A visit to Hobbiton (pt.2)

                                   Tete-a-Tete with Tolkein

Atop a hill,alone in the dark night,staring at the stars I sat,smoking longbottom leaves and enjoying the moment.To my intense surprise , appearing from nowhere was the reverent Professor Tolkein himself! Young, handsome and medievaly dressed!

After I had overcome my awe, I scrambled to me feet  and rushed towards the man who was the creator of my eutopia.

"Ibrahim Abdullah , we meet at last.I was hoping you would come."

"Professor,It is an honour to meet you.I thought I'd meet you but here in Hobbiton I least expected"
"Ibrahim, a sage you  may be but you are yet foolish."

"That, Professor, I  agree."

"Did you not wonder why i created hobbits and the shire?"

"Sometimes I did ponder,yes."

"Both the shire and hobbits once existed in reality too.They were'nt always imaginary."

"Hobbits , dear Ibrahim, are a primitive form of humans and lag one step behind them in the course of  constant evolution.As for the shire, a thousand years ago any place you would have gone to would have been this much green,clean and pure.It is time that tainted both hobbits and the shire!"

"Professor, please elaborate for i am not witted enough."

"With time evolution came and half lings turned into humans.Lust,greed , malice,jealousy and the desire for power served as catalysts for evolution for all but some.These corrupted beings tortured Nature;raped it , scalded it, ripped it and in time,what once was resourrceful,beautiful,lush and evergreen turned into something unnatural,polluted and resourceless!"

"Professor how right you are.It was indeed the desire for escape that you built the shire from your imagination."

My mentor J.R.R Tolkein

"Indeed, and i made it available for a few selected ones  who wished for a similiar catharsis.Whose minds were somewhat free of greed and the present condition of the world did not appeal to them  the slightest.Which explains how and why you came here.You see,Student of Gandalf ,

                    an elf corrupted turns into an orc,

                    a dwarf corrupted turns into a goblin,

                   But a man corrupted remains  a man.

"But hopeless from men we mustnt be for there are some who are blessed with the Light and they can discern right from wrong.As much as man can be evil, he can be just as much good if he tries.This two-way tendency is quite fascinating."

After so much depressing reflections, we switched to lighter talk.Seeing professor tolkein in person clarified to me the meaning of the sentence that an author remains immortal.Tolkein may have died a century ago but he wanders free in the shire and the shire is preserved in the hearts of many.Beleieve me when I say that the sight of him sitting beside me on the cool green grass, smoking Old Toby was as real as anything I have ever seen!    ( to be continued)