Kingdom of Cadavers!(Nazir Jahangir) Kingdom of Cadavers!

“Suicide is the only way out!” is the thought that struck his mind. He had passed through hard sufferings and agony, so circumstances forced him to think along these lines. His glamour and ostentatious natured wife deserted him because he was not financially capable of fulfilling her expensive demands. He set his mind on killing himself because he wanted to get rid of this miserable living. And he struck out in that direction.

But, while covering a little distance, a thought occurred to him, “Where am I heading to!?” He didn’t know how to implement his decision. “After all, every plan needs homework, homicide too, is entirely a program in need of a modus operandi!” He gently stroked his hair and murmured. “Ah! ha! No task is easy in this bloody world; not even killing one’s own self!” he lamented and heaved a deep sigh. “Would that someone else had been born in my place and tasted the brunt of life!” he wished. He then returned to his home. At first, he thought it somewhat shameful to decide for something and then to back out, but simultaneously he consoled himself saying, “Who stands truthful to his word these days, that I should stay the one to feel sorrow!”

He pondered to himself, that thought is the last resort for a helpless person; a support to sustain him. A human being is deemed a rational animal; that is why he thinks most. Who spares the time in this day and age to listen to another’s pathetic tales! Merely, it is thought that co-operates and stands by ones side up to the last! It is a supporter that comforts a man in bad times! That’s perhaps, why almost every poor fellow usually remains buried in his thoughts!

He was jobless. Consolation is no remedy to hunger. Appetite demands bread. And he was bereft of this necessity; he had nothing to eat, but to digest the taunting remarks of people ……! He was not sick of people only, but sickened with his own self also.

Finally, a spiritual man arranged his employment in a Medical College and he was appointed ‘Mortuary in Charge’. Employment relieved him from starvation, but his bitter memories didn’t release him. He adopted a peculiar hobby. When arriving at the mortuary, he would bolt the hall inside and then place the cadavers in the chairs in an arranged manner. These cadavers included the bodies of men, women and children. Then he would sit on a tall table in front of them; looking at them with contempt.

As usual, he bolted the door inside and spoke to the cadavers: “O’ you people! Listen to me attentively! I’m that kind of mad, which I suppose, is wiser among you. Who among you stands capable to tell me who I am? Listen! I will tell it myself. I’m a man who stands nowhere but still exists! (Laughing loudly). I’m burning in a fire, whose flames are not visible! (Emotionally charged) Now, I will give meaning to myself. I will validate my invalidity! I will create my own world! I will establish my own empire! I will take life and death in the palm of my hand! You are my subjugated people! You have to obey me! It is my kingdom! Yes, my Kingdom of Cadavers! (He roared with laughter). I’m your king! My voice is louder than all of you. None among you can question me; even if I peel off your skin. I’m the dictator! Here, my word is rule of law! Understand, you scoundrels! I bloody hate you all ……! I will punish each of you for the wrong of coming out from the wombs of your mothers!” He again looked at them hatefully, pulled out his belt from his pants and beat them hard till he drenched in sweat. After that, he mounted on the tall table placed already by him in front of the row of cadavers. He felt weary, tears welled up in his eyes and he stretched his legs on the table and napped.

He made a routine of it. Finally, the authorities got the tip off. A meeting was held and a mortuary officer was assigned the job of investigating the whole matter secretly to discover the motivations behind the peculiar activity. The officer was assured a promotion if he succeeded in getting to the bottom of the issue.

The officer covertly sneaked into the mortuary hall and remained there till the man too came in. He, as usual, bolted the door inside and went on with his peculiar activity. The officer had stripped off his clothing and behaved as if he too were a cadaver. Taking the officer as a cadaver, he put him too in a chair as he did the other bodies. He pulled his belt from his pants and lectured to the cadavers: “I’m your lord! You’re my subject people!” He remarked in a hateful tone. “After a while, I’m going to draw the contours of my kingdom on your bodies, making your hides the documentation of my rule!" He thundered and shrieked with laughter. “Who can dare to hold my hand from whipping? There is none to stop me! I’m monarch, I’m lord, I’m dictator, and……………” he paused. His lips started to tremble and he said, “I’m God, The greatest and almighty!”

Suddenly, the body of the officer came to his view. He was surprised to observe his body unstained, because he thought he had left no cadaver from whipping. He raised his hand and, as he went to whip the officer with his belt, the latter stood up and forcefully slapped the man, and roared ”Don’t you know who am I?”

The man felt as though all the cadavers mocked him and that he was held up to ridicule. He yelled, “No, no!!” He flung his belt and picked up a rod. He beat the officer. The officer cried in pain. He writhed with pain. He fell at the feet of the man and implored, “Sir, please forgive me. I beg your pardon”.

At this, the man burst out in laughter, looked to the cadavers and said, “Look! Those hands which took me as feeble and powerless, which attempted to seize me by the collar; when the same hands were repelled and combated, he fell at my feet!” he laughed loudly and a lot.

Taking advantage of this situation, the officer found a way out and escaped.

After a short while, the officer, along with a contingent of police personnel, trooped into the mortuary hall. He pointed towards the man and told the police, “He is the man! Yes, he is the man!” He was visibly unnerved.

When the man discovered the police, un-expectedly, he roared as if a wounded lion, “This is incursion into my kingdom! I will fight up to my last breath to protect my empire!”.

Police tried to catch hold of him, but the man attacked them with the same rod which he held already in his hand. During the scuffle, a policeman hit the man on the head. The man bled profusely. He fell down, but crawled towards the tall table. He wanted to mount on that, but fumbled and fell down. He cried with his full force and then spoke with difficulty, “I’m the lord! This is my kingdom” and he breathed his last.

The dead body of the man was then delivered to the mortuary, because no one had claimed it!

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