1 A Prologue
Bal Ram Adhikari
A group of dream traders once struggled up the hill in the north, their heads crammed with seeds of thoughts. They had borrowed these seeds from an alien environment. They were in search of a virgin mental-land where they could sow their seeds, tender the plants and expand their farm. They would trade in dreams. They were desperate to spot vacant minds to farm their own thoughts.
One night they stormed into a hilly village. The village was snoring in the slumber of ignorance and destitution. The dream traders smelled the midnight air. They exclaimed– How fresh it is! What coolness! No foreign air has polluted the environment here yet.
They tasted the water there. Felt the soil. They exclaimed again– How yielding it is to grow the seeds of our dream!
They stopped there momentarily in midnight silence.
Infused with zeal and excitement, the leader of the herd climbed the knoll nearby, and the rest entered the village. They began shaking and shoving the villagers from their hard-earned sleep.
The leader from the knoll began undoing one after another the bundles of their ideologies, dreams and plans. Their shrieking voice tore the stillness of the night– Wake up, brother and sisters. Wake up from the age-long sleep. How age-long will you remain as the slaves? Wake up to become the masters of your masters. Wake up you all! The wildfire of oppression is devouring your settlement. Your children are burning in the
scorching heat of destitution. How come you keep lying senseless there like logs? Unawares, you are crushed under the grinding stone of feudalism.
Come out of the abyss of suffering. Sow the seeds of our dreams in your heart, in your mind. Then only you can dream of living in paradise. Ever. We will hand you a map to reach there.
Rubbing his eyes and nudging his wife by his side, an old man spoke– Who are to give us dream? We don't dream like you. Those who sleep the sleep of hardship don't need any dream to dream. You never know the joy of sleep without any dream. Rather, you listen to me, work by day and enjoy a sound sleep by night.
One of traders that has entered the hut spoke– Look brother, don't you listen to this old man. He will be gone today or tomorrow. You have a long journey ahead. Brother, take this magic wand of power. Before it all are equal. In its barrel sleeps the eternal sleep. The fire it emits leads you to our dreamland. Hold it. Use its power.
The debate between dream traders and villagers lasted for long. The leader of the traders spoke– Now you are hungry. Feed on our ideas for some time and fight for your right. What else do you have to lose?! Nothing. But there is possibility of gaining everything.
Sure enough! All the villagers woke up from their sleep. They were hypnotized by ideological mantra of dream traders. Youthful blood began to simmer like the water in the cauldron.
Unawares, the youths rushed to the forest, carrying the loads of others' dreams.
2
The rebellion in the village disturbed the sleep of those in the castles in the city. They felt their ego being challenged. The rebellious cry from the forest shook the pillars of their arrogance.
They called a meeting. The meeting contemplated– It's nothing but a trivial game played out of whim. The meeting concluded– These are not big players. Nor experienced ones.
In no time there came an order– Finish them off.
Panic-stricken, some whispered with each other– Now has begun ominous time in the nation.
No sooner had the order dropped than the hunters from the capital stormed into the villages, into the woods, into the forests. The land shook with the thunder of confrontation.
The lightning of enmity flashed in the eyes of both groups. Death and destruction reined the nation. Humans fell like the trees. The birds and animals witnessed the game of death played by humans.
In course of time, even the wild beasts were displaced by human beastliness.
