The Diamond Necklace of Patriotism

The novel I’m reading now is Paul Zacharia’s A Secret History of Compassion. It is a bizarrely funny novel that takes absurdity to its possible extremes. The reader is transported to a different world altogether; a different world where he experiences déjà vu moment after moment. In the beginning I thought I had wasted money on the book because it read like a silly fairy tale for adults. Gradually it dawned on me that the novelist was presenting our own current reality of hollow patriotism, twisted truths, and perverted religions in a manner that is consciously designed to provoke us out of our passivity or resignation.

One of the women encountered by the protagonist, Lord Spider, during his morning walk is Mrs Nair who "died" (not really) during the night and probably didn’t know that she had died. Spider tries to bring the fact to her attention. The mention of death elicits an incident from Mrs Nair’s life. Her lover was at the railway station waiting for his train. When the train arrived, Mrs Nair alighted to see her lover’s dead body lying on the platform. He died unexpectedly and Mrs Nair “took charge of the situation and his belongings.” She explains to Spider that “It was patriotism and nothing but patriotism that guided me at that precise moment. It has stood by me in every emergency. This necklace is living proof of that.”

The necklace actually belonged to her lover who was carrying it as a gift for another woman with whom he had an affair too and whom he was going to meet when he fell down dead on the platform. On being questioned further about that unnatural death, Mrs Nair says, “Oh, on the day I wore the diamond necklace for the first time, I meditated, reciting the patriot’s mantra of gratitude. Suddenly my inner eye opened and I saw all…” She saw how death was accompanying her lover to the platform with a platform ticket for itself. Death can come to anyone at any time. It may even have a platform ticket to enter the railway station if that’s the place where it should strike. Even death has a sense of patriotism.

The protagonist is left thinking. “Obviously patriotism had become multipurpose.”

I have never succumbed to the temptations of patriotism because my love for humanity towers above parochialism and all other isms. I would love to see myself as a global citizen though I know the world won’t let me cross the man-made borders without passport and Visas. But love doesn’t need passport and Visa. I have never advocated hatred of any community in the name of patriotism or anything. On the contrary, I have tried my best to champion communal harmony and peace. Yet I’m condemned to get all sorts of labels and comments on social media. Let me conclude this piece with an example from this morning’s interaction with a patriot.

PS. Due apologies to Shrinidhi Hande, a perfect gentleman.