of a mighty and selfish king of a large territory scheming very seemingly wise plans. They were working so hard on extending the already large territory their master owned.

The first of them noticed me eavesdropping on their conversation. I got frightened and  thought this would end their discourse. But then, he just pointed at me and cited me as an example of those who got fed in the sacred house. The others got furious on hearing that I just got fed.  My prosecutor did not end there but said, “Sadly, there are many of his kind who get fed regularly and are surprisingly always happy. That food gives them unusual strength.” I only grasped what he was talking about when he said, “There are many of them who go regularly to that sacred house to be fed” [pointing at where I was coming from].

Another, among them asked what they could do to stop this attitude of ours. One said, let’s crush him now! The others yelled yes! in unison. I was scared and almost started running. But then, one of them who sounded calm, extremely wise and quite older said, “violence would lose the fight”. As though his voice were magical, they all ceased the violent chatter and looked quietly and intently to him as scared servants would to their god.

He continued after a moment of silence which gave me confidence to stay longer and eavesdrop some more. He said, “Let’s give them all they need and then we can control them and later torture them. We would give them money and get their allegiance, we would give ladies who would sexually satisfy their unmarried men. With that done, they’d feel guilty about themselves. Also, to those of them who have plenty, we’d give them some more so that they would spend more time thinking about and managing their wealth. This means, their mind would not concentrate when they go for the feasts at the sacred house. And eventually, their importance attached to that house would dwindle”. My heart was wrapped up in fear after listening to his sermon of destructiveness and I could not record the rest of the submissions the other members made to the conspiracy which sought to entice and win those who go to the sacred house. They fought to win souls for their master’s kingdom.

Oh! My memory. One even said, “Let’s get the one through whom the food comes. We would make him look powerful. We then would make him feel self-sufficient and complacent so much that he’d forget the one who sends the food through him. Also, let’s inject him with a good dose of laziness so that he cannot get enough time to cook the food well. That would reduce the taste and the people who religiously go there to eat would have no more desire for the food he gives”.  After all the plans were marshaled one of them jovially shouted, “Distract them and lure them to where we are”. They dispersed with a song that chorused “Yes! We can” and I left worried and with new convictions.