Of duplicity

Surat Singh
The Boss had quite a number of good qualities in him. In the matters of intellect, sobriety and wisdom he appeared as if he were the one and only amid a crowd of thousands. But with all this he was a human being, a thin, weak earthling of whom it was said:
“Amal se zindagi banti hai janat bhi jahanum bhi.
Yeh khaki apni fitrat mein noori hai na nari hai”.
(It is only action that makes life hell or heaven, this earthling in itself is neither hell nor heaven).
Although with his actions he had accustomed himself to the ways of heaven, but yet how come a human being be freed from the encumbrance of human nature. He too would at times commit follies like other ordinary human beings. On such occasions it would appear as if a bulky fat goat were excreting tiny droppings. The subordinate staff would feel very bad about the boss doing so. They would expect all greatness, truthfulness and goodness from him. Despite all their own evil doings, the subordinates do not bear the superior committing one. It prictus s  them in heart and soul like a thorn. What a thing is life too! At times for its sustenance, just like goodness, evil also becomes indispensable. In the life’s journey, the good and evil are just like the two banks of a river running parallel. They can walk along side by side with inflated chests but cannot meet.
And then as the boss would at times descend from his greatness down to the lower level of committing some ordinary sorts of mistakes, the emotions of the subordinate staff would thereby get stirred up like an earthquake. Their heart’s light would turn dim and their faces would go on fading. They would sit up and lighten the burden of their hearts by talking ill of the boss over and over again. They would pick holes in the working of the boss. On such occasions they would often forget that it is in sync with the act of piety to overlook ten of his vices for the sake of any one good quality. But the name and grandeur of the boss was because of his working. He would not like to agree with the others’ viewpoint but would rather make others fall in line with his dictate. This was the reason that his vices would get eclipsed by his good qualities and they would seldom be visible even with the help of a microscope. For these reasons even those talking ill of him all daylong would at the end of the day proclaim that: “all said and done, the boss is great”. But Sajid’s matters was different. Sajid was the vice of the boss, meaning he was the boss number two. When in front of the boss, he would make the earth and heaven as one with his praise of him in a manner that some poet of Mughal era, driven by his greed for gold-coins, would have sung in praise of the Emperor, the great, with his balladry. But as the boss would turn his back, he would make public his vices in a way that some poet after being kicked out of the Royal Court would lampoon the emperor for his ill-treatment. On this duplicity of his, even the staff critical of the boss would often be surprised. But instead of reforming himself, he would go on and on this way. The boss would continue correcting him with his own style of working. In order to clear the misgivings developing in his mind, the boss would take him into confidence in everything that he would do. But who would tell the boss that the fire and water have
their own peculiar characteristics. The water that boils over the fire for hours, extinguishes the fire too as it spills over. The boss knew everything about all those matters, but would not speak a word. But despite this, the song of his humming silence was clearly audible:
“Ay dil tu bhi khamosh ho jaa
Aagosh mein ghum ko le ke so jaa”.
(O’ heart do pass into silence, sleep away with grief nestled in your bosom).
And then at last even that day also came when the boss was sitting in readiness to go to another place after being transferred. On this day all the subordinate staff were in waiting to bid farewell to the boss in the drawing room of the upper floor. The boss was busy making preparations for joining them. With an eye on their own selfish ends, all people were busy showering praises on the boss in one voice forgetting the bitterness suffered at his hands. But Sajid had not arrived yet. After some time as he came, he sank himself on a cozy mattress in the front and then in a whispering tone, he started talking ill of the boss. He was flinging mud on the boss’s personal character non-stop. All people sitting there were quietly listening to him. At times on his conduct were expressing their disapproval through their looks. But none was speaking out. Their tongues were all dumb. Probably because he was the boss number two. He was still busy spewing venom that in came the boss out of his bed room prepared. All rose in honour of him. As usual, he was dressed up in his traditional simplicity. There was not an inkling of bureaucratic air and affectation about him. His simplicity and gentleness were telling his critics with all vociferousness:
“tar damani hamari pe na jaio, sheikh,
Daman nichod dein toh farishtey vuzu karein”.
(Do not go off over my drenched bosom, O’sheikh, even angles would perform ablution as I wring out).
The moment Sajid saw the boss come, he took a sudden turn in such a way as a fast moving car would take seeing a speeding truck come from the opposite direction, and its helpless brakes only screech. And then the very next moment, he was all praise for the boss. A moment ago a spoil sport who was so strict and proud in his eyes, had suddenly lined up alongside the ‘Saviours’. All people sitting in the drawing room were taken aback. At last Sajid’s old orderly, Karam Din’s sleeping conscience awoke. He rose and said, “now unable sitting here anymore. Am suffocating in this stenchy atmosphere of duplicity. I feel ashamed of even my mere presence in here”. Saying thus, he cast a look on the boss and another on Sajid and then stepped out of the room. On other’s duplicity his eyes were soaked with tears of shame.
(The author is a KAS Officer)

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