THE DINNER OF CONFUSION
968 Words
Everyone started moving towards the mess which was commonly known as “Annapurna”. Its name was based on a woman sage who is said to have miracle powers to feed everyone. She had an unlimited source of food and in her remembrance, our mess was named as “Annapurna”. It was a completely different hut made with non-combustible wood so that incidents of fire mishap could be avoided. It was big with respect to other huts. It had three sections. one was used by the chefs. Other two parts are used by students and teachers respectively. Though, most of the time, the teacher's section is empty. As most of the teachers used to eat at their own huts but one teacher is assigned each day as the duty in charge and had a compulsion to eat along with the students.
In the student portion of the mess, six are seated in parallel lines facing each other. One student each day gets to sit in the head potion opposite to the teacher. The sitting arrangement seems like this . . . . .
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- - -
- - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Where
“” student head(made on rotation)
“-” denotes other students
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The teacher in-charge for today was manah acharya. There was a glow in his face. He seemed very happy. Everyone sat down for dinner. It was Brihaspati's turn to be at the head position but suddenly manah acharya said to everyone
“Today, Shukra had done a marvellous job. Let’s give him head position out of turn. ”
To this sudden announcement of manah acharya, everyone seemed confused. At the same time, Brihaspati tried to defend his position. He said “Acharya, I respect your commands but you are also aware of the fact that in the history of this ashram NO ONE had been given this position out of turn till now. If you do this, you will break the laws.”
Acharya looked at Brihaspati and gave him a sarcastic smile and said: “dear Brihaspati, I know what is right and what is wrong. don't teach me the rules.” After saying this he indicated Shukra to stand from his place and sit on the head student’s place. Shukra followed the order. So was Brihaspati. However, there was a strong dissatisfaction in the eyes of Brihaspati. He sat at shukra’s place. Quite, with his head down, looking at the ground. while on the other hand, Shukra was happy but he was trying to hide his happiness So that no one gets offended by him. At the same time, he was guilty and confused. Guilty because he doesn't deserve this treatment. He has not used any spells and is confused because he was not able to comprehend the level of happiness manah acharya is having. He was still confused whether manah acharya really knew the truth or not? If he knows the truth then why is he hiding it and if he doesn’t know the truth then why is he treating me so overwhelmingly ? was that such a big achievement that because of it manah acharya broke the rules and traditions of the ashram and made me sit on the student’s head place out of turn?
- Writer
