Zorba is the protagonist of Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel Zorba the Greek. I fell in love with Zorba the
very first time I read the novel. That must have been in my late 20s. I read
the novel again after many years. And again a few years ago. I loved listening
to Zorba play his santuri. I danced with him on the Cretan beaches. I
loved the devil inside Zorba. I called that devil Tomichan.
Zorba tells us the story of a monk
who lived on Mount Athos. Father Lavrentio. This monk believed that a devil
named Hodja resided in him making him do all wrong things. Hodja wants to eat
meet on Good Friday, Hodja wants to sleep with a woman, Hodja wants to kill the
Abbot… The monk put the blame for all his evil thoughts and deeds on Hodja.
“I’ve a kind of devil inside me, too,
boss, and I call him Zorba!” Zorba says.
I met my devil in Zorba. And I learnt
to call it Tomichan. I was as passionate as Zorba was. I enjoyed life
exuberantly. As much as I was allowed to, at least. The plain truth is that
people won’t let you enjoy life with all that exuberance. Their gods don’t like
it.
Zorba didn’t give a hoot to any god.
Life was to be enjoyed. That was his simple philosophy. He didn’t like
philosophy. But Zorba was good at heart. He loved people in his simple ways. He
was good though religions and their gods wouldn’t understand that sort of
goodness.
Long after I met Zorba, Albert
Camus’s hero Dr Bernard Rieux appeared to me in the
novel The Plague. Like Zorba, Dr Rieux didn’t see any meaning in
suffering. Suffering has no merit in itself as taught by Christianity and many
other religions. But Dr Rieux is not a sensualist like Zorba. When a plague
strikes the city and hundreds of people fall prey to it, no sensible person can
be a sensualist. Dr Rieux undertakes suffering for the sake of the victims of
the pandemic. Dr Rieux undertakes suffering for the sake of asserting the
essence of human existence: struggle. Struggle against the sheer absurdity of
existence.
Somewhere between my first encounter with Zorba and the only encounter
with Dr Rieux, Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov kept me in thrall for a
while. A longer while than is desirable. Raskolnikov is a young student who
thinks too much of himself – even as I did about myself. He is very proud of
himself and he is an intellectual in his own right. He assumes he is a superman
and hence doesn’t have to follow the mediocre people’s morality. In order to
prove his superiority to himself, he goes and kills an old woman who isn’t
anything better than a greedy moneylender. Guilt haunts him after that. There’s
no escape for him from the evil of what he has done.
Sonya, a young woman who is
prostituting herself in order to find money for feeding her sick sister and her
children teaches Raskolnikov how to redeem himself. He has to discover his
essential connectedness with the rest of humanity. His pride and
intellectualism have to give way to acceptance of his own ordinariness just
like that of the other human beings.
Sonya has transgressed human morality too. She is a prostitute. But her transgression is not for her own sake. It is born out of compassion. It is a self-sacrifice. Raskolnikov’s transgression is self-aggrandisement. Raskolnikov has to nail his ego to the cross of suffering.
Raskolnikov accepts the value of
suffering a la Christianity. Dr Rieux refuses to accept suffering as a virtue
at any time. But he accepts its inevitability in human existence. Suffering
comes whether we want it or not. It is our duty to fight it, overcome it, as
best as we can.
I love Dr Rieux more. But there was
more of Raskolnikov in my veins. You can be something genetically and quite
something else intellectually. I struggled with my Raskolnikovian arrogance for
long. Dr Rieux’s profundity has evaded me to this day. Intellectual understanding
of an ideal doesn’t make anyone noble. Internalisation of the ideal does. As I
grew older and leant to tame the Raskolnikov in me, Zorba rose in me with
vehemence. No wonder I read Zorba again and again.
My nerves still sing with Zorba, my
limbs long to dance with him, my veins carry his intoxication. But I am not
Zorba.
I presented a few of the characters
that have stayed with me for long. They have shaped my thinking to some extent.
The real persons mentioned in this A2Z series have shaped my attitudes in many
ways. I’m grateful for all the wonderful experiences I have had in the world of
books as well as the real world.
I know that just as I was hurt time
and again by other people’s words and deeds, I have caused much damage to
others albeit unwittingly. Such is life. The best is to accept it with a
Zorba-like resignation and dance on the beaches with your santuri in
hand and a song on your lips.
PS. With this I come to the end of #BlogchatterA2Z challenge successfully.
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We often find answers in literature.
ReplyDeleteSo very true.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteHurrah! This was an excellent conclusion to the alphebetical postings - a character I too have enjoyed for long. Did you ever watch the film made of it, starring Anthony Quinn? I feel he really caught the character well. YAM xx
I wanted to watch that movie but never managed to get to it. Let me try a little more earnestly.
DeleteThank you for being there with me throughout this A2Z trip 🙏
The movie was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI must find a way to watch it.
DeleteChildren mimic adults. Adults mimic other adults too. You finished this meaningful series, most of the posts exposed how vulnerable we were, especially the Savan one.
ReplyDeleteYou went ahead and finished it a day before. Good Show Sir. Take a break!
Thank you. Especially for accompanying me on this journey.
DeleteYes we read to find answers to our questions, at least I do that and discovering our own Zobras is not an easy thing. We all have demons within us and we all say also but to accept it and then live with it not as a crippling factor but as a strength taking responsibility of everything they cause and with Zobra-like resignation
ReplyDeleteYes, that acceptance makes the difference.
DeleteA fitting finale to the series.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI just loved this Line" The best is to accept it with a Zorba-like resignation and dance on the beaches with your santuri in hand and a song on your lips. " That speaks that you are a gentle man. It was an wonderful ending to the A2Z Challenge
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it.
DeleteYou re-ignite my passion for the classics! This year, i do plan to revisit some, Zorba, the Greek would be a new read.
ReplyDeleteAnd Zorba is worthy company, I assure you.
Delete"Intellectual understanding of an ideal doesn’t make anyone noble. Internalisation of the ideal does."
ReplyDeleteDr Rieux is definitely more to my understanding. But again the above lines are whats important.
This was a heavy series to read. I found out a lot about you sir. There were many lessons about people I learned through your posts. I've never thought too much of the characters I read. I compartmentalize, so its always a treat have your distinct view.
Delighted to hear this. Writing this series wasn't easy for me.
DeleteSir,you have a very enchanting way with words.But should you really dance with Zorba or any other character even in your head?Keep blogging.See you in the next challenge.
ReplyDelete