B - The Unwritten List

The Unwritten List

He had gone into coma and was lying on his bed in an Iraqi hospital.
For the past ten years his family members - his mother, father, wife
and only son - had been praying to God to bring him back to his normal
condition. His wife was sitting at his bedside when there was a loud
noise and a portion of the hospital building began to collapse.

His wife was startled when suddenly this man sat up on his bed with a
puzzled look. As he looked intently at his wife he found his wife
looked much older and there was a conflict and confusion in his mind,
how she could look much older overnight. As he touched his cheeks he
felt the growth of beards and thought how unattractive he looked in
this condition. His wife was totally taken aback on seeing him sitting
on his bed and staring at her. "Miracle! a miracle," were the words
that escaped from her mouth. "I thank the almighty to have brought you
back to your senses."

"It was an accident that I had met with only yesterday. Dear wife, why
do you look years older, in a day's time."

The wife did not have words to express. She was in a hurry to take him
to a safer place and his recovery was a blessing in disguise.

She said, "Get up and let us run for our lives."

"Why?"

"Let's go home, if at all it is there as it was, and then I will tell
you all that has happened."

Taking him by his hand the wife dragged her man out of the hospital
building. There was commotion and confusion on the street. The man
looked aghast. Without a word he walked down the street with his wife.
On the way he saw a man in uniform with a gun in his hand. He stopped
close to him and asked, "I think you don't belong to my country and by
the way who are you?"

"Eh! I am a member of the contingent of the Liberators sent to your
country."

"What is your work here in my country?" said the man in a perplexed
tone. "There is so much of disorder all around."

The wife was in a hurry and had moved a few steps ahead of her man. The
man waited for the reply from the man in uniform.

"We have come to liberate you all and in the course of our action minor
accidents has affected some of your people. Apart from all this there
lies a bright future ahead."

"Can you just mention some of the 'minor accidents' to me," said the
man.

The man in uniform gave a weird smile and said, "I can give you a list
of the accidents which happened during the course of liberation. We are
not to be blamed for it."

"I don't have a pen and paper to note down your list, can you give me a
pen and a sheet of paper?"

"Now I have this gun and the bullets and nothing else," replied the man
in uniform.

The man said, "Speak out your words and I will keep them stored in my
mind."

"Listen to me then,"

a) See that lady there. She is crying and running up and down the
street in search of her family members who have died from the
bombardments.

b) That boy there, he has lost a leg during the course of action.

c) The little girl to your right has lost her parents and is an orphan
now.

d) The old couple is sitting there on a heap of rubbles for their house
has collapsed in the bombardment.

The wife looked back and could not find her man. She did not want to
lose him in the prevailing state of chaos, turned back her hurrying
steps and saw her man was still in conversation with the man in
uniform. As soon as she came close to him she said angrily, "let us go,
we may fall into trouble."

"Just a minute, let him complete his list," with this the man looked at
the man in uniform and told him to carry on.

e) Many of the buildings have caught fire and many more have been razed
to the ground when the bombs hit them.

f) Some people have lost their sight, some others have lost their
limbs, left to live for the rest of their lives as dependants.

g) Electricity, water supply, medical aid and other basic amenities has
been disrupted.

h) People have become looters and we call them Ali Baba's.

i) The history of your five thousand years old civilization that was
there in your museum is looted and lost.

j) The owners of the palaces have been driven out and the liberators
are having a close look at the grandeur of it.

The wife was in a hurry and wanted a safe haven. She was not interested
in the conversation. She looked at her man and saw the expression of
annoyance on his face.

"From your long list I can find only destruction, chaos, misery and
tears," said the man.

"Destruction, chaos, misery and tears can be overcome with our help,"
said the man in uniform.

"What about our past civilization I find it on the verge of
destruction. And you talk about a bright future of my country when
everything is lost!" said the man in an irritated tone.

The man in uniform replied, "Yes we have just liberated you. Our next
task is to rebuild and give you a beautiful country in return of the
'treasure', the black gold that flows out from below the sands of the
desert."

The wife was in a panic on hearing all this from the man in uniform.
She did not want her husband to go back into coma again. She grabbed
her husband by his arm and started moving. She looked at the man in
uniform and said, "Thank you, man in uniform, at least for me in the
course of the operation to liberate, you have liberated my man from the
state of coma."