498A : Fears and Dreams

By Prof. Vikas Sharma

In 498A : Fears and Dreams the author asserts that right knowledge, right philosophy, and right conduct are main pillars of society, and condemns ego, lechery, greed, violence, falsehood, untruth, unwisdom, hypocrisy etc. Still he hopes for a bright and new prosperous society if people decide to give up deceit, cunningness, and wickedness. Happy married life can be led by couples if they follow the dictates of tolerance, compromise, self-help, personal duty as well as personal freedom. Tanvi, Anjula, and G.K. are responsible for their miseries and loneliness as they go astray and fail to compromise with realities of married life. Men have to realize that women are not mere toys to be played with. Here an effort has been made to support the just demands of women as mental liberty is equally important for them too. Moreover, this fiction has been related with fine arts and truth. Of course, each person has to be conscious of her/his responsibilities to society at large.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9789355992932

Book preview

Part One

1

There was a bitter conflict between God and Satan on the issue of divorce as the former wanted to get all divorce cases settled amicably with the help of His followers. But Satan, Chemos, Beelzebub, Mammon, Belial, Belcher and others were not prepared to give this Divorce Department to God at any cost.

Satan told God — ‘Your worthy self possesses the jobs of creation and preservation of the world. So far, you have created all human beings, animals, birds, insects, fruits, vegetables, air, water, fire, sky, earth, planets etc. What the hell will we be doing if you take possession of Divorce Settlement Department? There is already great unemployment in hell and many supporters of my party have no jobs so far. Your Honour can create gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds with the help of Lord Kuber but this power is not given to my party. We have to depend upon greed, lechery, pride, gluttony, revenge, anger, manipulation, simulation, and other vices for our income and preservation.

After all, hell has been created by your majesty only and hence its maintenance has got to be taken care of by you alone. No more kidding and all my friends are not prepared to give up the divorce issues to your agents at any cost. Your empire is already large after your honour has exiled all of us from there.’

‘But then harmony is superior to enmity, Satan.’ God pleaded.

‘But harmony is not going to create jobs for any earthly young man.’ Satan argued.

‘Attach importance to compromise between quarrelling wife and husband for the decent future of the children of the couple.’ God was still polite.

‘Compromise between disturbed wife and husband does not solve the problem. If both the parties make compromise easily, they fail to realize the importance of love. Generally, such couples quarrel again.’ Satan contradicted God.

‘You have to realize the importance of tolerance between husband and wife. In case one can’t love the other, one can at least tolerate the other for peace in family and society. Divorce is no solution Satan as it separates the male and the female, and disturbs social discipline.’

Now Beelzebub lost his temper and said — ‘Why are you so much worried of social discipline and harmony? Was there any harmony among worldly people before the rising number of divorce cases? No. Omnipotent God. Not at all. These earthly people often quarrel due to linguistic problems, racial problems, regional biases, communal tensions, boundary disputes etc. Why to blame divorce as the only cause of social disorder?’

God remained passive so far. Chemos added — ‘Our angels will get more than one hundred and fifty jobs in thirty states of India alone if divorce department comes in the domain of Satan. Each state will have a divorce governor and four angels of our party will assist him in each state.’

‘But who will pay for the salary of such a big department?’ God asked.

‘It will be managed on self-finance system i.e. clients pay handsomely to our advocates and the advocates pay twenty percent of their fees to the governor and the other four. Moreover, husband and wife don’t care for the fee of lawsuit when they wish to get separated. A divorce case helps the lawyer to save money for his old age as he does not get any old age pension and security during illness. Magistrates will take gifts from the clients that win the cases known as Nazrana and keep grand rooms. This is a new trade highly profitable for the scholars of law who can twist law for their personal gains. A divorce case does not get finalized within fifteen to twenty years and newly educated young girls are highly conscious of Nari-Shakti Mission and will go on demanding more and more legal rights. So, the future of this new department is very bright.’

God started losing His patience by now and said — ‘No way. Justice has got to be hurried on the pattern of European courts. In India divorce is granted after 15 or 20 years when the bridegroom becomes old. Nothing doing.’ God argued.

Satan replied — ‘Justice hurried is justice buried. If divorce cases are decided in a day or say a week, all its legal aspects are not discussed in the court properly and thoroughly. What is after all justice? Justice means that all the legal aspects of the case are analyzed minutely lest the future should regard us to be foolish, irrational, and impatient.

After all, courts have to run for weeks, months, and years. If every divorce case is finalized in lower court, the District Courts, High Courts, and the Supreme Court will have no work to do. That way we create unemployment for other lawyers and judges. Think twice on this problem Omnipresent God!’

But the will of God prevailed and He didn’t give the divorce cases to Satan and his followers.

The messenger of Lust spoke something in the ears of Beelzebub and the latter bitterly said — ‘O Supreme Deity! Why is all this arbitrarily done by you?’

‘What has happened to make you feel angry?’ God asked.

‘I am told that Adam and Eve have been exiled from the Garden of Eden by your orders. No opportunity has been given to them to plead innocent. This is no justice but pure injustice my Lord.’

‘What do you want then?’

‘Well, Sir, chance ought to be given to Adam and Eve to hire their own lawyer. May be neither of them has committed this crime? It is acceptable that your order has not been obeyed but then your laws have got to be amended according to changing times. You are requested to act as supreme judge and not District Magistrate. Both the contenders are to be listened within the purview of law. Only lawyers will plead this case and prove — Who is at fault — Adam or Eve? May be Eve just felt tempted towards the fruit of knowledge.

How is it injustice to pluck a fruit from a tree? Do you mean that fruits are not to be tasted by human beings? How is fruit from the tree of knowledge harmful for human beings? That way Saraswati and Pallas will have no followers on earth. How can the legal side of the problem be neglected without taking the legal opinion? How can Adam go scot free as he too tasted the same fruit? This way judgment had got to be challenged in the court of law?’

Still God was pretty busy in other affairs and hence asked Satan to take care of the whole issue soon. Satan asked the fallen angels to draft the laws on divorce and put forward the legal points to defend Adam and Eve. Chemos asked the court to grant him three days to prepare the details and time was granted by Satan.

After three days, Chemos pleaded —

That there is no witness to confirm that Satan inspired Eve to pluck the forbidden fruit.

That there is no witness to prove that Adam plucked the concerned fruit.

That there is nobody to justify that the plucking the fruit will cause disaster for Satan and his companions.

That fruits will be plucked from the trees in future too. If this law prevails, there will be permanent chaos in heaven and earth.

That God had no law book to advise Him for the disposal of this case.

That God passed the judgment without taking the legal opinions of both the sides.

That Satan, Adam, and Eve must be given the right to apply for second hearing by the competent Authority.

That the court of law must be expanded and judges like King Justinian should be appointed for the classification of laws.

That Eve should be respected as the mother of mankind as she is the first woman upon earth and the future generations will take birth from her.

That Eve should be allowed to regain paradise on the pattern of Adam.

That constitutional law must be obeyed while disposing off the problems and no autocracy would be tolerated.

That no judgment would be given without the opinions of two lawyers, one supporting the complainant and the other defending the case.

That the opinion of the police officers and L.I.U will be taken by the court so as to inquire all the details of the case — its location, people involved, the time of the event, witnesses of the case and the judge will give the judgment keeping in view the gravity of the case.

That poor woman will be protected in all possible ways as she is tortured by husband in most of the cases.

That more laws will be framed in future to protect the interests of women and article 498A is resolved for immediate implementation so that the fair sex needn’t suffer at all. Nobody will be allowed to take law in his hands. Strict action will be taken against the husband if he burns his wife or tortures her for dowry. Efforts will be made to maintain harmony in families but legal opinion will be mandatory for separation.

Satan and his companions accepted the above fundamental laws regarding justice for women and God didn’t interfere in the whole issue. To Him, there were only two stages — either happy married life or detached life as a hermit. Finally God had the final authority to make laws on all issues.

When the judges came to know the above resolutions as passed in the court of Satan, they requested Narad Muni to plead their case before Lord Shiva — Let the lamp of justice be protected from tempests and whirlwinds and Lord Shiva accepted the plea of Narad Muni on the condition that He would definitely take care of their honour and salaries if they impart proper justice and never twist the laws.

Since then the judges and decent lawyers have been working smoothly in the courts with the certainty of getting the divine protection. As He declared — ‘Let there be justice.’ the judges started giving judgments in the courts.

When Narad Muni was leaving Lord Shiva, the latter prudently asked the former to regularly submit the names of honest lawyers so that their honesty may be amply rewarded.

‘How can integrity, purity and wisdom of lawyers be neglected?’ The Lord remarked.

❒

2

Much before the birth of Christ, Plato advocated the theory of communism of wives and property i.e. all mothers will have children and all children will belong to them. None in particular will belong to any particular lady. In other words, Plato didn’t assert the need of marriage of one person with one particular lady and hence there was no question of divorce and exploitation of women. Shakespeare advocated the principle of love for marriage in his comedies and never talked of dowry. For him, pure ‘love is not time’s fool’ as it is above worldly considerations. Like Buddha, Jain saints condemn dowry and assert the importance of right conduct, right knowledge, and right philosophy. Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, Spenser, John Dryden, William Congreve, R.B. Sheridan, Richardson, Henry Fielding and others don’t advocate the need of dowry in marriage. But in Pride And Prejudice the irresponsible and flirt Wickham demands some money so as to marry Lydia Bennet and his demands are fulfilled by Darcy. In the poem My Last Duchess the Duke cherishes the memory of his dead beautiful Duchess and yet hopes to get dowry in second marriage. In his personal life Robert Browning didn’t expect dowry at all and loved Elizabeth Barrett Browning only for the sake of love.

Quite often young men seek divorce from wife due to their ego. All over the world women today have tremendously changed after getting higher education and are not prepared to remain busy in the kitchen before and after the office hours.

In case husband does not share the domestic responsibility, they seek divorce. Due to their strong belief in the right of equality, they are not prepared to perform double duties — that of office as well as kitchen. The situation gets worse with the birth of children.

Lord Buddha had all royal comforts and yet he left his beautiful queen and child to seek liberation and divine light. On the contrary, the divorce seekers want just physical liberation and often flirt with female/male colleagues in the office. Subhash Chandra Bose didn’t marry at all as he regarded marriage a hindrance in the path of political life. But Gandhiji and Nehru were never fed up with their wives, and Ba and Kamala waited for their return from the prison. Kamala Nehru died young and yet Nehru never thought of second marriage. Indira Gandhi took divorce from Feroz Mehta Gandhi after the birth of Sanjay and Rajeev. But she didn’t seek the help of any law as she separated amicably.

After all marriage is a social as well as family responsibility and both the partners must have respect for each other. At the same time, there is no wisdom in leading a cat and dog life. Quite often, the white lady gets married with a black youngman and then curses the day when she decided to marry him. At last she seeks divorce as pointed out by Eugene O’Neill in one of his tragedies. Quite often the rich girl gets married with a poor young man but finally fails to adjust in adverse situations and it is depicted on the silver screen quite often. The gap between Haves and Have-Nots is pretty wide and a lot of wisdom is required to adjust with a poor person. At times the girl gets married with a rich guy and finds soon that the husband is impotent. Unwillingly she seeks divorce as she does not want to be everybody’s wife to satisfy her sexual hunger.

Jatin belonged to the town Khatauli and his parents led a simple life due to their limited resources. Since my friend J.P. Sharma served as Intermediate lecturer and had to support his old parents, two young sisters and two sons, his salary was negligible due to the rising prices. It was hell of a job to shift from one rented house to another as Mr. Sharma failed to bear the high rent as demanded by the landlords.

Jatin failed to qualify for J.E.E.E. and hence passed only diploma course in civil engineering from Khatauli, District Muzaffarnagar. Had his father borrowed one lac rupees from the bank as education loan, Jatin might have joined a private engineering college somewhere in Maharashtra or Karnataka because private engineering colleges had not been established by the year 2000 in Northern India.

As diploma holder Jatin fortunately got job in private sector and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) appointed him to look after the construction of Jaipur-Delhi Highway. He was intelligent and hard working and his officers were fully satisfied with his work. Since J.P. Sharma was an idealist, he didn’t have any expectations in the marriage of his son. Jatin was a little spend-thrift and hence failed to be practical in life. As there were many proposals for his marriage, he admired the beautiful face of Tanvi Dixit though she was not qualified for any job. Her beauty and height were attractive though she hailed from a poor family.

A simple a marriage was arranged and in spite of warning by