‘Angels and Other Executives of Perfection’

Sanjeev Kumar Nath

[The title is in quotation marks because it is directly taken from “On Zbigniew Herbert”, an essay by J M Coetzee on the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998).]

Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is of use only there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest form of interaction between people, and their beliefs—their religion, literature, colleges and schools—democracy in all public and private life. – Walt Whitman

Now is the season when they will arrive in your town, even at your door, promising heaven on earth for you. They are the angels and other executives of perfection. Being angels (or executives of perfection), they are perfect. They do not suffer from human faults and foibles. They are faultless, flawless, and expect you to believe in all they say. And they are saying a lot now; they are addressing big rallies, they are on TV and social media, they are everywhere. They are full of promises; they sell dreams. They promise you heaven on earth. Depending on your socio-economic status, you can have various goodies : free ration, house, and other things. If you are meritorious in your field of work, you can have awards and rewards provided you acknowledge their godliness, their goodness.

Because they are angels and other executives of perfection, they have never done anything wrong. They have never lied. They have never cheated you. They have never turned back on a promise. They have fulfilled all their promises. They have delivered. But most of all, they are truthful. That is why they are godlike or angels or executives of perfection. They have never swerved from the path of truth.

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In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi has admitted imperfection. He called his autobiography “My Experiments with Truth” because he believed that he was trying to achieve perfection through his experiments with truth. But he was only trying; he didn’t say he had attained perfection. But these angels and executives of perfection who are now arriving in your cities, towns, villages or even you homes, are not experimenters. They have attained perfection. They do not experiment with truth; they represent the truth.

What was presented as truth earlier must be all erased and what they present as history, science, truth, must be acknowledged as true, for after all, they never tell a lie. Why should they tell a lie at all? They never lie because they do not have any ulterior motives. Only people with ulterior motives tell lies. People with ulterior motives tell lies to hide their weakness or cruelty or hardheartedness or selfishness or other such vices.

But these angels and other executives of perfection never tell a lie for they have no ulterior motives, no designs on you. They just want you to support them and let them remain on their high thrones so that they can look after you; so that they can give you free ration and pension and other such stuff. Sheep should not be unhappy if they are fleeced and then some of the wollens made out of the wool is given to some of them.

After all, what else can you want? Whatever you want, they will give you : free food, free house, and other little freebies. When you do not want the little kids to cry, you appease them with toys. What is wrong in doing that? Kids are kids, they just need some toys to pass the time in glee. In the same way, why can’t you be happy with your freebies and support these angels and other executives of perfection who have come to save you and save the country?

Do not doubt their patriotism or their love of this country. They have not come to enrich themselves but to work for the prosperity of the nation. What if they enjoy some perks and privileges on the way? What if they happen to buy property and real estate and businesses on the way?

What if their relatives and friends are also buying property and businesses and are getting wealthier by the day? What is that to you? Don’t you have your freebies or your salaries? Can’t you allow just a little plush living for them and theirs? After all, their only intention is to make you happy, and to make the country number one in the world.

Okay, in terms of numbers, you might find your city or your country on the top of lists you do not want to top, or the bottom of lists you do not want to be listed in, but do you really believe the makers of these lists, the international organizations out to blacken the face of our beloved land?

What do those fools know of the glory of our angels and other executives who have been working overtime to make our country the number one country in the world, in fact, to make it a world-teacher?

What do those fools know about the glory of our past, when our ancestors fought inter-galactic wars with nuclear weapons and other weapons more deadly than nuclear weapons? What do those fools know about our ancestors who flew around in their beautiful aeroplanes and rockets? Do not believe them. Just believe our angels and the other executives of perfection who never lie.

Okay, there are some angels who were not so angelic once upon a time. But you mustn’t be too hard on them. After all, they have all gone through the purification rites and are now as angelic as the best angels in the original angelic tribe. Their sins have all been forgiven. They have repented and have been forgiven and accepted, and have become incorruptible, purely pure, cleanly clean angels.

They have cried, like the psalmist says : “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” And they have all been thoroughly cleansed with hyssop; they have become angels now, whiter than snow.

When you blacken your nail with indelible ink, remember these angels and the executives of perfection. Indelible ink is black, but these angels and other executives of perfection are whiter than snow. Even the ones that were like black indelible ink in the past are now whiter than snow. Remember them. Remember their words and deeds.

Remember how truthful they are. Remember how selfless they are. Remember their past promises and what happened to those promises. Remember their present promises and think of what will happen to these promises in the future. Think of their honesty, their concern for the weak, the poor. Think of their uprightness.

(Sanjeev Kumar Nath, English Department, Gauhati University, sanjeevnath21@gmail.com)

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