Plight of the Cultural Being
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The story described the details of this conflict. Then Rabbit fell in love with a female company employee. It was a mutual platonic love affair, but ended in failure due to several considerations elaborated in the story, while Rabbit tried to explore the nature of human love asking himself is it a trick of the human mind or a universal phenomenon that come into being carrying its own raison dtre.
In addition to his various other attributes and due to his deep emotional involvement in literary and cultural matters ever since he was a school boy and until late in adult life, Rabbit ,always considered himself as a cultural being.
The introduction to the story contains a record of its authors educational background and working experiences. His education in USA, his literary interests and some of his reflections about certain English stories he read as a young youth, his memoirs, impressions and views about life, death, love, identity, politics etc
The events of the story took place within an organizational context as author perceived of the organization as a living active human society.
Salaheldin Altohami
Author's name is Salaheldin Altohami Mekki .born in Sudan in Jan. 1945, and graduated from Khartoum University, School of Arts 1969 with a bachelor degree in arts. He earned a degree of master of Public Administration from Syracuse University, USA 1980. He is currently working for Boartes Company in the capacity of lead English / Arabic translator.
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Plight of the Cultural Being - Salaheldin Altohami
© Salaheldin Altohami 2013, 2014. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 12/28/2013
ISBN: 978-1-4490-0171-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4678-8121-0 (e)
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,
and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Plight of the Cultural Being
Appointment in Dejektia
Dejektia’s Mafia
Dejektia’s Ethnic Situation
Karakia Peninsula
First Encounter with Sadia
Sadia’s Countryman
Sadia Instigates Porter
Satan Senior Background
Who Was Small Elephant?
Hyena’s Hostility
Promotions at Dejektia
Big Elephant’s Relinquishment
Who Was Porter?
Porter’s Convictions
Porter’s Best Friend
Black Horse Conversation
Porter Meets Small Elephant
Rabbit Invited by Porter
Departmental Meeting
Panther’s Background
Demand for Promotion
The Elimination Plan
Love Episode at Dejektia
Dejektia’s Grand Celebration
Visit to Dejektia’s Medical Officer
Grand Magician Dejected
Grand Magician’s Control Plan
Letter to Gazelle
Gazelle Expresses Love
Gazelle Approaches her Mother
Gazelle’s Mom’s Internal Monologue
Approach the Camel
Termination Thwarted
Arrival of the Brown Horse
Reactions to Grand Magician’s Downfall
Satan Junior Draws Attention
Conversation- Rabbit and Brown Horse
Savant’s Point of View
Savant Revisited
Dana’s Dialogue
Brown Horse’s Visit
Camel Invites Countrymen
Lethal Weapon
Rabbit’s Contact with Panther
Reaction of Friends
Introduction
In this introduction I shall highlight, with minor details, certain aspects of author’s back ground, early childhood memories, education, working experience, trip to the United States etc
Some of the author’s memories go back to his early childhood days. They go back to the village of his ancestors, which lies along the west bank of the great river Nile in the Northern Province of Sudan. His memory, which was not a strong retentive memory, also goes back to his early school days. He always believed that his childhood was not happy, as he was raised in a poverty stricken environment. This is why he always considered himself one of the miserables of the world. His first visit to the countryside where their village was situated left an everlasting impression on him. He went there in the company of his mother, who was visiting the village to attend a happy occasion. The journey was tough as usual. It was a long tedious journey across a predominantly desert area in a dusty hot arid environment. The author and his mother took the train and then a boat to cross to the western bank of the Nile, where their village was situated.
First and foremost, the image of the author’s maternal grandfather still lived vividly in his memory. His grandfather was a very old, respectful and dignified man. The author remembered his first encounter with Grandfather very well. Grandfather was a white, tall, grey-haired man. He received his grandson cordially and warmly – the way a father receives his son after a long absence. The positive impression Grandfather had on his grandson was natural, as a son is always inclined, by instinct, to hold elders in high esteem. But in the case of his grandfather, the author was told later that Grandfather was a prominent Arabic sheikh, a leader of his clan, a highly respectful person, and one of the VIPs of the entire Northern Province.
Despite the years that had passed and the fact that he was a very young boy of merely five years, the author still kept a vague memory of the village – the sand dunes, the magnificent graceful palm trees, the cultivated green plants, the wild plants, and above all, the great river Nile flowing through a desert downhill track northwards towards its final estuary in the Mediterranean .As he grew older and older the memory of the village was still vivid in his mind. He recalled the village people, who were honest peasants, striving to support their families against unfavourable conditions; it was a typical survival story.
Village people were running a kind of subsistence economy, with agricultural products as its main activity. In this kind of economy, money did not play any significant role and people were not money minded at all; they were not even materially minded. However, the quality of life was low because the community lacked basic requirements. This may partially explain the large-scale emigration to urban centres that would take place during the colonial and postcolonial eras.
The dominant values in the village were values of social solidarity, mutual help, and mutual support. People were united during good and difficult times. The boy was impressed by what he deemed as calmness and tranquillity. The village people, who almost all belong to the same clan, were very friendly to each other and led happy ideal lives. No crime, no strife, no big social problems existed – the village was almost a living example of the utopian society as visualized and preached for by ancient and modern philosophers. The only problem in that society was land disputes that arose from time to time between families and individuals. But this kind of dispute was always settled in the court of law, not in the battlefield. The village of the author’s ancestors always convinced him that, after all, social progress, as a dear human objective, was possible to attain.
The author also had a vivid remembrance of a very old encounter with his paternal grandmother. He and his sister were very delighted to hear the happy news that their grandmother was already in town. She had arrived from the village to visit members of her large extended family. They were exited and very happy to meet Grandmother. They ran until they reached the place they were to meet her and entered the house of their uncle. There they found their grandmother performing her prayers. It was a long ardent prayer, as the children could guess from her looks and her body language. They waited. As soon as she finished her prayers, the kids, who felt enormous love towards their grandmother, ran to embrace her. It was a cheerful passionate happy encounter that has remained ever since vivid in their memories.
In retrospect, the author perceived the village not only as a foothold on the planet – a safe haven or a last retreat (away from the barbarians!) – But also as a vivid long story of survival. He thought that the village of his ancestors had, in a sense, withstood the test of time and emerged intact, despite the dire challenging situations it faced, and survived as a gift of the Nile. He imagined that it had evolved through the years, had come out of the womb of time – the embrace of the kingdom of magic – to the horizons of our modern contemporary times. He thought of how it had witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms, empires, cultures, and civilizations. In recorded history it had outlasted the Turku-Egyptian era, the Mahadist époque, and the British colonial rule. In its vicinity, one of the battles of history was fought, when the valiant army of the Shayqia tribe (a major North Sudanese tribe) clashed with the invading Turkish forces, penetrating from the north.
When the author recalled the memories of the village, he said to himself in a loud voice, Thanks to Almighty God our village is still thriving and flourishing along the banks of the Nile. God bless the village of our ancestors where the tombs of our forefathers are kept and where our roots strike deep in the ground.
Admission to Elementary School
The author remembered very well how he joined the elementary school in the mid 1950s, in the wake of British colonial rule. The opportunity to join school was not an easy matter at that time. He still remembered how tedious and difficult the process of admission to school had been. The problem was that there were then very limited vacancies, while applicants numbers were relatively very high. In addition, he was almost eight years old, well beyond the age of joining the elementary school. There was great risk that he may miss forever the chance of being admitted to school. He was so worried and concerned over that gloomy prospect.
On the day of application, when young boys arrived accompanied by their elders, there was a very big crowd. Everyone was trying to reach the committee entrusted with processing applications. It was not an easy process. At last, as if out of a stroke of sheer luck or out of a divine miracle, the author was accepted to join the elementary school in the town.
At that school, students were taught elementary Arabic language, arithmetic, religion, and other basic subjects. The author remembered his first day in the elementary school. A classmate and he went together on foot because, at that time, there were not available means of transportation in the small town with a very tiny population. They went to school, putting on the school uniform, which was a white cotton dress and a white turban, and carrying a small case made of cotton to school. How they looked so skinny, so small and pitiful in their shabby school uniforms! Passersby who saw them going to school were worried that the strong wind current in the nearby fields might pick them up and drift them along.
That walk to school was the first step in a long, eventful, and epic journey that took the author from an obscure township in north-east Africa to one of the most prestigious American universities in the north-eastern part of the United States – so the journey of one thousand miles had already begun! School was his first contact with a new world that was unfolding to the young boys – the world of teachers, classmates, cupboards, chalk, books, exercise books, pencils, classes, playfields; the world of struggle, success or failure, and so much more. It was a day to remember forever.
A classmate accompanied him to the school, which was situated away from the residential area but within walking reach. This might have been the first lesson, among many other lessons the boy would learn; a learning institution should enjoy a detached calm environment. The school building was not very impressive, but it was different and had its conspicuous features.
The first lesson was a religious lesson. The teacher was very firm. He started the lesson by asking students to recite verses of the holy Koran. Then he selected a student who was big tall and fat to come forward and recite. The student approached the teacher. Then all of a sudden, the boy unfolded a bag full of fruits and handed it over to the teacher as a gift. The teacher rejected the gift immediately and instead whipped the child, who started to cry bitterly in a loud voice. The boys continued to remember this episode for a very long time and laughed at the student who had tried to bribe the teacher. It was a good lesson, the message of which the students understood – that you should acquire knowledge only by hard work and not by any other means.
From the very beginning, the young student was alerted to that aspect of the teacher; not only was he a knowledge provider, he was also as a tough disciplinarian. Two themes were associated with the new learning experience – knowledge and discipline. The two factors were interdependent, as discipline was perceived as an educational tool. At that time, school teachers enjoyed strong personalities and were acknowledged as such in the entire tiny town. They were received with respect wherever they went and treated as dignitaries, even though some of those teachers were still relatively young men.
The author’s impressions of those early school days were vague or confused. He remembered how he was scared by the teachers, who were not always friendly, and by other students, who were so often, and for no good reason, hostile. He remembered, very well, that at school, he encountered for the first time what people call the bullying problem.
Soon afterwards, his feelings towards school were gradually positively altered, as he began to feel more and more secure and confident, scored very high in the exams, and made friendships with fellow students and as teachers became gradually appreciative.
However, he was very shy about expressing himself properly and normally as other students did in the school environment. He failed to express himself through body language, rarely moving his hands forward or backwards or showing any body posture that expressed enthusiasm and cheerfulness. Teachers were quite unhappy about that aspect of his personality and thought he was disobedient or, perhaps, not emotionally involved. This shyness (as diagnosed later), or inherent tendency to avoid public display of emotions, made him feel different from other students, who freely expressed their emotions or enthusiasm in the classroom. He felt as if he was handicapped and worried that that this problem would continue to exert a negative influence in his future.
When the school authorities declared the final examinations results, the author was declared first among classmates. To the delight of his family members, he scored high in all subjects. Soon afterwards, the good news spread all over the relatively small town. He was congratulated everywhere he went but was keen to show indifference and, sometimes, lack of interest. This apparent lack of enthusiasm was again a manifestation of his shyness. This, as revealed earlier, was his weakest point; let us say this was his Achilles heel.
But what was the source of that shyness? Was it an expression of some insecurity? In his quest to know himself better, the author was eager to analyze this problem. As he grew older, he came to grips with this problem and kept saying to himself, I am afraid I am suffering an expression problem.
He was concerned about how to express himself powerfully in the world. Expression here was not a language or linguistic issue. It was a broader concept that involved entire life experiences. He was asking himself questions, such as what shall your role be? How are you going to have an impact and make your mark on the world? How are going to make your contribution felt at all levels? Will shyness be an obstacle or a potential handicap? Could it restrain freedom of action, impede or negatively influence the normal development of personality?
Wretched Health
The author’s mother told him that, as an infant, he narrowly escaped from death. He was very sick and was hospitalized. His condition deteriorated to the extent that the coffin was brought and family members were mourning. All of a sudden as if out of an unexpected divine miracle, he started to improve, and the ghost of death suddenly disappeared.
Later on, during his