Amish's third book of the Shiva trilogy is out. The first two books, which I read with great interest, present two contrasting worlds - Meluha, the land of Suryavanshis, where everything is supposedly perfect and Swadweep. The Chandravanshis, who rule Swadweep, are not great fans of prescribed idealism and are a more democratic tribe. They believe in shringar, saundrya and swatantrata (decor, beauty and freedom), as against the rule-obsessed sun-worshippers.
Tricked into believing the Chandravanshis are the root cause of all evil and that he, the Neelkanth, has to lead the war against them according to an ancient prophecy, Shiva leads the Meluhan army and hands down a handsome defeat to the hapless moon-worshippers. But his party is spoiled when he realises even the defeated Chandravanshis believed in the Neelkanth prophecy. Only, in their version, he fought with them, not against them. Shiva gets into introspection as he realises his understanding of good and evil is all screwed up.
I am sure last week's shocking revelations by Cobrapost would have brought any self-respecting financial sector regulator to its own Neelkanth moment. The Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Forward Markets Commission have been going after people who have not followed the know your customer (KYC) norms, who are suspected of laundering black money and who are putting the entire financial system to risk for personal benefits.
On a fine Thursday morning, they find to their utter horror that the system were so zealously protecting was itself harbouring evil elements. These people were doing pretty much the same things the outlaws were accused of doing: they fudged KYC, they helped launder money and are thumbing their noses at the system.
Despite the widespread nature of the violations, systemic problems are being hurriedly ruled out. Predictably, 'rogue' employees who were 'greedy' have been suspended. This is contrast to the king of the countryside, who has been defending his army in public against all odds. At least, he is not making them the sacrificial lambs. Maybe even he is playing to his strengths.
Modern day Neelkanths are much worse off than the original. They cannot probably afford to be absolutely fair. For some of the institutions caught red-handed are a little too big to fail. Direct attacks on them could endanger the entire universe.
How does Amish's Neelkanth deal with this dilemma? Neelkanth stops generalising and understands there is good and evil in every system. He gets over prejudices when he realises even evil-looking people might not be evil at heart. He also learns not to trust common notions. Shiva follows a route of elimination to reach the ultimate enemy.
The Nagas, who don't belong to Meluha or Swadeep and are outcasts because of their physical deformities, are first mistaken to be the real terrorists. An act of valour and extreme sacrifice changes this belief. Shiva then takes that help to get to the ultimate truth.
Modern-day Neelkanths should take the Cobra's help to win over the evil. Till the truth is out, the benefits of the most-lobbied rate cut in recent history should be suspended for the tainted banks.
