Epedimic (standard:romance, 389884 words)
Author: Shamoil Ahmad	Added: Jul 22 2020	Views/Reads: 1420/2118	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The Epidemic is a novel weaved in a political milieu. Politics of the eighties and nineties was not the politics we have grown with. We are in a new realm of politics. We have all seen it from close quarters and have faced the consequences. It is too cont

EPIDEMIC 

BY 

SHAMOIL AHMAD 

One 

It often occurred to Fahimuddin Shirwani that the age in which he lived
was the age where every man had collar band tied across his neck while 
the leash was in the hands of someone else. This feeling became all the 
more galling whenever he happened to be part of meetings which were 
attended, in addition to the officers, by the elected representatives 
of the people as well. Each one of them tightening the 
leash...MLAs...MPs...Mukhiyas (village heads)....and Kamalnath Mandal, 
of all of them, would tighten it a little harder than others... 

Kamalnath Mandal was the local member of the legislative assembly and he
maintained long nails. His face was like an upturned triangle. Forehead 
was flat and cheek bones seemed to have protruded out that abruptly 
sloped down on his chin. His hands were hairy and the fingers, like the 
twigs of cactus, were pointedly sharp. 

His tongue would keep licking back and forth like sword and his eyes
seemed to disgorge fire and brimstone sparkling like diamond...he would 
piercingly stare at each officer one by one as he sought their 
explanations on works done, ending it with the diktat of meeting him in 
his chamber. Such meetings had their own hierarchical importance and 
there was no way one could avoid them. Kamalnath Mandal himself had to 
regularly call on the CM and pay his obeisance. Collar band of the 
slavery age had been replaced by the acts of paying obeisance in this 
age of leash. 

This time when the 20-Point programme meeting was held, orders were
issued for Fahimuddin Sherwani for that meeting and he felt the leash 
tightening around his neck. Shirwani was the executive engineer in the 
state's Water Resources Department and was posted at Jahannagari. It 
was barely two ago that he had been posted to Jahannagari. But no 
sooner he took the charge than this hammer fell on him. He had to face 
this meeting of 20-point programme immediately on joining the 
department. His department was placed at point 5...supplying water in 
the far flung areas... 

Shirwani always tried to keep away from such meetings. It always made
him feel as though he was made to stand like an accused. 

It was at Jahannagari that he for the first time came to understand the
significance of the caste equations as to who is BHURA Bal (grey 
hair)....what meant MY...? Who are on the side of the social justice? 
Head Clerk was Brahmin...Despatch Clerk Rajput...Storekeeper Bhumihar 
and the Accounts Clerk Lala...they constituted BHURA Bal. The junior 
engineers of Chainpur and Hasanganj also belonged to BHURA Bal. 
Accountant was Mallah by caste, Cashier  Koeri and the Library 
Assistant was from the extremely low caste euphemistically referred to 
as Harijan. They were from the social justice category; Kailash Rai and 
the junior engineer Ramesh together with Fahimuddin Shirwani belonged 
to MY category. 

Those from the Muslim community were happy with the arrival of
Fahimuddin Shirwani. But they never made any overt display of their 
happiness. They communicated with Shirwani through eye contacts. 

When the 20-point programme meeting schedule was announced, Ramesh Yadav
had remarked with a benign smile, “You won't have any difficulty here, 
Sir...!” “Why?” “There is MY equation operating in the state...M comes 
first in MY followed by Y...so, you come first and we come only 
next...” “That's true!” Shirwani gave out a smile. “Most of the 
legislators here are from MY equation. But Ramchandra Jha is from BJP 
and Kamlesh Darpan also belongs to the opposition party.” And then he 
lowered his voice and whispered— “Beware of the Head Clerk...” “Why?” 
“He's Brahmin.” It did not go down well with Shirwani that a junior 
engineer should air his views on casteism in this manner. He stayed 
quiet. “These people have exploited us long enough, Sir.” “Now you 
people are doing the same thing.” “It is these people who have sowed 
the seeds of hatred...there was a promising leader from the backward, 


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