This is the fourth part of the series – My Wish… His command? You can read the first part here: My Wish… His Command? (Part 1)
the second part here: My Wish… His Command? (Part 2)
and the third part here: My Wish… His Command? (Part 3)
(….. continued from Part 3)
I smiled through my tears and tried to steer the conversation away from the bittersweet moment when the Genie left Aladdin and Princess Jasmine forever while at the same time was ‘free’ to live his own life at last.
“Do you know the incantation for the ‘cheering charm’? You seem to be quite conversant with Harry Potter and the wizard world.”
“I have read the books, yes – although I am afraid J K Rowling hasn’t enlightened us with the exact words to bring upon the charm. But you are right. We can both smile and feel happy remembering the good things in our past rather than feeling sad that all those heart-warming events are lost to the sands of time.”
“I see you can read my mind well. I wonder though, why did you read up on Harry Potter? Trying to add to our wizardry, are we?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. In case you forgot, I am the Genie, not a wizard. But I do keep myself updated, yes. It is easier to build a rapport with anyone if you talk in their lingo. Right? Tell me, what would today’s generation relate more to – ‘Open Sesame’ or ‘Alohomora’?‘”
“Good to see you trying to stay in sync with the changing times. But honestly, I never took you to be much of a reader. You are a man of action. No?”
“I once was. You see, I have spent most of my life living in the lamp. Whenever I had the chance to get out of it, I was granting wishes to my masters. Three Wishes – Three pieces of action – and back again to the solitary confinement of the lamp. It is only later that I realized that staying in the lamp for years was what gave me the time to rest, meditate and get stronger. Once freed, and with the lamp now destroyed, I have lost my sanctum and am not as powerful as I used to be.”
“Hmmm…. But surely, you must have been itching for action when you were freed – to do things at your own will, not on the whims of someone else – a huge To-Do list to tick off would be my guess. Didn’t you have one?”
“As a matter of fact, no. I did not. I had always wanted to be free, all my life. I had harbored just one wish. To be able to do whatever I wanted, wherever and whenever I wanted to. But I was so singularly focused on being free, that I had never thought about what I would like to do once I was actually free.”
“It is not all your fault. What chances does a genie like you have of being granted freedom by one of your masters. There is so much to wish for. Who would think of – excuse my terminology – a slave’s wish to be unchained? I know I wouldn’t.”
“True. Everyone that rubbed my lamp had thousands of wishes ready to be fulfilled. Some tried to roll in multiple wishes in one long convoluted sentence to try and accommodate as much as they could at one go. Thank heavens for the ‘Conditions Apply’ clause. Or else I would have never got around to fulfilling even a single one of those wishes, let alone three. They always felt dejected even after getting their three wishes. They always wanted something more, each and every one of them. I pity those poor souls.”
“So tell me how was it like, being free, at last? To leave every other soul to its own fate and for once, be the master of your own?”
“Hmm…” The Genie took a long breath.
“I had left Agrabah with a heavy heart, yes. But I was free. This was what I had always wanted, and now I had it in my grasp. Freedom. ‘This is what it feels like to have your wish fulfilled’, I remember thinking to myself. As for what I did immediately after leaving Agrabah palace, it is all a daze now. I toured the world, saw the best sights, ate the best food, drank the best wine, relaxed on the beaches, danced my heart out at discos, geared up for adventure trips…. Basically, I had a worthy vacation as a reward for being a disciplined Genie for generations.”
“An endless vacation, to be sure. No date set for a return to school – or in your case, back to the lamp…”
“To be honest, I felt lost after a few years. The lamp had been a prison for me, yes. But it was my prison. At least I had some place to go after working for my latest master. Suddenly, I realized that the lamp was the only home I knew. With me being freed, the lamp was destroyed. I was rendered homeless. ‘The Genie of the Lamp’ had no lamp to go back to.”
“Oh come on. You could have stayed anywhere you wished. You were still a genie. More importantly, a free genie.”
“You are right. I could choose any place to stay – but any such place would be just another temporary accommodation. It never felt like home. What’s more, after those heady first few days, I didn’t know what to do next. After all, I had never wished anything for myself in thousands of years but freedom. And now, I had it with me. Still I felt wanting. Unsure of what to do next.”
“Hmm… I see even genies are not exempt from feeling empty after their most coveted wish is granted. The mind is fickle – whether it be a man’s or a genie’s.”
“Right. It even took me by surprise. But it helped me realize why everyone that had commanded me was already looking forward to the next wish – perhaps not even enjoying what they had with them already at that time. Once granted, every wish seems worthless.”
“So, what have you been up to all these years? You must have had a family – parents, siblings…”
“Yes… Yes… I have a family. I last saw them just before I was punished to be caged in the lamp.”
“Wait – are you saying you were actually imprisoned in the lamp?”
“Exactly. It was a long time ago. I was just a child then. My elder brother and I were playing. Flying around the cosmos… performing small magic tricks… teasing each other…. While playing, we had a small tiff – as brothers often do. We were arguing about the one question that has plagued beings of multiple universes since the beginning of time – Who is better?”
“But that’s natural. Everyone loves to compete.”
“Yes, you are right about that. But I was younger than my brother and I knew I couldn’t stand against him in a fair fight.”
My eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you cheated.”
The genie looked down at the desk. He couldn’t look up to me now. Somehow, I felt he had shrunk even further.
“Yes I cheated. I tried to suck his power out of him. As genies, we can combine our powers for a common cause – by joining hands or embracing each other. But to try and grow powerful at the expense of another genie – not done. I cast a spell which was forbidden by law.”
“…and? You were sentenced?”
“There is no escaping the law, son. What I did was the gravest of the grave crimes in the Genie World. Not a small infraction that could be dealt with by disciplining me for a few years in captivity. No. I was sentenced to live my life trapped in a lamp and be a slave, forever. I was condemned to serve my master with the three wishes and then go back to my prison to wait for another one.”
“But… didn’t you say you were just playing a game with your brother? I mean, surely you didn’t mean someone any harm. Couldn’t they see it was just a childish prank?”
“I pleaded, yes. Even my brother asked for leniency. But rules are rules. The one exception they made was this – I could ask my master to wish for me to be free as one of his three wishes. Only then would I be released from the lamp and be free again.”
“Hmmm… So you have been waiting for someone like Aladdin since that day.”
He just nodded. The air in the room had turned heavy again. I tried to lift the mood.
“Hey… Genie! That’s all in the past. But you are free now. You can go back to your family now, cant you?”
“It is not that simple. My people have moved on. They have shifted to another Universe. Another galaxy perhaps – and I have turned weak. I cannot cross the boundaries of this galaxy with my limited powers now.”
“Can you not regain your powers, strengthen up again and try?”
“You think I haven’t thought of that yet? I do what I can. I am trying my best. Maybe someday I will be able to venture out of the Milky Way and find my people… That is my wish, now. Do you know a genie who could maybe grant me that wish?”
(….. to be continued)
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 