5.1 Viveka
I had nothing to compare it to, except maybe Hollywood war movies. Like the opening battle between the Roman army and the Germanic barbarians in Gladiator. Or the war sequences in Braveheart. Except that the detailing and costuming was more like, maybe, Moghul-e-Azam...no, no, not the moghul era, before that...Like Asoka. Sort of. Except that this was no movie scene or set.
Two armies were massed facing each other. On the far left, a huge horde were ranged in ragged lines. This one was massive, tens of thousands of men. From my vantage point, they were as small as bugs. And I could see them massed for miles to the North, perhaps all the way to Andheri, or what would have been Andheri in my world.
This huge army was advancing slowly but steadily on foot toward the South. Or South Bombay, as it would have been called in our world.
Less than a mile away was the other army, if you could call it that. A ragged group of opposition that looked pitiful in comparison to the approaching horde. There couldn't have been more than ten thousand people in this army.
I shivered as I realized I was watching a massacre about to happen.
Who were these groups? The North Mumbai army seemed to be the aggressors, the South Mumbai one the defenders. That much was obvious.
But I was too far away to make out details of the actual people down there, let alone identify them. The smoke-filled air and dark, overcast sky also made it difficult to see clearly.
But I thought I saw men as well as women in the two armies. And from the dull reflections, it seemed they were armed with metal weapons, perhaps swords and axes and knives, things like that. Not guns and modern weaponry.
As I watched, the North Mumbai army halted suddenly. Figures riding horses rode before the massed soldiers, obviously giving orders. From the way they arranged themselves in a long frontline facing their destination, I could tell they were preparing for the first assault.
Absorbed in watching this incredible tableau, I took a step back and stumbled over something. A jagged metal object rushed at my face and neck, threatening to injure me dangerously.
Luckily, I caught myself on a broken brick wall, centimetres from the jagged edge. God alone knew what would happen if I injured myself in this world.
I glanced down to see what had tripped me.
It was a shoe. A Nike CrossTrainer, black with two white racing stripes on the sides, curling up in that trademark Nike tickmark style.
The sheer incongruity of the sight made me stare at it. Somehow, I didn't think there were such things as Nike shoes in this world. Or Fountain Pepsi. Or Lays Onion Cream. Or McDonald's. Or any of the normal, consumer culture of our technologically advanced civilization. That's why the shoe was so obviously out of place.
But there was something else about it that caught my attention. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. In the distance, the faint sound of roaring began. The leaders of the North Mumbai army were pepping up their forces for the attack.
I bent down and picked up the shoe. It was almost mint-new, in perfect condition. Which it couldn't have been had it lain here long. Which meant it hadn't been here long.
And it was the exact same design and about the same size as the black Nike Crosstrainers that my younger brother Mikey always wore.
Two armies were massed facing each other. On the far left, a huge horde were ranged in ragged lines. This one was massive, tens of thousands of men. From my vantage point, they were as small as bugs. And I could see them massed for miles to the North, perhaps all the way to Andheri, or what would have been Andheri in my world.
This huge army was advancing slowly but steadily on foot toward the South. Or South Bombay, as it would have been called in our world.
Less than a mile away was the other army, if you could call it that. A ragged group of opposition that looked pitiful in comparison to the approaching horde. There couldn't have been more than ten thousand people in this army.
I shivered as I realized I was watching a massacre about to happen.
Who were these groups? The North Mumbai army seemed to be the aggressors, the South Mumbai one the defenders. That much was obvious.
But I was too far away to make out details of the actual people down there, let alone identify them. The smoke-filled air and dark, overcast sky also made it difficult to see clearly.
But I thought I saw men as well as women in the two armies. And from the dull reflections, it seemed they were armed with metal weapons, perhaps swords and axes and knives, things like that. Not guns and modern weaponry.
As I watched, the North Mumbai army halted suddenly. Figures riding horses rode before the massed soldiers, obviously giving orders. From the way they arranged themselves in a long frontline facing their destination, I could tell they were preparing for the first assault.
Absorbed in watching this incredible tableau, I took a step back and stumbled over something. A jagged metal object rushed at my face and neck, threatening to injure me dangerously.
Luckily, I caught myself on a broken brick wall, centimetres from the jagged edge. God alone knew what would happen if I injured myself in this world.
I glanced down to see what had tripped me.
It was a shoe. A Nike CrossTrainer, black with two white racing stripes on the sides, curling up in that trademark Nike tickmark style.
The sheer incongruity of the sight made me stare at it. Somehow, I didn't think there were such things as Nike shoes in this world. Or Fountain Pepsi. Or Lays Onion Cream. Or McDonald's. Or any of the normal, consumer culture of our technologically advanced civilization. That's why the shoe was so obviously out of place.
But there was something else about it that caught my attention. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. In the distance, the faint sound of roaring began. The leaders of the North Mumbai army were pepping up their forces for the attack.
I bent down and picked up the shoe. It was almost mint-new, in perfect condition. Which it couldn't have been had it lain here long. Which meant it hadn't been here long.
And it was the exact same design and about the same size as the black Nike Crosstrainers that my younger brother Mikey always wore.
posted by Ashok K. Banker at 12.10.05
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