This is a response to request from Aria.
Gravity
She stared at the display screen for a full minute. No, there were no changes. The bold read "DELAYED" screamed loud enough for every passenger to back off and wait for another few hours or so. She did not care for the reason for the delay as no reason can ever matter for the loss of time. She first searched her back pack if she had any reading material with her and for her utter disappointment, the only book she had with her was over and done with during her last flight. She sighed and looked around for the only thing which could keep her sane for next few hours; a bookstore.
The bookstore was not too far from the terminal. She sighed in relief and went in to make her purchase. After three quarters of an hour, she left the shop with substantial amounts of books with her. She was good to go for next few hours but if the delay of her flight was even more than she had originally anticipated, then she might had to make another trip to the shop. She did not mind if she got few hours of uninterrupted reading done. Once back to the terminal gate, she settled herself on the floor resting her back next to a column which hid most part of her. She preferred her current resting position rather than sitting on a chair and spending hours or trying to lose herself in shops mindless trying to pass time. She placed all her purchases next to her including the book she bought with her and pulled out the first one and began to read.
She was lost in the world of X-Men, bio-electronics and battle between good and evil. When she found a pair of red converse next to her books, she looked up to see the eyes of the owner of the converse. The man who now crouched to her level had picked up her stack of books and checking out the titles with a smile on his face. She felt mildly irritated and violated when he picked up her books without her permission. For her the books she owned were a part of herself.
"When I saw these titles from afar, I had to come and meet you", he said without offering a greeting or even looking at her. He was still eying the books in his hands. Her scowl relaxed to a mild frown and she didn't care for the customary greetings either.
"Why do you say that?" She asked him. She did not have a particular reason for picking the books the way she had since 'Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix' was for her nephew, who had lost his copy; 'Beyond Good and Evil' by Nietzsche was to replace her lost book and 'Crime and Punishment' was something she was carrying with her.
"There is a connection of sorts with the three books. I have read all the three books and most of Nietzsche's works and only when I saw you stacked three books, the sheer connection between them blew my mind off. So, I came here", he answered and settled wordlessly next to her. Her gaze now lost its scowl and turned mere curious.
"I must say that I still fail to see the connection", she said.
"I have one word for you: ubermensch", he said.
"I don't see the full connection, but I know ubermensch is a German word and it means 'superman'. Didn't Nietzsche use it extensively?"
"Yes, he did. Doesn't Lord Voldemort fit the bill of superman in Nietzsche's terms?" He asked her.
"He does, actually. Lord Voldemort thought that he was the savior of magical world from the muggles and wanted to keep the magical bloodline pure."
"That is how the series started but technically, it was all about power. He refused to accept the fact that there were anyone else who were worthy of his intelligence and caliber. Basically no other wizard or a muggle had value of life equivalent or more than his. He wanted to exterminate everyone in magical world who he did not deem worthy of living or learning magic or whatever his criteria were. He disregards all social and moral principles and considers that whatever he does is just extraordinary and has to be accepted by everyone else. Logic behind his decisions is skewed and irrational." He stopped for a moment and took a break. She turned her face away from him and looked at the crowd in front of them. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts.
"Lord Voldemort does become above the law, doesn't he? He thinks he is above an entire race and believes that even if inferiors' makeup the majority of the population, they still have to be eliminated. This is kind of similar to the holocaust, isn't it?" She mused.
"Well, in magical world all the reasons, motives and background is well defined and well explained. The author gives ample of reasons behind Voldemort's actions. So in this book, everything is out there. But in reality, no one can really understand the political motives and reasons behind the actions of certain leaders. People will sit and speculate and debate endlessly for the reasons behind a politician or a dictator's action but in the end they just are speculations where maybe most or none of them are correct. We just accept the most probable one and move on and get reading for something drastic to happen again."
"Political decisions are never really coincidental or random. The reason behind any political move would have been in discussion and in minds of the leader for far greater time than one can imagine. Like Nietzsche said, a visionary lies to himself. The prejudice that one exerts upon another mostly has its root cause deeper than an environmental or socio-economic influence. We are only fooling ourselves if we think that way."
"That is where Dostoevsky comes into picture." He smiled and she smiled back. She had gotten a hang of his train of thoughts and was thoroughly enjoying this interlude with a stranger. The man was definitely intelligent and not to mention soothing on the eyes. His stubble gave him a roughish look but his green eyes softened his overall image. She shook her head to clear her thoughts of handsome stranger and get back into the conversation.
"Raskolnikov commits a perfect crime in 'Crime and Punishment' and believes that he has committed a perfect crime and most definitely a crime with a purpose. The thought, even though ludicrous, is justified by him by saying that the lady whom he killed did not deserve to live because of whatever she was. He believes that he has done a great deed to the society by eliminating her from the society. He doesn't find it incorrect even in the eyes of law and finds himself above the law and the mediocre people who follow that law and just by doing so, he becomes that superman." She sighed. The topic that they were talking about was most definitely not considered as fun in any forum but she felt she had never enjoyed a conversation to this extent ever. She shook her head to keep herself track of the conversation and not to think anything unruly. She snorted at the implications her mind had drawn. He looked at her curiously.
"See, you connected all the three books with a single concept." He gave her a dimpled smile. She was however not finished.
"When a superman strikes if the ordinary man retaliates, then would ordinary man become a superman?" He stared at her for few minutes. She turned crimson under his unwavering gaze and finally had to snap her fingers in front of his face to catch his attention. He came out of whatever reverie he was in and replied to her.
"Let's get some coffee and then we will talk." She nodded in appreciation and was about to get up when she saw an outstretched palm in front of her. He was trying to help her get up. She placed her palm in his and wondered he was being purposefully polite of chivalry was a part of his personality.
As they walked towards the nearest coffee shop, he began to talk.
"To be honest, I do not know how to answer your question. When we start questioning the premise for a specific philosophy, then we have to dig to the roots to understand where the concepts have stemmed from. Because technically, an ordinary man will never retaliate. And if they do, they will be squished unless there is a tremendous amount of counter measures and attacks from more than mediocre crowd." He looked at her hoping to make her understand the complexity of her question. But he felt he had failed in answering her.
"Harry Potter was the solution. But in a sense he too was a superman. The author kept a stark contrast between good and bad which can happen only in fiction and never in real life. When you look at it both Voldemort and Harry Potter were awfully similar. Psychologically, they have almost similar temperament and their behavior cross path most of the times. If it were to be a reality, then both Harry Potter and Voldemort had equal chance of winning." He was surprised by her answer. Not surprised in a way of what is she talking about, but I can't believe she understood my incoherent rambling. Now he was genuinely impressed by her.
"Good and evil are never two different things. It's just that one is a reflection of the other." He ended it there. She nodded her head in understanding. She was mesmerized by his words and was finding it very difficult not to babble everything that was coming into her mind.
He gently covered her hand with his when she took out money to pay for her coffee.
"Please, allow me", he whispered. She could only nod at his proximity and his voice.
They came to their original seating on the floor and he stretched his legs in front of him and she mimicked his actions. After having enough caffeine fix, she sighed and began to talk. It was her turn after all.
"Good and evil are different you know."
"How does one know it?" He countered. He was thoroughly enjoying this encounter with beautiful and smart girl.
"After decisions are made, actions are taken and results are tallied." He looked at her in surprise. No one till now had put across a point so blatantly and so clearly. Of course every word in her statement was debatable but he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about the complexity of the woman who was sitting next to him sipping coffee.
"That would be one way of seeing it, yes." He agreed. "But when one is at crossroads, they will never know if the decision they are taking is right or wrong, or, if the outcome of the decision is going to be for the greater good or not."
"You answered it yourself. 'Greater good' would mean satisfying a particular set of people. If my point of view allows me to choose a particular set of people who I deem as worthy, then haven't I made the right decision?" He knew they were at crossroads too.
"You realize that we will never reach an agreement or an end to this conversation, right?"
"Yeah, I know it. But I wish I was naive to believe that the world was truly divided into good and bad people and nothing in between." She sighed unhappily.
"Wouldn't that make world a predicable place to live in?"
"It might be predictable and boring but at least it would have been a much peaceful place."
"Then in that world good always wins or evil, isn't it?" He asked her, going with the flow.
"Yes, it would."
"But in reality, good negotiates and evil compromises."
"I agree", she 'clinked' her coffee cup with his and took a sip.
"Keeping all these aside, why are you reading X-Men comic?" He asked with genuine curiosity as he thumbed through her comic book. She laughed heartily and he stared at her laugh.
"Because this comic gives me a perfect escape from the reality in which we live in."
"Oh! And not to mention the eye-candy it provides. Man, even I would crush on these men", he sniggered. She rolled her eyes. She was completely relaxed and unlike with any other stranger, she felt completely relaxed and at home when she was talking to him. He was about to ask her something when he heard call for boarding his flight.
He stood up and found it awfully cute when she stood up next to him.
"I have to board that flight now", he told her. He did not know why he was feeling melancholic. He was generally annoyed whenever flight got delayed but for a change he was unhappy. The smile she had on her face when he was making random comments while reading X-Men had disappeared.
"Be safe", she said. He gave his business card and wrote few numbers and email addresses on its back and placed it on her out stretched palm. She looked at him and looked at his card to see what his name was. She did not know what she had to do next. She was never in situation like these and now that she was in one, she did not want him to go. She felt her feelings to be juvenile and utterly childish but she felt like throwing a tantrum and demanding him to stay back and talk to her more.
"Give me a hug", she said suddenly. He looked surprised while she mentally kicked herself. He smiled and bent down and scooped her in a gentle hug. And then she whispered in his ear.
"My name is Riddhima, Armaan."
And then they went separate ways.
~Sookie
Edited by Sookie* - 15 years ago
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