The Second Coming

Siddhartha

(A cold December morning in Bangalore. A dog barks and whines in a house, near St.Marks Road. Kirtana Reddy staggers out of bed to find out why the dog is barking. There is a woman in the compound, looking at the trees and the plants. She didn’t behave like a stranger or an intruder, but rather as if the place belonged to her. Kirtana begins to shake when she realises who the person is. It’s Snehalata Reddy, her late mother-in-law!)

Snehalata: Its nice to be back. The place has not changed very much. We didn’t have much of a garden then, and its not any better now, but the trees still look good.

( Kirtana is still dazed by the apparition.)

Snehalata: I thought it would be good for us to meet. I was gone by the time you came into the family. But let me tell you straightaway that I have been watching you from afar, observing your every thought, your movement, your action.

( Still reeling under the shock Kirtana is now truly alarmed at Snehalata’s words. She is sure judgement is going to be pronounced on her.)

Snehalata: I know you are wondering what I am going to say next. I’ll come straight to the point. I like you. I simply like you. I couldn’t have hoped for a better partner for Kookie, and a better mother for my grand-daughter.

( Kirtana recovers somewhat on hearing this. There are tears forming in her eyes.)

Snehalata: I know you are all busy with the Savitri production. It’s not for me to comment on the play. Let the audience be the judge. But I think its daring and positive. I know you are all putting in your best and Pattabhi is very happy with the process. But he does look exhausted. He must be careful it doesn’t drain him out. But here I go, over-stepping my limits, forgetting I’m not human anymore. Old habits die hard!

Kirtana (now recovered somewhat): Oh, Pattabhi will be O.K. He is involved up to his neck, but quite serene at the same time. Besides we never let him overwork.

Snehalata: I can see that as well.

(The dog is now wagging its tail and making circles around Snehalata.)

Kirtana: I still don’t know if this is real or if I’m dreaming.

Snehalata: I wanted so much to have a chat with you. I’ve broken the rules to get here. But I’ve never been one for rules!

Kirtana: You were such a good person. Such a good person! So many people in Bangalore miss you dearly.

Snehalata: Stop flattering me! I’m beyond all that now.

Kirtana: But I really mean what I say. You were such a good and decent person.

Snehalata: I don’t know about all that. But when you get to where I am you realise that human beings can never be completely good, even when they think they are. Don’t get me wrong, but even a male chauvinist like Freud could see that there wa subconscious, even if he could not fathom out his own very well. Humans are driven by multiple motives.

Kirtana: I still maintain you were a good person!

Snehalata: I don’t know if I cared to be good. I know that I felt deeply about things. I felt strongly about justice and freedom. I lived intensely. I cared intensely. They put me in jail for that.

I thought Pattabhi was a saint. He was also a poet. Not an easy combination to live with. And like all saint-poets he was often taken for a ride. But he has enriched so many lives. So many lives! In this world of buying and selling, and calculation and recalculation, he has kept his humanity… and his faith by me.

Kirtana: What about your children?

Snehalata: Kookie was always a kind and sensitive person. And Nandana has carried forward my convictions. I still hover over them. Each moment of their lives.

Kirtana: I’m so glad to be a member of this family.

Snehalata: And the family knows how much you bring them. What would they have done without you! But it’s getting late. I must leave now.

Kirtana: Please, please don’t go!

Snehalata: But I have to. Besides, the air is so polluted in Bangalore that I get sick even thinking of my earlier asthma. Gosh ! What have you all done to your beautiful city!

Kirtana: What can I tell your family and friends?

Snehalata: I don’t know that you have to tell them anything. They know who I was. Like I said earlier I was never very good at playing good. I spoke my mind, and I believed in things passionately. Not the way religious people are today passionate. Killing each other in the name of deluding gods. My god was creativity, compassion and the affirmation of life.

And now Pattabhi has carried forward my idea that you can beat death by living joyously and compassionately. Death is not something physical. It has to do with your spirit. There are many dead spirits walking about in live bodies. That’s what death is all about: to be dead in spirit. But me, I never died. Like Dylan Thomas I raged, raged against the dying of the light.

Kirtana: No one in the family believes in old fashioned religion. But where in heaven or hell are you?

Snehalata: Good question. I only know that I smell the mango blossoms, swim in the Cauvery and run down the slopes outside Bangalore. Just call me your ancestor… and maybe you will figure out where I am.

( Kirtana awakes with a jolt. She has been dreaming. Konarak is standing over her with the bed tea.)