Chapter 15

As discussed briefly in the last Chapter, Mr. Naman is writing a book. A book about people and their lives in Ugar. The idea came to Mr. Naman when he was writing an article in the local newspaper about how friendship developed between a paan waalah (Betel Leaf seller) and one of his regular customer who is also dying of cancer. The article was based on a true story, a story narrated to Mr. Naman by the Betel leaf seller himself. The Betel leaf was the only luxury permitted to that cancer patient because of his stomach condition. The article described how the patient related that paan with his life's dreams and what he would do had he lived longer etc. It was quite a touching story and Mr. Naman had done a good job writing it as well. Many letters were sent to the Paan walah and to the patient by local newspaper readers.

Mr. Naman realized that there would be many such stories going in Ugar and people in Ugar. It was a well known fact that Ugar was one of the most peaceful towns in the entire world. People were always smiling, strangers bowed when they crossed. People knew their vegetable sellers by their names and knew about their family as well. Vegetable sellers were also well aware of their customer's requirements. There was competition between sellers but it was healthy. They often met on holidays and discussed their stories with each other. There were no trade secrets in Ugar, because there was only one ubiquitous fact - Love and be kind. This was the principle followed by doctors, by engineers and most importantly by lawyers as well.

Mr. Naman liked the idea to document this spirit of Ugar. He didn't had to invent characters as he would take real people and write about real stories. Things that he he had observed while growing up, Stories that he had heard from his grand parents, stories that are present in the air, stories contained in the hills of Ugar, stories blowing in wind, stories flowing in rivers, stories discussed between ladies in their tea parties, there was so much going on in this small town. So many angles, so many dimensions, the scale was quite big. There will not be any plot, just stories, one after another, some building on others, some just flying independently. Mr. Naman had decided that he will not invent stories, rather it will be re-tellings or first hand telling of original events. You might have heard of the saying that truth is stranger than fiction, but Mr. Naman believes that not only truth is stranger, it is more satirical, more ironical and ofcourse more confusing that fiction which makes it interesting as well.

Among the people in Ugar about whom he had chosen to write about, he was also one of them. Surely Mr. Naman feels that he is an interesting character in Ugar. But there was one catch Mr. Naman had not thought before. Since he is writing about Ugar and he himself is living in Ugar, he will also be there as one of many in his stories. And since Mr. Naman is going to write about true events only, Mr. Naman in the story will also be writing about Ugar and his writings also need to be covered as they are fascninating according to Mr. Naman. And within those writings there will again be another Mr. Naman living in Ugar and writing about Ugar who would be doing the same. It is like Hand drawing a hand or that painting of Escher where water always flows down. It is like showing mirror to mirror and counting reflections. Such would be the recursion, each one writing about oneself in the story.


But there are more compelling questions as well. Is it possible that Mr. Naman in story writes something different than Mr. Naman? What if there is a disagreement between the Mr. Naman in story and Mr. Naman. Who shall decide? Who wins? Mr. Naman believes that he is smarter than the Mr. Naman in his story as story howsoever real it may be is bounded by the finite number of permutations of words. But reality is vast than that. Mr. Naman in story however responds that you can produce Shakespeare even in million years if you give typewriters to thousand monkeys. So permutations may be finite but its interpretation are infinite since interpretations are human. And thus the following conversation happens within Mr. Naman:

Mr. Naman: How do you know? You are just a character in my story?
Mr. Naman in story: How do you know that i am just a character? It is your interpretation of what you write makes you believe that i am a character. Show it to someone else and i will be as real as you could ever be.
Mr. Naman: Really? Is my writing that good that you appear to be real?
Mr. Naman in story: Do not flatter yourself. Your writing is good because i am such an interesting person. It is I that make you and not the other way around.
Mr. Naman: Wait a minute! If you as a person is so interesting and since you are a representation of me, this means that i am an interesting person.
Mr. Naman in story: You can say that. Or since you also believe that i am just a character, you can also say that i am not interesting and hence you are also not interesting.
Mr. Naman: Hang on! My writing is criticizing me. The hallmark of a great human is to laugh at himself. Analogically, the hallmark of a great writer is to criticize himself. I think thats what they mean by criticizing oneself.