Our own Pandoras

Published On: January 28, 2017 12:15 AM NPT By: Usha Pokharel


“We had Pandora who brought all the troubles to the world and you have your politicians” 
We all dream during our sleep. Sometimes we remember our dreams and sometimes we don’t. Even if we remember them, the memory is often short-lived. But some dreams are so disturbing they stick with us for a long time. I too don’t usually remember my dreams but sometimes they are elaborate, lucid and very realistic, almost like a nightmare. I would like to share one such dream today that has left a lasting imprint on me.  

One night, I fell asleep while reading Greek mythology. In my dream I heard someone laughing and telling me, “I see you guys are no different. We had Pandora to bring all the troubles to the world and you have your politicians do that for you”. I was puzzled. In my dream I looked around to see a person sitting on a hill nearby. Perhaps aware that I was confused, the person further said, “You don’t quite get it, do you? Do you even know about Pandora?” Now that puzzled me even more. I had read the story of Pandora several times, but I could not recall anything in my dream. So I had no option but to endure hearing the story from him one more time. 

He continued, “It’s a story about Zeus [the sky and thunder god in Greek mythology] and two brothers, Epimetheus and Prometheus, of ancient Greece. Once, when the humans had upset Zeus, he had as a punishment taken away their ability to make fire. But Prometheus stole fire from the furnace of Hephaestus [the god of craftsmanship] and gave it back to humans. Zeus was annoyed by his action and planned to punish Prometheus for giving people fire, without his permission and the humans for disregarding his orders. 

“Soon after, Zeus commanded Hephaestus to make the first woman, Pandora. When Pandora was ready, Zeus sent her to Epimetheus as his prospective bride, because he knew Prometheus was far too intelligent to fall for his tricks. Despite being cautioned by Prometheus, Epimetheus was captivated by Pandora’s beauty and married her. That was not all. Zeus had also given Pandora a locked box as a gift, but made her promise to never open it. He gave the key to Epimetheus and cautioned him to never open the box.

Actually, Zeus expected Epimetheus to give in to his curiosity and open the box but Pandora, who was even more curious, beat him to it. 

“One day, while Epimetheus was sleeping, Pandora stole the key and opened the box.

Her excitement turned into horror. Instead of the box being filled with wonderful things, Zeus had packed it with all kinds of diseases, crime, hate and envy, and all the other bad things people had never got to experience before. On opening the box, all these evil things flew out. In a hurry Pandora closed the lid, but it was too late. She started crying.

Epimetheus woke up to the sound of her crying. Between sobs Pandora told him about her opening the box and how all bad things had flown out into the world. She opened the box again to show Epimetheus how empty it was now. But the box was not empty.

Something else flew out before she could close the lid again and that was hope. So now the world contained Envy, Crime, Hate, Diseases and Hope.”

The person finished the story and looked at me curiously. I had no idea what he was hinting at. That was when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, thirsty. I drank a glass of water, took a pencil and wrote down the dream. I did not want my dream to continue, as it sometimes happens with me, but unfortunately, when I went back to sleep again, the story continued from exactly the point when I had abruptly woken up. 

Scared, I tried to control it, fully aware that it was a world I had created, but unfortunately I could not. The person started laughing as he gradually disappeared, but I could still hear him say, “Here are some clues to help you”. Suddenly I found myself in a beautiful green meadow. I decided to lie down. Soon enough, I saw a big white cloud with something written on it float by. I thought it was the constitution, but it disappeared too soon for me to read it. 

Soon more names flew by, one after another. Then there was sound of people crying. I was further scared. I did not want to know why they were crying. From a distance I could hear someone shout, “Run for your life!” Everything was happening too fast. I tried to get up and run but could not. Suddenly I woke up all sweaty, relieved to find myself still on my bed. It was a rather strange nightmare.

Intriguing enough to force me to analyze it even before I got out of bed. What had trigged this dream? The question haunted me for quite some time. If, according to the person, our politicians were present-day Pandoras, what was the box of evils and who let them all out into Nepal? It is possible that my subconscious mind considers our Constituent Assembly members present-day Pandoras; federalism, the box and the delineation of states based on ethnic identity, the opening of the box that will unleash envy, crime, hatred and diseases. Then again, maybe there is still hope that the country will be together after everything is said and done. 

Since I hail from a political family, maybe I subconsciously think too much about our political situation. Currently we have been engulfed in the process of constitutional changes. Coupled with that is the issue of state restructuring as part of the implementation of the federal constitution and of course the upcoming elections.
 
But this is only my speculation and I am far from satisfied. I am as puzzled as ever, and still trying to draw the kind of comparisons the person in my dream suggested. So, help me here and give it a thought, will you?

The author is an educationist and writer of several children’s books

usha@pokharel.net


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