People say that our Northeast is one of the most picturesque regions in the country. At the same time it is also one of the most undeveloped, uncared for, unreported regions. There is always the feeling that the region has escaped or missed out on the main attention of the region. “North-East?” wonders the average citizen. “Isn’t it a dangerous, uncivilised border area inhabitated by uncivilised savages who carry spears, call themselves ‘Nagas,’ and are way behind in beauty contests and ramp walking?
All that is set to change in a couple of years. Our tourism minister with the approval of the Finance Ministry obtained permission from the government to spend huge amounts (the exact figure is being worked out), and make the region a paradise. Yes, seriously a Paradise. Scholars from different parts of India, mostly from the Hindi-speaking cow belt are now reading James Hilton’s classic novel The Lost Horizon (translated into Hindi, of course) and are planning to create a legendary kingdom there.
In Hilton’s novel, a strange, unidentified aircraft lands in India and kidnaps half a dozen Indians whose leader is James Conway, a highly educated and articulate diplomat, incredibly handsome, talented, brave and an expert in handling firearms and swords. The aircraft flies and flies and finally lands in a lonely terrain where the air is incredibly pure. After the plane lands the pilot suffers a heart attack and dies. But the Indian visitors are well taken care of – fed, clothed and made familiar with the beauty of the place. Coming as they did from the dirty, dusty, overcrowded planet of India, the visitors do not complain of the change. The co-pilot falls for a local girl while Conway is delighted at the huge library and its wonderful collection of books.
He also meets with the spiritual head of the new place and they have learned and stimulating conversations. Time passes effortlessly. In one of the libraries, Conway discovers books which are thousands of years old. The spiritual guru slowly reveals the secret that he and his colleagues are hundreds of years old. Once a visitor is brought to the place, he cannot leave it and spends hundreds of years in it. But they do not complain about having to spend their lives in this ‘Earthly Paradise’ which conferred immortality. Conway does not mind, but the co pilot with his girl friend wants to ‘return’ home. One dark night they escape but as soon as they leave the borders and set foot in the outside world, they are transformed into their normal age (which is in hundreds) and die!
The think-tank of the NDA government was fascinated by the thought of creating several Shangri-las and attaining immortality. The Prime Minister and his key aides summoned scientists who had talked about ‘magic’ aircrafts which can fly in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles, and ordered them to build several of these special divine aircrafts for the visit to Shangri-la. The plane, the first of its kind, overloaded with Modi and his aide Amit Shah, sadhus and sanyasis, and holy men like Baba Ramdev, takes off.
Several decades pass. The VVIPs do not return. But that does not mean anything to the Indian citizens. They feel they can continue to occupy the new land without any problems. In fact, they discover that life is more beautiful and healthy. One day a major trekking party finds the remnants of a diary near a crash site on which were scribbled pages and pages of Lost Horizon II. Taken to New Delhi, the new education minister orders the book to be burnt because it does not have a Sanskrit translation.
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V. Gangadhar
The writer is a well-known satirist.[/column]