It seldom happens that an Allahabadi Whatsapp group gets ignited by anything other than a cricket match. Like many uncertainties hitting India, this one also hit me along with my friends on the last Monday. The reason behind it was not a catch juggled between two fielders on the boundary rope in an IPL Match. In fact, it was something that shook Castle Black and Winterfell. Never in their dreams, the literary stalwarts of the yore would have ever thought that an Allahabadi would wait for the happenings in Westeros. The telecast of the second episode of the much awaited Season 6 of Game of Thrones(GOT) was followed by a flurry of memes and speculations about the impending battle between the righteous Jon Snow and sinister Ramsay Bolton. In deed, these characters reflect the underpinnings of the human life, which Thomas Hobbes famously opined to be solitary, nasty, poor, brutish and short.
It is the underlying violence of emotions coupled with the tantalising uncertainty of attainment of power which fuels the appetite of the viewers. Though conceptualised way away from the confines of the Indian milieu, the essence of story plot of now world famous TV series lies in the subtle frailties of human existence. ‘Karma is a bitch’, proclaimed a viral meme, that showed Roose Bolton assassinated in the same manner by Ramsay Bolton as he stabbed Robb Stark. Karma or the fruits of our actions surely catch up to us faster than the Bolt. Karmic revenge is as cold and brutal as the abominable Ramsay Bolton. However, the icing on the cake which will certainly add to the existing thrill of the show was the resurrection of Jon Snow. I was reminded of my Doordarshan days of childhood when I, like millions of my peers, used to wait for the weekly telecast of the talismanic TV series Chandrakanta.
Many people would get furious by my comparison of the two. I know that we are heavily influenced by comparisons between our art forms (West vs East). Undoubtedly, technologically GOT is any day superior. But, I am sure that many people would agree that this so-called superstitious, scientifically implausible and goofy idea of resurrection after death was part of Chandrakanta (based on the novel of the same title authored by Devakinandan Khatri). Shivdutt used to talk to the preserved and never decaying corpse of his mother. The whole series was full of supernatural and magical powers intertwined with the struggle for damsels, thrones and power.
Moreover, who can forget the impossible deed of Savitri bringing back her husband from the Lord of Death, Yamraj (Savitri and Satyavan). While studying human anatomy rudimentarily during my school days, we were taught that once dead the same human body can not become alive again. Alas! Science has again lost to the Valyrian spells of Melisandre. Those, who have ever cursed the Indian mythology must praise it now, as Shrimad Bhagwad Gita, endlessly iterates the immortality of the soul.It is therefore not the novelty but the picturisation of these principles and possibilities of life in the tangible human domain which makes the whole series intriguing. We enliven our seething desires and ambitions through these characters. That way, in the present times, GOT is in deed pressure valve for many souls seeking catharsis. Let’s revel in this unabashed display of human attributes.
My friends would indeed adorn me with unspeakable invectives sotto voce for this post which transformed the succulent plot of the rise of Jon Snow into a dry comparison. We all know that Winter is Coming. Someone needs to induct boring heat to the Castle Balck. What another place than scorching Allahabad would have done it so magnificently!
Sansa might be heading to Castle Black followed by the evil and power-hungry Ramsay Bolton. Tyrion dared to feed dragons hundred times more than his size. The Mother of Dragons is in Dothraki custody. Arya is about to become dear to the Many-Faced God. Bran is mastering the art of wargling with Hodor as his ultimate career. Tommen is trying to find his feet under the shadow of Cersei and Jamie. What is the Allahabad which resides in that class of 2006 waiting for? Well, who will break the oath on this Monday? And yes, Winter is Coming (at least metaphorically)!
Small City Thinker 