Seltzer (Anu)

 The Headman of the Granary province was extremely unhappy. He was told that working hours this week were the lowest till now. Why, less working hours meant a steep pay cut. He was not ready to risk this.A prompt announcement was made to everyone to assemble in the Main Quadrangle.
“Here, we work till we drop down dead!” shouted the Headman. “Slacking off or goofing around will not be tolerated. You must understand, the one purpose of your life is
productivity. Don’t you want to contribute something to develop this vast empire? You- yes,
you- “ Pointing his finger at a scrawny boy who was distracted by something on the
Headman’s forehead ( it was a fly- just in case you wanted to know) , the Headman shouted,
“Well boy, what did I just say?” “Uhmm- you said we- uhhm needed to work hard….?”
“Humph. Fine. Well get to work then! No lounging around will be tolerated!”

About 50 scrawny, dirty children got up and dusted their behinds, trudging around to their
various posts to work. The work was a lot - cleaning mills and machinery, sweeping the
godown, heaving around bags full of grains. Their work hours were timed, their actions were
monitored and they were given merit accordingly. Many of them consoled themselves saying
that they were better off than those who had to work at the Drainage Province or the
Intoxicant Province. At last, it was their hard work that had brought them to the top, right?
Day in, day out these kids worked at their respective provinces. Once the kid turned 19, he
was sent to the Major Centre where they assigned the kid some or the other province based
on his working hours, compliance, his tendency to respect authority, diligence and a bunch
of other fancy sounding words. But honestly, I think that his working hours was the only
factor considered. It is not a compulsory system, they said. The child can be shifted from
province to province based on his hard work. If the child worked enough, he might even get
a chance to secure a place in the coveted Regalia province.

Little did the children know, the Regalia Province had the same kind of work, if not more.
Standing in front of the searing fires till your eyebrows burnt off, stoke the coals at the
furnace and pour melted treasures from one cauldron to another was all you got to do.
Now the adults were a little less delusional. That is an understatement. The adults were
slaves to a broken system- with no energy to bring about change. The Granary ones thought
they were better than the Drainage ones and the Drainage ones thought they were better
than the Redundant ones.

But the adults were told, if they worked hard enough, they would be one of the few selected
to go up the hill to serve the Aristocrats. This was incentive enough, for often they thought
working at the land up the hill would mean that they would become one of them soon.
The only people who were at all happy here were the Aristocrats. The Aristocrats were living
luxuriously ( as the name would suggest ). They presided over the Headmans of all the
provinces. They sipped bubbly seltzer out of gold glasses and ate veal and caviar and all
sorts of fancy sounding delicacies. They wore delicate clothes and laughed even more
delicately.

Each week 3-4 adults were sent up the hill, but only six adults served the Aristocrats all year.
The scrawny boy( the one who was distracted by the fly, remember him?) worked hard
everyday and was shifted to the Regalia Province. He worked harder there, and he was
finally selected to go up the hill. His joy knew no bounds. Packing up his belongings he
reported at the Major Centre. There they told him to leave his belongings in a box. As he
was seated in the buggy which was going to take him up the hill, he saw that they were
burning his belongings. He found that extremely strange, maybe they were going to give him
new clothes up there. As he reached up there, he was not led to inside the Mansion. Instead
he was led to a dingy, musty- smelling cavern. He was tied to a wooden chair with his head
held firmly in a metal brace and a man in a red coat came in, carrying a big sack. He kicked
and screamed and tugged at his bonds, but to know avail. The man brought out a few tools
out of his sack and one by one pulled out the boy’s teeth. The boy screamed and cried all
the while, but the man continued pulling out the boy’s teeth. Soon the boy’s mouth was
empty. Snot and drool and blood were flowing down his chin. The man waved at the guards
to carry the boy out and dispose of him like the others. The teeth were washed and dried
and arranged around in a golden platter.

This platter was carried up the hill to the Mansion. “Ah, looks fresh!” exclaimed one of the
Aristocrats. She picked up one tooth and dropped it in her seltzer. After all, all of them loved
the bubbles that the teeth produced.