This is the last part of the series – My Wish… His command? You can read the earlier parts here:
My Wish… His Command? (Part 1)
My Wish… His Command? (Part 2)
My Wish… His Command? (Part 3)
My Wish… His Command? (Part 4)
(….. continued from Part 4)
Had I heard him right? Was it possible that there were times when even a Genie would wish that he had a genie of his own?
I wanted to help him, but didn’t know how. After all, I didn’t know any magic. Then, something that he had said just moments ago struck me.
“I don’t know any such genie, but maybe… just maybe, there could be a way.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. Sorry, but I am not in the mood for jokes right now.”
“Patience…”, I rose from my chair mimicking his bulging up in size from earlier in the afternoon.
“Tell me one thing. Are you the only genie around? On Earth? Or are there others, like the Genie of the Ring?”
“There are others of course. I am in touch with every one of them, through GenieNet. But all of them are in captivity – in rings, jars, bottles… serving out their sentences. All genies who had broken the law of our people were punished in this manner”
“Wait. What did you say? The GenieNet? What is that?”
“Yes… The GenieNet. It is similar to your Internet – but it is obviously for the genies, of the genies and by the genies; by this Genie, to be precise.”
“And through this GenieNet, you can stay in touch with all the other genies at all times?”
“Yes. It is our own social network.”
“Interesting… So you too send friend requests and play online games to pass your time, is it?”
“We do have some fun and games going on, yes. But that’s not why I designed it. You see, we genies stay in trapped containers for hundreds of years. Whenever, any one of us is summoned by our master, we need to be up to speed with the time and place we find ourselves in. It wouldn’t look nice if a master demanded a flying machine in today’s age of supersonic jets and intergalactic travel and all a genie could come up with was a flying carpet, would it?”
“Go on…”
“After being freed, I have had the best chance to know more about what makes the world tick and how. Today, the world is progressing at an exponential rate. Technological advancements have made many such things possible for a common man that even I as a genie could not think of in the years gone by. I saw that the catalyst for this progress was connectivity – more specifically, the Internet. That is when I thought of adapting it for us genies.”
“Brilliant. So you designed the GeniNet so you could pass on your knowledge to all your fellow genies?”
“Absolutely. They may be imprisoned, but each genie here today knows about Monopoly and Bitcoin, Harry Potter and The Avengers, the white-walkers and dragon-glass, space travel and DNA sequencing, Messi and Michael Jordan…”
“Well done Genie…. Well done! That’s the best thing anyone could have ever done for their race. Hats-off to you; and believe it or not, this very GenieNet is going to get you back to where you truly belong – with all your people – in whichever galaxy they may be at this moment.”
“I heard you say that you have a plan for that. But you haven’t spelled it out yet. I am waiting…”
“Yes… Yes I know you are. Now, you said each one of the genies remaining here are because they have been punished. Right? But each crime has a different punishment.”
“Yes. Not everyone trapped here is waiting for someone else to set them free. Some of them are sentenced for a particular period, others to serve certain number of masters… Where are you going with this?”
“Listen… You said, as genies, you could combine your powers by joining hands or by embracing each other, correct?”
“Yes…”
“Let us say you put out a message, via the GenieNet, for all the genies out here to get together once they are free. Then, you can form a genie chain – to combine your powers. That way, I am sure, you can achieve what any single one of you may not be able to.”
The Genie thought this over. He seemed to be calculating something. After a while, he spoke up.
“I think it can be done… but it will have to wait for a couple of hundred years give or take a few…”
“Worth a try, isn’t it?”
“It surely is…”, he held out his hand. “Thank you, son.”
“You don’t seem to be too excited by this prospect. I thought you would be jumping around, dancing to your favorite tunes… All you are offering is a handshake? I didn’t even see you smile. Did I miss something?”
The Genie was sitting with his eyes closed. He held his head in his hands. His shoulders dropped. I thought I heard his voice crack a bit as he asked me,
“How will I convince Eden for this?”
“Eden?”
“Yes. Eden – the love of my life. That stubborn, silly, sweet genie of a girl who holds my heart.”
“You have a girl-friend?”
“Some love-stories don’t have the ‘happily ever after ending’, son. It is best to let those stories be.”
“How can you say that, Genie? Doesn’t Eden love you back? Why wouldn’t she help you with this plan?”
“Oh… How I wish she would agree to what I said. But Eden is… well, Eden. Once she decides something, she doesn’t go back and change her decision, ever.”
“I don’t understand. Did you two have a falling out?”
“No… No… Not in a million years. You see, she used to live in a bottle. Dandhi, a charming little girl came by it and became her mistress. Now, Eden got attached to Dandhi as a mother would to her daughter. One day, while talking to Eden, Dandhi expressed a wish that the two of them could stay together, forever. This was a wish that could have been rejected under the conditions that apply to us genies. But Eden, out of her love for Dandhi, agreed to grant her that wish.”
“So what? Eden could have stayed with Dandhi till she lived. Once she passed away, Eden would have been free. Right?”
“Wrong. Eden didn’t just grant Dandhi her wish by saying ‘Your wish is my command’ as we genies usually do. Instead, she herself said, “Dandhi, I grant you your wish that both of us will stay together, forever.”
“I still don’t see the difference. Eden just repeated Dandhi’s wish. That’s all that she did.”
“Yes… she repeated Dandhi’s wish. But there is a difference. When a human being says ‘forever’ you may explain it to be the time till he or she dies. But when a genie says so, it literally means, `for ever`.”
“This is semantics, surely.”
“I wish. I have tried to reason this out with Eden so many times over the years. But she refuses to leave Dandhi’s side even after her death. She says she will not leave her daughter alone – that she would stay with Dandhi’s soul, forever – as she had promised.”
It took me a while to fully grasp what the Genie had just told me.
“I will surely not be around for a couple of hundred years after this; and I know I don’t have a genie who I have summoned by rubbing a lamp or a mouse, but if I could command him, I would wish that you and Eden, along with all the other genies left behind on Earth are welcomed back by your people – with Dandhi’s soul, of course. I wouldn’t want a happy family to be disrupted now, would I?”
“No , you certainly wouldn’t ”, the Genie agreed.
There was a period of silence in my room once again as we composed ourselves. This unexpected conversation had gone through its fair share of emotions – both for me and the Genie. I had gone from being in awe of him to being afraid and then forming a friendship with him. As for the Genie, I think he found a good listener in me, and could talk about his life. I think most of all, the Genie was missing his family and the company of his lady love. I was happy that he could speak his mind with me. I was thinking about how his life was not too different from the one we lead as mortals. How love, friendship and family remain the driving force of life, irrespective of time and species.
Just then, I saw the Genie grow big on me, again. He snapped his fingers in front of my eyes to bring me back in the moment.
“You remember, I told you that I know you too well?”, he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“Do you know why I said that?”
“I will know when you tell me.”
“Well son, if you recall correctly, at the beginning of this conversation, I had asked you if you were ready to listen to me. It is not quite the same as hearing my story now, is it?”
“No. I guess not. I have heard your story. I think I am ready to listen to what you want to tell me now.”
“Hmm… Listen. I know you are good at heart. But sometimes, you think a lot. You seem to think up scenarios even about things that are not under your control. Like about Eden and my future. Sometimes in life, you need to let things be. All you can do is to play your part well. The rest is up to the Creator.”
“Hmm…”
“You said you wanted to be the best writer the world had ever seen, right?”
“Yes. I want to be the best.”
“Think about what you are wishing, son. Being the best and being the best the world has ever seen are two entirely different things. Also, who decides what being the best writer means? Does it mean writing the best literature there is? Or does it mean a writer who has earned the maximum money out of his writing? You see, every different wish is just a play on words. That’s why, as a person who has been granting wishes all his life, all I can say is,
Stop wishing. Start doing. I will be watching over you…
Did you listen to what I said?”
“Yes Ge—“
Just as I was answering him, he built up a cloud of smoke around him… and vanished. A blue ink pen with a golden nib is what remained where the Genie was sat moments ago.
I picked the pen and put it in my shirt pocket. I moved my mouse once again – in the hope that the Genie might reappear.
He did, only this time, he was on the wall paper of my iMac.
Note: This piece has been inspired by and is a tribute to Walt Disney’s Aladdin franchise. As a fan of the Genie, I have taken the liberty to imagine a conversation with him. The copyrights to all characters and images used as a part of this piece belongs to the respective owners.
Tarkash 