Great Expectations-Part XXXI- Pg 202 (23/5) - Page 131

Originally posted by: ishpreet

beautifull and one the most different stories i love ittttt👏

Originally posted by: sailat@PA

I finally read all the updates....whew!! loved the flow of the updates and the continual back + forth witht he past and the present!! Real good!! Milind was kinda annoying before the almost-consummation scene.....he totally ignored the poor thing.....but atleast that ugly incident brought him to his senses and he actively tried to change his thought process!! Loving the casual and sweet moments that Michi are spending together!! Milind is slowly but surely falling in love!! :D

Originally posted by: ShubS

First! But comments tomorrow probably. GN.

😊

Part XXX

Present

After lunch, the three families left for Alappuzha, also known as Allepey. The place is known as the Venice of the East because of its labyrinth of canals, dotted with houseboats called 'Kettuvellam'. The picturesque canals, backwaters, lagoons and beaches make this place one of the popular tourist destinations of the country. Milind had hired two large air-conditioned houseboats to spend two leisurely days, cruising up and down the palm fringed narrow canals and experiencing the microcosm of life on the water side with panoramic view of the water, land, birds and human habitations.

Ishan and Sahana were very excited to see the houseboats and ran in to check them out. Each of the boats, which were aesthetically designed and were eco-friendly, had two bedrooms with attached bathrooms, luxurious furnishings and fittings, sun deck for tanning and basking in the sun, kitchen facilities and cooks' services. The Mishra family were housed in one boat and the Shergills and the Khans took the other boat. During the day though, all three families congregated in one of the boats to chat and spend time together. The boats wound through the vast expanse of paddy fields and the neat tiny hamlets lined up along either side of the canals, affording unforgettable and breathtaking sights.

As they meandered through the canals they saw a herd of goats being loaded into a small boat in order to be ferried from one of the tiny hamlet to the mainland. The goats were trying to balance themselves in the boat as it wobbled in the backwater.

Seeing this, Ishan yelled out to Sahana, "Sis, come and check this strange sight! Goats in a boat!" he emphasised each of the last four words for effect.

"Aren't they cute?" exclaimed Sahana and brought out her digital camera to capture the view for posterity. The boat also had a CPI(M)(a political party in India) party flag. Swimming near the boat was a flock of ducks.

Prachi who was watching the scene remarked to her husband, "Milind, does this scene not remind you of your favourite book Animal Farm? See, there is a communist flag to give the political flavour. Then there are the goats and ducks to give the farm flavour."

Ayesha, who was standing hearby, was amused hearing Prachi's comment. "So Milind got you to read his favourite book too? And that too a political satire! I thought you hated politics."

"I still do, but I thought that Orwell was a clever writer who used allegory to convey a deep political message which was quite unpopular during his times but which was borne out by time later on."

"Wow, Prachi. You seem to know quite a bit about Animal Farm, then!"

"All thanks to Milind's tutorage," said Prachi looking proudly at her husband.

"With all that, I still could not get her interested in politics," said Milind, smiling ruefully.

"Well, one needn't be interested in everything that is of interest to one's spouse," said Neev, defending Prachi.

"Well said Mate!" said Ali. "Milind you should be thankful that Prachi has at least imbibed your other interests such as swimming and chess."

"Don't get me wrong, guys. I am not complaining. I love my wife as she is!" Milind hurried to explain himself. "I was only just pulling Prachi's leg."

Prachi smiled knowingly and rewound to the day her husband enlightened her on the nuances of his favourite book.

Past (Prachi's Flashback)

As she was fairly at ease with her husband now than she was before, she decided to ask him to explain the book to her. So she picked up the book and waited for her husband to wake up. After half an hour, Milind came down looking refreshed after his nap. Prachi served him his tea and while he was having it, she came up to him with the book. She smiled at him sweetly and asked him, "Milind, can I ask you a favour?"

"Anything for you, Prachi. What is it you want?" he asked.

"Can you explain to me this book?" she asked, shyly extending the book to him.

He looked at the cover and read aloud "Animal Farm! So you want to know what this book is all about? Are you sure you will be interested in the topic?" he asked teasingly.

She nodded her head vigorously, prompting a smile from him.

"OK, sit here." He said and drew up a chair close to him.

After the battle, the rivalry between Napolean and Snowball becomes more open. Snowball's plan of building an electricity generating windmill is declared as 'nonsense' by Napoleon. He also chases Snowball from the farm with the help of his fire dogs. He assumes leadership of Animal Farm and asserts that the pigs alone will make all of the decisions, supposedly for the good of every animal. Although he had initially opposed the windmill plan of Snowball, he puts forth the same windmill project as his own. The animals devote all their efforts to completing the windmill.

One day, after a storm, the animals find the windmill toppled. Napoleon claims that Snowball returned to the farm to sabotage the windmill. Many animals alleged to have participated in Snowball's great conspiracy were to meet instant death at the teeth of the attack dogs. With his leadership unquestioned, Napoleon begins expanding his powers. Napoleon's reign of terror is severe and many animals suffer under his rule. They are terrorised into confessing whatever the authorities want and say that they have been scheming with Snowball as his agents.

Napolean and the fellow pigs start acting more and more like human beings-sleeping in a bed, drinking whisky. Napolean even negotiates 'trade' with his human neighbours after setting them against each other. The original Animalist principles strictly forbade such activities, but Squealer, Napoleon's propagandist, justifies every action to the other animals, convincing them that the rules must be changed to prevent Jones from returning to control the farm. He also brainwashes them into believing that Napoleon is a great leader and is making things better for everyone despite the fact that the common animals are cold, hungry, and overworked.

Frederick, a neighbouring farmer, launches an attack called the Battle of Windmill, against the animals. During the fighting, the windmill is blown off. The animals reconstruct the windmill but the pigs are the only beneficiaries. Ironically, the pigs start to resemble the humans that they hated. They carry whips and walk upright on their hind legs. All the seven commandments are broken by them. The only rule that exists is, All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. The novel ends with Napoleon entertaining his human neighbours, and all the animals find it impossible to distinguish the pigs from the men."

"Prachi, I'm impressed! So you seem to have finally read the whole book without skipping pages like you did the first time."

Prachi went red in the face remembering the initial foolish comments she made on the novel.

Milind then gave her a discourse on Animal Farm.

"Animal Farm was written by Eric Arthur Blair," he began.

"I thought it was George Orwell," said Prachi, surprised to hear this.

"George Orwell is his pseudonym. Did you know that he was born in Bengal, in pre-independence India?" asked Milind. Prachi shook her head in the negative.

The book draws attention to the distortion of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union. The animals initially rebelled because they felt they were treated badly and they only existed to enrich the humans. The animals wanted animalism. They made up the seven commandments. They obeyed only themselves and what's right. But none would have ever thought of the horrible outcome of Animal Farm.

The story also warns of the dangers of being ignorant. As long as people are ignorant, they can be manipulated. The animals were manipulated by the pigs by the use of clever but misleading propaganda. Abuse of language is used as an instrument to the abuse of power. Initially the first commandment given to the animals was All animals are equal. Since the pigs wanted to do things which other animals could not, they changed the commandment to All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than the others. Since the animals were not intelligent enough to question them, the pigs were able to get away with such blatant misuse.

Although the book discussed what was happening in Soviet Union at that time, the message it brought out is applicable for all times and in all situations, for the book attacked fraud and hypocrisy which exists in every society. As Winston Churchill said, 'Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.' There can be no better novel which has succinctly put across this well accepted truth than the Animal Farm."

"Wow, now I understand why this book is your favourite. It does carry so many messages in the narration of a simplistic fable," said Prachi admiringly.

"Did you know that the book almost did not get published in Britain because at the time the Second World War was at its peak and the Russians under Stalin, were Allies of the British? So although Britain did not subscribe to the communist ideology, many of the publishers were wary of publishing such a politically sensitive book as it was a critic of Stalin and his style of functioning. They felt that Hitler and the Nazis were a bigger threat to world stability and as long as communist Russia supported the Allies in their fight against Nazis, the inconvenient truth about the way communism was being practiced can be swept under the carpet. The book finally got published only on August 17, 1945 after the Second World War was over. It became an instant best seller."

"How do you know so much, Milind? You truly are a repository of knowledge. I have learnt so much from you in just an hour. How lucky I am to be spending the rest of my lifetime with you to be able to learn so much more during the course of it," she said with wide-eyed admiration and regard for her husband.

Milind smiled and pinched both her cheeks and said, "The pleasure is all mine, my dear dear Prachi. I couldn't have hoped to get a more avid listener to my drab lectures!"

Prachi then said in a more serious tone, "Milind, I am sorry to say that inspite of all your illuminating talk, I still cannot bring myself to develop an interest in politics. Hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind. Each one of us has the freedom to like or dislike things. As long as you do not dislike me, I am prepared to live with anything else," he said in a lighter vein.

"Dislike you? You do know how much I love you, Milind," she said with great feeling.

Milind nodded his head and quickly looked away. He seemed to be disturbed by something, although what it was she did not know at the time.

Originally posted by: Insomniac

I was wondering when Prachi's favourite book was going to pop up - here it is 😆.

It is more Milind's favourite book rather than Prachi's.

Wow like Ayesha even I was bowled over hearing Prachi's intepretation about Orwell's intentions while writing this novel. Glad that she still doesn't like politcs - that would't be your Prachi anymore then, or Milind's. Yes, there are things which are exclusively liked by one or the other.

It's only natural why Prachi would want to know the real reason Milind loves this book so much, he loves it with a passion. She is aware that Milind is deeply attracted to her, but she is being very sensible to wait for him to realise it himself and make the first move. Once (or rather twice bitten) twice shy

Wow - Prachi really did read the book thouroughly and I see that Milind didn't leave any stone unturned to give his wife a clear and indepth analysis about what the book is about. Prachi is a quick learner. Knew that after seeing the reaction to her earlier comments on the fiction, it is better not to discuss the book without having read it first. So she read it quite thoroughly but still did not get the nuanses.

Also I like the quotes that you brought into Milind's explaination Opti. I wasn't aware that the book was puplished in the first place was such a fete - interesting. It was news to me too when I researched on this topic.

Prachi is in such awe of her husband and his ability to retain so much knowledge - and Milind in turn is in awe of his wife's abilty to please and care. They mutually admire each other.

Now I wonder why Milind was so disturbed by Prachi's confirmation of her love for him - Perhaps because he has finally realised what she means to him and how deeply he loves her too (perhaps much more than she does ) and feels enormously emotional, guilty and frightened to think that he nearly could have lost her forever with the ultimatum that he had presented to her. Hopefully we'll find out in the next part what he was really feeling. My next update will present his view point of what happened at the end. It is time he does some serious thinking.

A great update Opti - loved the way you presented a simple and clear summary of such a complex story - quite a difficult thing to do but you did it so well!!! Thanks Niki. I was assisted by various interpretations in the net which I selectively edited and used here.

Originally posted by: Opti

I have posted it again Aritha on this page. I think the pictures I had posted in my earlier version is not allowing you to open the page. So I removed them in this one.