At the Summit of Success!
Nepal may not be among the strongest and the most powerful nations — but that doesn’t mean it has lacked the occasional thinker with words-of-wisdom. Today I am going to share a metaphorical story written by one such writer: Bhairav Aryal.
Hearing his uncle always say, ‘We all have to make it to the summit of success, anyhow!’
— a young schoolboy one day asks, ‘How tall is the summit of success? Can I reach there someday?’
In reply, the uncle says it was possible and would even take him there — if he could manage some money.
The same day the boy steals cash and jewellery from home. They leave in a Mercedes. On the way, the uncle first teaches that — one willing to go to the summit should not give a damn about shame, disgust, sin, etc.
Reaching a huge red pond, the uncle explains —
‘This is the sea of success. See how fun and romantic is this sea formed by the blood of the poor and the stupid. This is the route to the summit.’
The uncle takes him nearer and presses a switch. This takes them to a checkpoint. The boy hands his bag to uncle after which the latter disappears. He waits for four hours ! That’s when he remembers what the uncle had taught:
One willing to go to the summit, should not give a damn about shame, disgust, sin, etc.
He then — letting go of his shame, enters.
In a room, he sees self rotating chairs. Nervously he says —
‘I am here to see the summit of success but my uncle betrayed me. Can I get an entry-pass?’
The chairs laugh. A serious-looking chair asks whose guy he was. The boy is unable to answer. Meanwhile, a new person enters with a bag and all the chairs get into a tussle to get hold of that person. The boy sneakily leaves the room and heads upstairs.
After a floor with automated vessels that fight, he climbs further up.
A sweet voice welcomes him there. He looks around. He sees lots of thighs and legs. One thigh comes near him. And the lights go off. He hears chaotic sounds of those organs fighting with each other. He leaves to go further upstairs.
He sees nobody there. While he looks around, his back presses a switch that opens a door. There he sees a room with a disgusting smell. He sees human heads and bodily organs. He gets scared. He looks to run when he stumbles upon a corpse. Unable to bear the suffering, he closes his eyes and screams —
‘Uncle…Is this the summit of success?’
When he opens his eyes, he sees his uncle in front with a pistol pointed at him. The angry uncle tells him to leave. The boy joins his hands and tells him —
‘I will leave uncle! I saw the way to the summit of success you showed, but this wasn’t the summit of success I wanted to see’
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