No evolutionary biologist might have ever imagined that at a point in human history an ordinary person with no scientific knack would turn his back to their ages-consuming findings and principles. But they must have held a point that nothing remains unchallenged for eternity as change is inevitable be it on earth, in heaven or hell.
And I must tell my esteemed readers that I am not writing this piece out of influence of Franz Kafka´s ´The Metamorphosis´, in which a character, Gregor Samsa, wakes up from anxious dreams to discover that in bed he has been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. I do not have to borrow from creations across the seven seas as our own surrounding abounds in unexplored symbols teasing us.
I believe images and metaphors are to be dug out of repressed repertoires of societal negligence rather than borrow them from predecessors. This will give a new dimension to our hackneyed reaction to existence, which always calls for renewed perspectives every moment we live through.
One does not like to break with the traditional fold in normal circumstances. Similarly, it feels extremely odd to relate one´s existence with that of the toads, which are considered the most uncouth and boorish of creatures on earth.
One fine day I discovered that I was every inch a toad. But I need not shriek and croak. Instead, I sing a song of sangfroid.
It so happened that recently I was talking to a like-minded friend. Unprecedentedly, he started talking strange, and sounded unintelligible at times. I could not but disagree with him. He seemed to have changed his stance and position on the philosophy of immediate political happenstance. His was an opinion obviously aimed at ensuring convenience in life.
He did not want to differ from the majority. Above all, he was unhesitatingly buying the views of the bigwigs featured and broadcast on radio stations and television channels. In the next few days, I barged into conversations with people from diverse disciplines who come into my contact on a regular basis. I was oddly poised against them in the discussions that ensued on and on. I did not know who was at fault – me or them.
The idiot-box emitted images and blared the Prime Minister; ministers and main opposition leaders were making strange noises. Still, people were agreeing with them and echoing their worldviews. The most shocking of them all was the crestfallen main opposition leader speaking from the mold created by the establishment. His senility had already taken over remnants of his ingenuity I had wrongly associated with him.
The world around me seemed to have gone uniform in thought and language without my anticipation. So, I badly needed to confirm my sanity – or was it theirs! And I started going through various books. It was not long before I stumbled across a concise poem by Stephen Crane, an American poet, that said:
"Think as I think," said a man.
"Or you are abominably wicked:
You are a toad."
And after I had thought of it,
I said, "I will, then, be a toad."
This poem is probably the most powerful embodiment of democratic ideals by dint of its clarity of thought and brevity of expression. The speaker has willingly upheld his individuality by admitting to be a toad.
It immediately dawned upon me that I had already gone a toad in the midst of people, who had wanted to retain their tenor of life compromising their individuality. Actually, I could sense it within no time that a ´thought police´ had been unleashed by the radicals representing the establishment. Conformity was the only weapon sponsored by the state to its citizens. And they had been already accustomed to this new atmosphere.
In fact, I had gone a toad for so long – which I was unaware of, though. I had to decide – I was ´either with them or not´, to quote Bush, the greatest terminolgy coined in the aftermath of 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. From then, I have been identifying myself with a toad when it comes to presenting myself before the fellow-beings of my country plus my acquaintances.
I have immensely benefited from this toad-enlightenment as I have not yet received any black eyes to date. In addition, it has helped me find in Barack Obama, a fervent believer of toads, who uttered the following words shortly after being elected to the White House, on November 4, 2008, in Chicago:
"… To those … whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, and I will be your president too …"
The moment I listened to this speech, I instantly sensed toads´ appreciation and recognition in it, and of others of the same species.
He has directly acknowledged the important roles of Stephen Crane´s toads (I am one of them, for sure!) in creating an unparalleled history and inspiring hope in millions of people across the globe. He is best equipped to listen, respect and reinforce their rights to differ. So, what if the central leaders in Kathmandu and the local ones in the hinterlands loathe toads?
Here is the greatest consolation in being a toad beyond doubt. But being a toad is to tread a perilous path in the light of false revolutionaries trying to debar us from lodging our displeasures against a culture of silence being imposed on us and conspiracies hatched against our free will and conscience.
So, what say you? Got any guts to join this lot? Discard the masks and bare the heart and join us in a brave world. This century is going to be a toads´ world from now on. The rat snakes of false radicalism cannot keep stretching their plastic fangs under any pretexts – they are dying of a poison formed out of remixed utopian dreams distributed by themselves.
(The writer teaches English at Patan Multiple Campus, Lalitpur.)
bneupane40@gmail.com
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