THE CROWD PULLER-2-TENSION IN TOWN - STORY

Curfew has been imposed in the town following clashes between two communities over the dead body of the juggler. Both sides are claiming that the juggler belonged to their community as they will perform the last rites as per their religious belief and rituals. The administration is taking all the precautions to restore peace and sanity. Until yesterday he was simply a juggler and good at that, mysterious though. He entertained people and people felt happy. The question of his religion or faith was of no concern. A juggler is a juggler and that was all. As long as he was alive nobody cared to know what he did for living, where he lived and so on. A dead body can arise the conscience of people in such a strange way was quite unexpected. Thousands of unclaimed dead bodies are disposed of by the administration without any ceremony every day and the collective conscience of people remains unconcerned. A dead juggler can do what a live juggler can’t. Leaders from both the communities sitting on their high perches are making provocative statements. Political leaders of all shades and color have descended in the town having close door meetings with their followers and chalk out the strategy. The whole atmosphere is pregnant with uneasy calm. Chances are there that if an amicable settlement is not reached in time, tempers may fly and situation may go out of control. There are some moderates who think peace can be restored the religion of the dead juggler could be established. Somebody has suggested that his penis be examined to ascertain if he was circumcised or not. If yes, he belonged to this community, if not, he belonged to that community. It was a long shot but could possibly settle the issue but leaders of both the communities opposed it for fear of losing the dead body and therefore the right of ownership. Both sides were putting forward evidences to show that their community has produced more jugglers than the other and therefore, as per the law of average, he must belong to them. History was being reread from the very beginning of creation to prove the point. This also failed to settle the issue because everybody knows that history over the period becomes fiction and biased. The recorder of events becomes more important than the events themselves. One more suggestion about how the juggler dressed was also rejected because no juggler dresses the same every second day. Besides they have their own outfit to suit their hidden tools for hypnotizing the audience. The problem was further confounded by the fact that no one had seen him visiting any religious place or eating at a particularly designated community eatery. Nobody in fact knew anything about him except that he occasionally performed in this or that or that park or pavement. The administration had to relax the curfew for a few hours in the morning so that people may buy goods of their daily need. Complete vigil was kept over the movement of people during this time. It was not necessary because nobody ventured outside their Mohall/neighborhood. Schools and offices were closed and emergency medical cases were handled under special curfew passes. Some people died even before the passes could be obtained. People were running out of essentials but were prepared to pay the price for the sake of religious pride. The worst sufferers were the daily wagers, petty traders, vegetable vendors and such other people but when the leaders have to deal with such an enormous and far reaching decision, such inconveniences are of no consequence. Print and electronic media too was washing their dirty hands in the running water as the saying goes. Depending on wishes of their akas (lords), they were playing the tunes. Their investigative journalists were coming out with stories about the juggler, about his family, background. They had met many families who suspected the photo resembles their long lost son. These families were from both sides of the divide. Confusion and only confusion reigned supreme. Suddenly from out of blue a rumor was making rounds that some people had seen the juggler performing in the nearby town. Those in the know were swearing by their holy books that the information was true. Some thought it was a canard spread by the administration to ease out the tension. If nothing else, it made people complacent and less aggressive. The administration assured the people to enquire into the whole issue and requested them to maintain peace. In the hope of seeing their beloved juggler again, people started going about their regular business and normalcy was returning. THE DEAD BODY OF THE MAN WHO WAS A JUGGLER OR LOOKED LIKE HIM WAS STILL LYING IN THE POLICE MORGUE WAITING FOR A CLAIMANT.