Helen of Anarchia: 7. The Maker of the World

It was a windy afternoon when half of Anarchia was taking its after-lunch nap that Zarin Kaik along with his six followers entered the house of Remaj Janaut. The overhanging coconut leaves from which the roofs were made were rustling calmly. One and a half year-old Helen was sleeping in the arms of Tila Shintu who was lying on the cot kept on veranda. Tila along with her new company of Laku, Milak and Sonlu had just come from the coast to have their lunch and take an afternoon break. Laku, Milak and Sonlu were on the floor resting their backs on the edges of cot. Tila’s bodyguards were observant, in the hut opposite to them. Sonlu’s eyes opened to see the mad man along with his followers coming towards them across the courtyard through the dust.

Sonlu Arani woke up his friends. Laku Janaut asked who they were and why they were at his home. Zarin Kaik hopped up on the veranda made of mud which was about a knee high from the ground, sat on his knees and whispered to Laku, ‘Did you see the maker of all this world while you were away in the ship?’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Laku.

‘Have you ever tasted wine? Of course you have!’ Zarin Kaik looked cunningly towards Tila and again looked back towards Laku. ‘Haven’t you ever thought how the idea of making wine was implanted in the heads of northerners?’

At this question, all of the four friends knew instantly who he was. Tila Shintu had told them about him several times. ‘No, I haven’t.’ answered Laku.

‘They must have accidentally found out the way.’

‘There are no accidents, son. I have lived such a long life, you see. All my hair and beard have turned grey and I have seen no accidents. The joy you have after drinking wine is not due to an accidental discovery, son. It is a message from the maker of all this world that he is somewhere close to Anarchia.’ He looked at Helen who was playing with Tila’s hair and continued, ‘She must be your daughter! Look how beautiful she is. What a perfect creation! She is like her mother, isn’t she? I heard she died while giving birth to her that’s why you named the ship after her name. Anyway, look at this beautiful child and think why her eyes or nose are like that of her mother. It’s simple son. It’s because the maker of all this world who made her mother made her too. And the wine is the sign that he’s here somewhere close to us.’

His voice had all the imaginable heaviness. It was only Helen who paid no heed to his words.

Tila Shintu managed to question, ‘How can you be so sure of existence of something that you haven’t even seen?’

‘Well, you must be daughter of Nolat Shintu who wants to buy all the land of Anarchia. See child, how do you know about the existence of air? Look at these dusty particles leaving their ground and floating in this invisible nothingness! You feel it, my child. I can feel him.’

Sonlu Arani seemed irritated. ‘Why are you telling this to us, old man?’

‘Oh yes, yes! I almost forgot why I have come here.’ He looked into the eyes of Laku Janaut and spoke, ‘Son, you must go for the next voyage. You must find our maker and bring him to Anarchia. He will certainly make things easy for us.’

Sonlu Arani who was now sitting behind him asked, ‘If he is maker of the world, why can’t he just find us and come to Anarchia?’

Zarin Kaik didn’t move his head. He kept looking into the eyes of Laku Janaut. Laku was feeling uncomfortable. The old man after taking a pause replied still looking into the uncomfortable eyes of Laku Janaut, ‘Is sending a message of pleasure through wine not enough?’ He roared, ‘He has sent the message for us to go out of Anarchia and find him. And now, it is your duty to do so! You have the ship after all! And if you deny then very bad things are going to happen to you. To your father, to your daughter and to all of Anarchians who deny his existence even when he has sent all the proofs and messages!’

He stood up and went down the veranda, gave a stern look to Tila and abruptly spoke, ‘Let’s go!’ And the mad man and the company went. Except for Helen, all the four looked confused.

Milak Larkin after a while broke his silence, ‘That man may not be entirely false.’

Laku Janaut angrily replied, ‘What nonsense are you falling for! We have a lot of work to do, we have not yet found the way of knowing the direction in the sea!’ Sonlu and Tila agreed. Helen was lost in her own world of innocence. Tila Shintu called for maid and gave Helen to her and all of them left for the coast. The bodyguards followed.

Every evening Nolat Shintu asked about progress in shipbuilding to his daughter. He even requested her to stay at the home. But she was a true rebel. Every now and then, Tila Shintu reminded her father about the idea of a common regulatory body to check things in Anarchia. Nolat Shintu always dismissed the idea as being impractical and impossible.

Zarin Kaik went from home to home teaching whatever came to his mind. He divided the people into two groups: those who believed him and those who did not. Those who did not believe him were ignorant for him and he hated them for dismissing his ideas and teachings. He was convinced to his bones that the wine was a message to the people of Anarchia and he publicly spoke against Nolat Shintu and accused him of being a criminal in the eyes of maker of this world for being one of the hijackers of the maker’s message. For owning the winery and keeping the price high. Those who had tasted wine and could not afford it fell for Zarin Kaik’s teachings. He taught them that there was a world, not very far from Anarchia which was filled with wines and nobody needed to pay for it. If only they believed and requested the maker to take them to the world of wine, he promised them that he would certainly take them.

He was fully convinced that whatever he thought were more real than the reality, that the kind of world which humans perceive after wine consumption was more real than the reality. And that more real world than the reality was the world of the maker of this world. He had sent a snippet of message through wine and that a world full of wine awaited the Anarchians. The largest share of the wine, of course, waited for himself because he was the one who told people about the maker and his world which was more real than the reality.