AFTER MISFORTUNE STRUCK

I was back home after 24 months. I liked the feeling of being free and at home. My son had picked me up at the appointed hour which was 3 PM. I surveyed my garden. The plants were in good shape. A gardener saluted me and I acknowledged. He was new. The old fellow must have quit I thought. I knew an honest couple had taken care of my house in my absence. I got a phone call which my son passed on to me as I had as yet no phone of my own. It was the head of a religious organisation which I had sustained during my years in power. I thanked the caller. The next call was from my old doctor. He said “Glad you’ve come back. I hope you’re well.”

I laughed and said “The government doctor has checked me and said I was okay. I’ll visit you sometime when necessary.”

He said “No, no! Call me and I’ll be there like in old days.”

I told my son “Don’t accept any more calls for me. Say I’m resting or sleeping.”

“Dad, I’ve to go out. Do you need anything to be bought?”

“Nothing at all.”

He added “The old cook is there. You know that between her and her husband our home has been well taken care of. If you need anything you can ask her.”

I nodded and sat in my favourite cushioned rocking chair but instantly found I became dizzy. Some health problem must have developed of course! I moved to a sofa. Let me tell you about me first. I am 66. I had lost my wife some years ago, fortunately before I faced disgrace. I am a politician, but now I’ll be mentioned with an ex as prefix. I must tell you that I’ve an only son who has been in the USA since several years with his family. He knows the whole truth about me and my actions, besides of charges against me which were contrived.

How did I get into politics that public assumes only attracts an unwholesome personality or a power fetishist? It is also said that in politics ‘the son or daughter rises’. My father had only been a farmer but he had left me wealthy. My self-regard wasn’t easily gratified. The praise of friends and neighbours couldn’t satisfy me. I somehow longed for the acclaim of a wider circle. I pursued my goal energetically. My line of action brought me favourably before the public, got my name in the newspapers and media, and made my work a topic of public comment. The adulation I received caused a ravenous appetite in me.

However I was sent to jail. How did that happen? I grew by nepotism, survived by cunning and thrived by my leader’s most morally questionable doings. I recall a single instance of his arrogance to which I was witness: A citizen had approached him when the leader asked “What is your ambition?” “To build a house of my own when you give me a site” the citizen responded. The leader said “Get married and produce a child.” The citizen didn’t follow: The leader explained “so that the ambition can be left to posterity.” When my downfall came, the leader squarely laid the blame on me and I was arrested and produced before a criminal court. The judge wrote: Politicians have to be very careful when taking decisions which involve large amounts of public money. In this case the evidence proves that the accused wrongfully decided to let off the hook the foreign firm resulting in the loss of a large sum to the government. The pleas of the accused have been examined in detail and I have no doubt in my mind that the accused is guilty of having been responsible for the loss of a big sum. I impose the punishment of a 24 month simple imprisonment on the accused.”

 After 24 months in jail I am back and am wondering what I should do. I can expose the complicity of those who testified against me. I can sit back and say I want to write my autobiography. That will be questioned as my educational qualification is meagre! Of course I can get the book ghost written, but then I ask myself ‘Who will read your book?” Even printing the book may not be possible as editors may ask themselves “What purpose does it serve?” I can join a religious order. I can take vengeance against some key persons who involved me and sent me to prison. There is an organisation which I started to help the needy. I can become active in it again but I wouldn’t do it as it involves handling money: I feel guilty in handling people’s funds as I had been convicted of siphoning off public money: I knew my involvement would be straightaway suspect. So what do I do? I can sit at home doing nothing as I have enough money.

I sat ruminating. People would say I had a heart of gold as my schemes had done them immense good. To get results I had to flatter my leader a lot. I remembered a story of a talk between a politician and a citizen:

POLITICIAN: I have 100 gold coins. If I gave you 20 would you flatter me?’

CITIZEN: It isn’t fairly shared. So why should I flatter you?

P: Suppose I give you half of what I have, will you flatter me?

C: We would be equal then. Why would I flatter you?

P: If I gave you all 100, how then?

C: If I had all that gold I won’t need to flatter you!

Politicians could be shrewd but so could citizens be! The course of events only showed how unshrewd I had been!

By flattery praising the wrong ones, my benevolent motives to earn the esteem and gratitude of my fellow citizens were muddled. Not only me, my leader too. We were left as it were in the full and unchallenged command of a sinking ship! My party was voted out no doubt, but the leader survived by his cunning. He switched to the winning party!

Now I know I am an object of ridicule. I like to believe that the ordinary citizen who has benefitted from my actions will not accept the accusations against me, but you never know as I could also be given a mere benefit of doubt! A good politician cannot be distinguished from one who wants to exploit people. Shall I venture into politics again by entering, if possible, into another party? After all I have a record of having helped the have-nots with my legislation. The arrogant who took me to my downfall will laugh and ask voters “Do you want to elect a politician who has stolen government  money and has been in prison in consequence?” Again I say I never took the money. It was taken by the leader and one other though the blame came on me. Why shouldn’t I stand for election again? I have met the ends of justice due to having been in prison. I have paid society its due. The boy in school didn’t do his homework and so it was reported to the parents who reprimanded the child. There it ends. You don’t haunt the child with the same charge. I suppose I could stand for election again but I decided I won’t. I’ll go to the USA with my son carrying the nostalgic image of my country and contrast it with the hard realities in USA. I will live out the rest of my life in isolation.

END