“These bad people.” “Hey we live in the Land of the Pure – you gotta narrow that down for me to know who you are referring to?”
“The eleven party coalition members; I am reminded of Alexander Pope’s essay on Criticism, for fools rush in where angels fear to tread, which inspired E M Forster to give the title of where angels fear to tread to his novel.”
“OK so who are the fools and who the angels?”
“Well, the angels are on the side of good and fools…fools…”
“Precisely, to label anyone a fool is a state of mind that may account for stupid decisions, decisions that may bounce back to hurt the fool – but in The Khan’s narrative there are no fools - there is good and then there is evil which he narrows down to those he reckons were involved in overturning his government to replace it with the bona fide corrupt, an act of treason, and…”
“Hmmm, let me ask you a question but first a backgrounder…”
“I hope you can contain the backgrounder – I know many a questioner who first gives a treatise of what he/she considers is right and the subsequent question is loaded – agree with me and you are OK, disagree with me and you are at best stupid and at worst…”
“Evil?”
“OK so we have come full circle but I reckon the word fool is better than using the word evil. I mean there are no Yazids or Hitlers amongst us or…”
“What about a certain former chief of army staff maligned by The Khan and the Sharif’s son in law…”
“Who incidentally has always been bested by a samdhi.”
“Ha ha, yes with the samdhi doing more damage to political capital than the son in law ever could.”
“Anyway my insistence on fools is because I find that none of the protagonists are playing the same game - The Khan’s super-fast balls are to an unmanned wicket…”
“Where is Fawad Chaudhary, the wicket keeper…”
“Hey I said wicket not wicket keeper, I meant the batter of the other side.”
“And what if it’s The Khan batting?”
“No one is bowling.”
“So how would you define the acceptance of 35 resignations…”
“The coalition leaders are playing chess.”
“But chess has strict rules and…”
“Indeed but they can be challenged only by anyone who is playing chess and they don’t apply to The Khan who is playing cricket.”
“I get it!”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023