Jagan was walking alone, carrying the
load of dead deer which he had just
killed. He thought he would not starve
to day. He looked around for a secluded
spot close to the waterfront, where he
could have his meal, wash up and rest
with out anyone disturbing him. He felt
he was at peace with himself and with
the world at large. For him such a feeling
was very rare and often very short lived.
Whenever he had such a warm sense of
contentment, life always played some
dirty trick, snatching cruelly his moments
of pleasure and leaving him snared again
in a web of fear and pain.
Today , he was determined that he would
savour this unique feeling of comfort
and peace with out any one to interfere
with him. It appeared he had thought
too soon about comfort.
His way was blocked by three very
tired looking men on very tired looking
horses..These men had been riding for
long with out food and rest. In their
present condition they looked mean and
desperate. They were also armed. Jagan
could see their long spears with shining
pointed ends, held upright on easy stance
on their shoulders. Two of them moved
their horses on either side of Jagan,
effectively bottling him up. Jagan guessed
correctly that they were trained soldiers,
though tired.
The man in front bent almost double on
his horse said ,’we want that meat.”
There was menace in that tone which was
disconcerting..Jagan said easily , in most
friendly tone,”Yes, it is a big beast.We all
can have a good meal together.”
The man shook his head in a lazy
manner,’No. You did not hear me properly.
I said , we want that meat’
Jagan said faintly bewildered ’You mean,
I can not have my share? That would be
ridiculous considering the fact that I killed
the beast in the first place. If I please, I
will share my food”
The man said ” You have no choice in this
matter” There was no attempt to maintain
any politeness .
Jagan felt a flutter in his stomach. He had
always dreaded such situations. He felt
hot and flushed, with pumping of adrenal
in his veins. He had to decide to stay and
fight or drop and run away. In the past
he had always run away not wanting to
test his fighting skills in such situations.
He had at some point in his past life
had received training in martial arts and
gained some amount of proficiency too.
But he never trusted his skills .Running
away meant being alive for some more
time and survival meant a lot more to
him than glory of defeating an adversary.
For him it was never one fight. It was a
fear of consequences of one fight. For
him one fight led to another and it would
go on and on .It meant to be always on
guard and be ever ready to fight, to hold
on and on. It was a continuous on set
of fear. A loss of fight meant hurt , pain
and more fear. Escape meant peace. No
shame was attached to the inclination to
stay alive. He was not there to impress
any one. Protect yourself for tomorrow.
That was his motto in life. So far, that
was.
But today was different. He had resolved
that nothing would come in his way of
having a satisfying meal and following
peaceful rest. These three men are not
going to change that resolution, he
decided. He would not allow fear and
prospect of pain due to conflict to change
his mindset.today he would test the
hypothesis that fear can be transferred
and pleasure gained. With his mind set ,
he faced the challenge boldly .
The man was annoyed that jagan had not
complied with his order readily. In anger
he shouted
“Come on, we can not wait for ever. Drop
the meat and depart.”
The man brought the upright spear from
vertical stance to horizontal position in
preparation of frontal thrust. His two fisted
grip on the long shaft tightened ready to
push the point deep into Jagan’s exposed
stomach. Jagan had seen many mangled
bodies of soldiers after a skirmish. He was
aware that if he did not do something in
the next few immediate minutes he would
be lying on the ground with his stomach
torn wide open and bleeding to death. In
a quick un expected move, he threw the
beast on the face of advancing soldier
totally catching him by surprise. It was a
heavy beast and the facial impact knocked
the man down .He fell banging his head
on an outcrop of a rock.He was out for
the count. Jagan followed up smartly
snatching the spear from weak hands.
With the spear in his hands now, he
whirled around swinging the long shaft
in a wide arc slashing a second man’s
throat .The man on his right moved
, striking out with his weapon, a weak
action more out of habit than with any
intent. Jagan ducked easily under the
swinging weapon plunged his point deep
into an un suspecting stomach bringing
the fight to quick end. The man screamed
in pain and dropped dead. The man with
the slashed throat was still on his feet
,his one hand pressing the wound to stop
the bleeding, the other hand still holding
his weapon offensively even though all
fight had gone out of his tired body. As a
trained soldier , he was still weighing his
chances when he heardJagan say softly
“there is no need to fight at all. Two of us
can share this food. You do not at all look
like a person in the best of conditions for
fighting with that neck wound bleeding
so profusely. If you will drop your weapon
Iwill attend to your wound. I am trained
medicine man,though out of practice for
long. I am not normally keen on killing.
So act smart and drop your spear and
extend your hand of friendship”
The man smiled in relief, resting his
weapon on his shoulder point away from
jagan ’You are very right. I am in no
condition to fight and you seem to be
devilishly fast and strong. I am very tired
and have not eaten for long. Now if you
will permit me, I would like to look at my
friends” so saying and with out waiting
for Jagan’s comments he rushed to se the
friend with the stomach wound. He was
dead already. The man hit by the beast
was stirring. He opened his eyes and
soon clambered up to resume the fight .
He was very soon convinced that he had
no reason to fight. The food was ready to
be served
He saw huge chunks of meat jerked out
of the beast held at the tips of his spears
roasting over a small fire. Hunger won
over the urge to fight and a friendly hand
helped to rise and reach out for his share.
His friend was smiling at him with his neck
wound nicely bound and healing.
Covered by blanket of contentment after
a hearty meal, they allowed their tired
bodies to drop off to sleep.
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