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| Image by Copilot Designer |
I was in the Virtual Reality Museum when a commotion
broke out. Something went wrong somewhere in the museum. When the lights came
back on, Ashoka stepped out of the digital screen and greeted me in the most
amiable way. I pinched myself to make sure whether I was dreaming. When the
power went off, I was speaking with Ashoka – Emperor of Kalinga, 3rd
century BCE – in a VR interaction. Now this is real, Ashoka stood in flesh and
blood right before me.
The last question I had asked him in our VR
encounter was about his conquest of Kalinga. Didn’t he know that the war would
be disastrous even before he began it? That was my question.
“The war was necessary,” Ashoka said
as he stood in front of me. “Necessary for my spiritual transformation.”
He was tired of all the luxury in the
palace. There was abundance of everything from food to sex to comforts. “What I
lacked was meaning,” he said. So he went and killed those Kalingans who were
rebels anyway and had to be dealt with some time or another. “And all those
corpses that lay scattered on the battlefield gave me what I was searching for:
meaning. Death is the ultimate meaning of life.”
“We find meaning now in WhatsApp
forwards,” I said.
“I know,” Ashoka’s response was
prompt. “There’s so much hate and falsity in them.”
“We call it nationalism,” I
clarified.
“Back in those days we were concerned
about morality, compassion, welfare…” He stopped as if I wouldn’t understand
the meanings of those words. They are still there in our dictionaries, I wanted
to say.
“We are concerned about GDP, defence
budget, and TRPs,” I said. “They create our meanings.”
“I know,” Ashoka nodded. “I was once
offered a Padma Award. On a condition. That I have to endorse the government’s
stand on everything. I have to praise the government on camera. I refused, of
course. Dhamma wouldn’t let me do that.”
“Did it end there?” I wondered. Those
who resist the government’s wishes don’t escape official wrath. CBI, ED, Income
Tax… any office can come and raid your home, office…
“It didn’t,” Ashoka said. “They
decided to rewrite my history. They made me a nationalist.”
“Rewriting history is one of our
favourite national pursuits now,” I said. “We call it decolonising of history.”
“You can never decolonise public
life,” Ashoka sighed. “You replace one type of colonialism with another. The
Mughals go, then the British go, and then the colonialism of Hindutva arrives.”
We became conscious of being watched
by someone. “Pegasus,” muttered Ashoka. “There’s espionage everywhere. I’d
better return.” The lights flickered again. When they came back, Ashoka had
dissolved back into the screen.
My phone buzzed. It was a WhatsApp
message from a friend. “Did you know Ashoka fought the first nationalist war in
Indian history? Share before it’s deleted.”
PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2025
Good lord! Colonizing is definitely a human tendency and all raids are like Ajay Devgan's movies.. totally staged and manipulated. I am happy VR isn't the real world.
ReplyDeleteWhat's bizarre is when people start colonising their own country.
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteLoved this virtual discussion! Hit some home runs... YAM xx
It'd be interesting if we could actually re-create the ancient heroes and talk to them!
DeleteHaha good take!
ReplyDelete🙏🙏
DeleteRSS, has crooked intelligence to distort the meaning of words.
ReplyDelete