Good vs Evil

The village centre was getting busy by the minute. All the village residents were assembling. An announcement over the public system had been made for the past few days that an emergency meeting of the Panchayat would be conducted in the village centre on this given day. As the gravity of the meeting to be conducted was immense the meeting was being held in the village centre for everyone to participate. Otherwise, routine work and other meetings of the Panchayat were done in the office dedicated to the Panchayat.

Madhav and Jadav were two childhood friends. They were so close to each other that every villager considered them to be brothers. They went to the same village school and had the same set of friends. They both participated in all the school and village games and social activities together. Although Madhav was more affluent of the two, there was no feeling of alienation between them.

However, Madhav's family members were very conscious of their wealth and were discriminated against in their treatment towards Jadav. They were not of the opinion that there should be free mixing between Madhav and Jadav.

Many years ago even before both the friends were born the financial condition of both the families was identical. In fact, Madhav's family was a very deprived lot. Their family had migrated to this village of Dishagram when they had lost everything to floods.

Jadhav's family had then helped them with money and food. With their support, Madhav's family found a strong footing in their new surroundings.

Then by way of support, Jadav's father had given some portion of his land to Madhav's father to till for their family sustenance. There was an unwritten understanding that the land would be returned when the demand for it was made.

Now as per the tryst of destiny, Madhav's father had become wealthy but the condition of Jadav's family remained the same or deteriorated. Seeing the turn of fortune, Jadav's father requested for his land to be returned. But Madhav's father was in no mood to relent. He had got good fortune with this land and so he didn't want to part with it. At the same time, he knew he was indebted to Jadav's father so he could not outrightly refuse. So he started making excuses to buy time. 

Madhav's father was a wily man. He had changed after the change in his fortune. He had manipulated the Panchayat members and had taken conditional rights to the land till Madhav grew up.

Many years passed since. Both Madhav and Jadav have grown. Their friendship has that same strong bond that was in their childhood. Although they are aware of the growing tension between their two families due to the land. But there has been no ill feeling between the two.

A new Panchayat body has been elected. Both Madhav and Jadav have found their places in the executive body.

Jadav's father could not wait any longer. He was getting old and wanted back his land once given to his friend as a help. Now seeing both his son and his dear friend in the Panchayat, Jadav's father thought this might be the right time to get back his land. So he filed a general petition to the Panchayat body.

The governing body deliberated over this complaint in various meetings. Madhav was now a powerful executive in the Panchayat. Their family had earned many goodie points by doing many philanthropic work in the village. So no one had the courage to stand up against Madhav and his family. Jadav could not say anything due to his proximity to Madhav. But Jadav knew as his father had realised that they had given away the most fertile land to the Madhav family. This land harvested two to three crops in a year much more than any other land. This was the secret to the prosperity of the Madhav family. Due to this reason, they were not willing to part with this land.

In various meetings, Madhav's father had wanted to give an equal amount of any other land as a substitute but Jadav's father would never agree.

Slowly this dispute over the land drew a wedge between the two families. There was however no change in the friendship between the two till they had become Panchayat executives.

After becoming responsible members the awareness came to them that there was basically something wrong in this land deal. This led to a coldness in their behaviour towards each other. Both became aware of their rights. Madhav knew that his family had wrongfully usurped the land given to them initially. Jadav knew that he had to stand up for his rights to help calm his father's tense mind.

Due to this very long pending sensitive issue, the Panchayat decided to go to the people's court to help decide and rectify the historical wrong done with the help of the people's mandate.

Madhav's father had become desperate to keep his ownership. Madhav was having mixed feelings. His father had been constantly pressuring him to think of their family interest only. But Madhav knew his conscience would not allow him to act evil. He knew that his friend Jadav and his family had been wronged for so long. Although, Madhav knew that parting with such a high-yielding land would make a dent in their income. But he also knew that his family was now quite well off and could easily afford to lose this land. They had other means to sustain them. Whenever Madhav saw Jadav he felt bad and ashamed. They were now hardly in talking terms. 

The meeting of the Panchayat began in the village centre. The full village was in attendance. Jadav's father stood up and spoke about how he had been terribly exploited. After finishing, there was loud applause and a strong sense of protest. 

The Panchayat had to give their judgement within half an hour. Two senior executives recused themselves from giving judgment. Then the next seniority fell on Madhav. 

Without blinking of an eye, Madhav stood up and gave a moving speech first. In the speech he narrated a story of how the judgement giver becomes God's representative and always had to act neutrally even if his personal stake is involved. Then he gave the judgement in favour of Jadav's father and in his official capacity ordered his father to return the usurped land immediately. The audience heard the judgement with bated breath and there was silence all around. After the judgement's effect sank in there was a big applause from the audience. Madhav's father was dejected with the judgement and vowed to disown his son Madhav. After the meeting ended Jadav went and embraced Madhav. 

The villagers dispersed from the meeting hearing the strange story of Good vs Evil.