The Art of Leadership

According to the literature hardest test for leaders is to challenge their characters and skills.

Leaders are tested, again and again, throughout their careers, and self-knowledge gained from these tests of character is the heart of leadership. In other words, the difference between success and failure is not skill, technique, credentials, networking, or even experience. It is clarity about who one is. This self-knowledge is often the critical factor enabling leaders to do their work, meet their responsibilities and live rewarding and useful lives.

The basic challenge of-leaders appear so widely, perhaps even universally, because they reflect two fundamental, enduring aspects of leadership. One is the humanity of leaders, that is, the hopes and fears, traits and instincts of the human nature we all share. The other is the unchanging agenda of leadership, in all times and places: developing a goal, a plan, a purpose or an ideal and working with and through other people to make it real - in a world that is often uncertain, recalcitrant, and sometimes perilous.

Leaders spend much of their time thinking ahead and planning, setting goals and assessing progress. But behind these rational, practical minded efforts, they are pursuing their dreams. Though they are often reluctant to admit it, these men and women have strong images of a good life and a good career, and they deeply want to make these images real. For well and ill, these dreams can shape even-thing they do. Hence, a natural first question is what makes a good dream for a leader. And in my view, the life of Alexander of Macedon provides valuable answer to this question.

Literature gives us only one window on leadership. Other important perspectives come from historians, journalists, scholars, leader's personal account of their experiences and our own observation. In this background we have to appreciate the myth or reality of the art of leadership.

This article invites readers to learn - about leadership and about themselves - by taking serious work of fiction and history as examples and examining them.

How does serious fiction help us understand leadership? The answer is simple but extraordinary powerful: serious fiction gives us a unique, inside view of leadership. In real life, most people see the leaders of their sphere of influence only occasionally and get only fleeting glimpses of what these leaders are thinking and feeling.

Let us begin our analysis by randomly picking a few works of literature. For example, the main character of Hermann Hesse's novel "Sidhartha", is searching an employment, and in this pursuit meets Kamaswami, a successful businessman. Kamaswami tells him that the art of meditation and literacy are not helpful in moneymaking, and in a market oriented economy, one needs the skills of being street smart. Kamaswami further tells him that the art and practice of moneymaking is a complex game and requires a quick decision making to seize the moment!

The proposition raised by Kamaswami may be debatable, but the fact is that for a successful life selection of goals and objects is a necessary tool.

A leading character of Homer's "Iliad" "Achilles", did raise a question, whether power is important or the strategy? The annals of history tell us tools like courage and deception did play an important role to gain a win-win situation. Proposition is further strengthened from an Arabic saying, war is 'just nothing except deception'.

In 'Arms and the Man', Barnard Shaw did compare the character of two heroes, one who lays down his life and is no more available either to defend or to cause loss to enemy, and one who is more wise and temporarily withdraws from the duals to remain available to pursue his goals. A pragmatic leader, in Bernard Shaw's view, is more useful.

Homer in his epic poems, 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' draws distinction among different Greek heroes including Ajax, Achilles, Agamemnon and Odysseus. Odysseus is one who successfully overcame the challenges which confronted him on his way back to home.

The moral of the story is: Adapting to change remains a prime factor for success, in peoples perception their leader represents an attribute of success. In the books on 'leadership', the real subject appears blurred as there exists a vacuum to comprehend the role and character of a leader. This fact calls for a serious review of the art of leadership.

Gobriel Garcia Morques believes, Story telling is a great art, and there is no doubt about that. Stories do provide motivation and lessons of wisdom to its readers and listeners. The stories for the children are really interesting. In each story, there is a hero, a hero who is entrusted with a complex task, and in order to accomplish the same, he is usually advised to undertake travel to the unknown lands for gaining control of the mystery solutions to the problems in hand.

The literary tales are full of surprises and listeners remain in the grip of story while experiencing fear and joy depending on the twist in the tale.

It is the mastery of the storyteller which engages the people to listen to the wonders and challenges faced by the hero. The listeners may not comprehended, why the hero is being advised not to look back. But the fact is that the said statement is meant to gauge the hero's sincerity to the cause.

            The stories evoke dreams among young people, and they start thinking am I dreaming, are my eyes wide open. T.E Lawrence – better known as Lawrence of Arabia for his daring role in helping the Arabs to fight the Turks during the World War I in his memoirs writes:

“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

These stories thus tell, it is realism about the world and one’s self that separates dreams from delusions. Willy Loman’s Tradgedy tells us that which dream one has to abandon. Willy wants to be a great sales man. He wants love and respect from everyone around him and from his family. He longs to be an adventurer, like his father and brother. He envies his brother’s wealth. Willy dreams that his son will become worldly, rich, and important. He wants to start a business of his own – to get off the road and leave something to his wife and sons. He loves to build things with his hands. Willy dreams of a business world where personal relationships are central, compared to price and deals.

In his book namely, ‘Who Moved My Cheese,’ its author, Spenser Johnson, explains how people fail to familiarize themselves with the changes happening around them and in the process suffer badly.

An important element for a leader's consideration is setting of goal or objective in order to lead his followers, or to organize his nation.   Following the goal setting, a plan for organizing logistics, building infrastructure and gathering manpower for the execution of his design or to fulfil his goal is needed. There is a catch in the goal setting, that is, one has to opt for an achievable goal, a goal which attracts community's approval and in the process becomes a popular slogan.

A selection of an opportune moment for initiation of steps for launching the proposed plan for the achievement of goals is required. A bad timing often leads to unforeseen hurdles, whereas an opportune moment leads to smooth sailing.

A reading of Iliad and 'Arms and the Man' suggests the importance of timings and of an opportune moment. For example, in the first episode, Hector, a Trojan hero, chooses a bad timing for an open dual with Achilles, and as a consequence loses his life. Arms and Man’s hero termed as the 'Chocolate Cream Soldier,' waits for a suitable moment to strike back at the enemy. These events tell us, honesty of purpose is an important element for gaining success.

History of the classic age is full of events where one can observe the cause and effect in action, for example, take the case of Greeko-Persian wars. Both the nations were plagued with hate for each other. Both suffered in a long series of wars. And ultimately, the Persian Empire was destroyed by the Greeks in the 4th century BC.

For the attack on Persians, Greeks used a past invasion (150 years ago) by Darius's son Xerexes (480 B.C) as the prime cause to take revenge. The invaders alleged, during the past wars Persians plundered their cities and their temples were demolished. The call of war was based on the element of hate against Persians, and Xerexes's invasion of Greece becomes a focal point for unifying the Greeks.

No doubt, a study of Greeko-Persian wars raises a question, what made the Greeks to gain an extraordinary level of motivation? For example, it is believed, Persian was motivated to maintain their hold on Greece and its allied states, particularly the northeast Asia, for economic reasons. The Greeks, as is claimed, were motivated by a desire to take revenge. The story does not end here the actual reasons for attack on Persia was different than simple hate. Economic reasons were paramount as the control of Mediterranean was a key to control the trade between Asia and Europe. In addition, Alexander was motivated by his personal desire to conquer the world, and the Macedonians were interested in loot, booty and plunder.

The study of the personality of Greek's war hero Alexander requires a serious attention. Alexander III of Macedon was the son of King Phillip II, who did make a huge investment on his education and training. It is roughly estimated that expenses on his education stood as high as 50% of the GDP of the city-state of Athens.

Alexander, in his young age remained aloof and withdrawn. He was fond of reading, and was known as a bookworm. Neverthe­less he was trained in the art of warfare, military strategy, history, logic, philosophy and diplomacy. It is claimed, that his tutor Aristotle plagued him with the fascist thoughts of supremacy, hate and revenge. He taught him the art of how to conquer people and to colonize them.

Accordingly Alexander led a successful military campaign against an existing world power. It looks a romantic mystery. It is a story of courage and wisdom.

We may ask here, what motivated Alexander?

The known facts tell us, Alexander was in love with the character of Achilles, the hero of the war of Troy, who claimed himself to be the son of Gods. Alexander also did believe, he was the son of Zeus-Ammon. He was also made to believe to have a blood lineage with Heracles from his paternal side and with Achilles from his maternal side. The deeds of these heroes were so dear to Alexander that he followed their actions in letter and sprit.

Queen Olympias, Alexander's mother also contributed to make her son a great leader. Macedonians politics was a sport of blood, and it was a difficult country to be ruled. Olympias was a shrewd woman, and she took all the necessary steps to ensure that his son ascends on the Macedonian throne. She arranged for Alexander's early education, and summoned a teacher namely, Leondias from her home state, and he was the man who introduced Homer's poetry to Alexender.

Homer, a legendary figure in Greece was well known as a great teller of stories, and a known bard singer. Listening to his songs particularly the tales of ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’, used to evoke heroic feelings amongst the Greeks. Although with certainty no one knows the reality about Homer, for example where he was living precisely when the Iliad and Odyssey were written? Nevertheless, his poems purport to tell of events that attended or followed a great war fought by bronze armed men from all over Greece, led by the King of Mycenae, against a strong town called Troy, near the south shore of Hellespont at it western entrance.

Alexander motivated his colleagues by living like a common soldier among them. He familiarized himself with their thoughts and ideals. He was very friendly with his team members and participated in all of their activities. These characteristics made his personality popular and romantic.

As a leader, he led his troops by example. During his expeditions in Punjab (modern day Pakistan), a city was not falling, and his troops were showing laziness and lack of exuberance, he all alone climbed on the parapet of the city and jumped inside. He was seriously injured though, yet the city was overtaken by his troops.

The then Greek environment also played an important role in shaping up Alexander's mind. Innovative plays of Greek literature had transformed its myths into drama with complex human characters, which enabled the people to explore profound moral issues. In a play 'Antigone' Sophoclese argues that a hero's character requires strong belief in values which are part of environment around him since the hero's character plays a vital role in shaping the opinion of its followers.

Sophoclese's well known play, "Antigone" is a tragedy. Greeks perhaps liked the tragedy more than comedy. In the said play, King of Thebes Creon, his dead nephew Polonaises and his nieces, Antigone and Ismene are the main characters. Creon's nephew is killed in a battle staged against the king. His body is lying unburied at the city centre. The King has ordered that his nephew's body will not be given a burial, and one who dared to defy the king's order would also be hanged.

Dead Prince's sisters, namely Antigone and Ismene, come to know about these events. Antigone is caught up by an inner crisis - a crisis of her soul - because the Greeks believed that a person will not be liberated until his body is buried. There was a challenge for both the sisters to bury their dead brother. However, the sisters differed how to confront the issue. They had divergent views. The conversation which took place amongst them is reproduced below: ISMENE: If things are as you say, poor sister, how can I better them? How loose or tie the knot?

ANTIGONE: Decide if you will share the work, the deed.

ISMENE:  What kind of danger is there?  How far have your thoughts gone?

ANTIGONE: Here is this hand. Will you help it to lift the dead man?

ISMENE: Would you bury him, when it is forbidden the city?

ANTIGONE: At least he is my brother - and yours, too, though you deny him. I will not prove false to him.

ISMENE: You are so headstrong. Creon has forbidden it.

ANTIGONE: It is not for him to keep me from my own.

ISMENE: O God!

Consider, sister, how our father died,

hated and infamous; how he brought to light

his own offenses; how he himself struck out

the sight of his two eyes;

his own hand was their executioner.

Then, mother and wife, two names in one, did shame

Violently on her life, with twisted cords.

Third, our two brothers, on a single day,

poor wretches, themselves worked out their mutual doom.

Each killed the other, hand against brother's hand.

Now there are only the two of us, left behind,

and see how miserable our end shall be

if in the teeth of law we shall transgress

against the sovereign's decree and power.

You ought to realize we are only women,

not meant in nature to fight against men,

and that we are ruled, by those who are stronger,

to obedience in this and even more painful matters.

1 do indeed beg those beneath the earth

to give me their forgiveness,

since force constrains me,

that I shall yield in this to the authorities.

Extravagant action is not sensible.

ANTIGONE: I would not urge you now; nor if you wanted to act would I be glad to have you with me.

Be as you choose to be; but for myself

I myself will burn him. It will be good

to die, so doing. I shall lie by his side,

loving him as he loved me; I shall be

a criminal - but a religious one.

The time in which I must please those that are dead

is longer than I must please those of this world.

For there I shall lie forever. You, if you like,

can cast dishonor on what the sods have honored.

The story no doubt portrays an important aspect relating to the character of a hero or a leader, and shows how a leader is confronted with competing choices to make decisions.

           

'Antigone' also reminds of Arthur Miller's play, 'The Death of a Sales Man'. It is a critique of post industrial society, and the hero is facing a 'moral questions'; whether or not failing to provide a good living to his family still gives him sa right to live?

Asoka the King of India (269 B.C.) at an important juncture of his rule also stood confronted with a similar choice! After having won the war of Kalinga and having seen the miseries of human beings as an outcome of the war, he stood shocked. In the said war it is estimated that one hundred thousand people stood killed and 150,000 men were taken prisoner. After the battle, a moral question haunted Asoka’s mind, whether he still keeps the right to rule? The event forced Asoka to adopt the policy of non-violence, and he became a follower of Buddha. The Dhauli stone records the Asoka's profound sorrow and regret at the slaughter of Kalinga as follows:

"When the King. Priyadar'si, Beloved of the Gods, had been consecrated eight years, Kalinga was conquered. 150,000 people were thence taken captive, 100,000 were killed, and many more died. Just after the taking of Kalinga the Beloved of the Gods began to follow Righteousness, to love Righteousness, to give instruction in Righteousness. When an unconquered country is conquered, people are killed, they die, or are made captive. That the Beloved of Gods finds very pitiful and grievous"

In the epic of 'Mahabharta’, the war hero 'Arjun' is reluctant to face the war. His mentor and Shiva's reincarnation in human form, Krishna tells him that his refusal to lead the war would cost him his status as a hero among his followers. And a wishful thinking that he may retain his status by avoiding the war would amount to living in fool’s paradise. He also told him that accepting the challenge with courage is the only way left for him. He further told him that he (Arjun) does not have the power to change the fate accompli, as the things are ordained by the God Almighty.

Brahspati. A Hindu Brahmin, forced Porus to challenge the onslaught of Alexander by reminding him his religious duty to counter an intruder. Thus the war of Hydaspes (Jehlum) took place. The problem attitude of Brahmins is reported by a Greek historian Arrian:

"The ultra fierce resistance he (Alexander) encountered was due in large part to holy war propaganda spread by the Brahmin priests. Alexander's only answer to ideological opposition was sheer terrorism. Many Brahmins who fell into his hands were hanged as a deterrent. On being asked why he (Brahmin) had instigated a certain leader to revolt, the Brahm replied: "Because I wanted him to live with honour and die with honour.' Resistance far from being crushed by his strong arm methods, took on a new lease of life. Before 300 B.C. all Macedonian garrisons in the lands of the five rivers had been wiped out."

The hitherto discussed examples suggest, it is not only the goals, but also decision making, organizing capacity, and disbursement of justice which is expected from a hero or a leader. Justice has done which is seemed to be done beyond the realm of organized institutions. This reminds me a character from one of the popular novel "Godfather. The hero of the novel is approached by each victims of injustice by the state institutions and they expect a justice from him.

Fundamentally, people expect a concept of divine justice from their heroes. Homer, in Odyssey's book of Shadows portrays the glimpses of a divine justice. Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces at Troy on his return home (after eleven years) along-with the prize booty Cassandra, the daughter of Piryam (King of Troy), both were killed by Agamemnon wife.

In Illiad, there is no glorification of war. The war is seen by men on both sides as a calamity visited on them by fate or Gods. However, Homer did cast a difference between men and God, and compares a conflict between natural order and manmade order. The former is free from malice, greed and wickedness while the later gives rise to war, destruction, slavery and injustice. The leaders thus take chances, test themselves, and learn lessons from what had happened in the past.

Virtues of Forgiveness, Love and Decency

Suppose you wanted to write a novel about the activities of a man and chronicles of his day’s life, obviously it requires a powerful narration and lot of details. Faced with such narrative limitations you might be tempted to invent a wider canvas of things, places, events, books and things. The good news is that Ian McEwan has presented a beautiful novel on these concepts.

Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Saturday’¹ revolves around a day in the life of neurosurgeon Henry Perowne and his family. It is a Saturday (15 February, 2003), the day on which a huge march is taking place in London to protest against the proposed war in Iraq.

Perowne is a man of profound competence and one who never stops counting the blessings of loving marriage and a pair of beautiful and talented children. Perowne’s daughter, Daisy is about to have her first book of poetry published, and is coming home for the first time in six months. His son Theo has abandoned school and entered in the field of music as a musician. He is still living with his parents, and both the children get along very well with their father. Perowne’s marriage life is very happy, and his wife Rosalind is a lawyer working for a newspaper.

A family gathering is taking place in the evening and Rosalind’s father, John Grammaticus too is expected to join the coming happy party. Grammaticus is a strong personality and still maintains a rift with Daisy, his grand daughter.
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1.             Ian McEwan, Saturday, Jonthan Cap London, 2005.
Perowne isn't much of a reader, but Daisy has been trying to educate him, making up reading lists for him. He still doesn't quite get it, but for the most part he's willing to try. But some of the books she suggests -- the "irksome confections" of the magical realist school -- are too much for him to take: And in the opinion of author, the actual, not the magical should be the challenge. The reading list provided by Daisy persuade Perowne that the supernatural is a recourse of an insufficient imagination, a dereliction of duty, a childish evasion of the difficulties and wonders of the real, of the demanding re-enactment of the plausible.

On the fateful day Perowne wakes early in the morning, and is elert and empty-headed while standing naked in the balcony, he mentally reviews his recent readings as suggested by her daughter. He thinks about his beloved wife and the ways of modern professional life which are keeping each partner busy.

He stands absorbed in his professional life, reviews cases of major patients and thinks about the information which people provide to him regarding the problems they face. While looking out the window, Perowne sees what he first believes to be a comet but then recognizes as an airplane that is on fire heading for Heathrow, what looks like an impending catastrophe he is helpless to do anything about.

During his lonliness at the time, he thinks about his own professional life and that of his wife. He loves his wife, and the good moments spent together vibrate in his memory.

Focus of his thoughts suddenly turns towards children. He reviews the birth process which suggests, it is not necessary the children should be parent’s copy, he knows that what really determines the sort of person who is coming to live with you is which sperm finds which clog, and how the cards in two packs are chosen, how they are shuffled, halved and spliced at the moment of recombination.

In Perowne’s subconscious a desire was there, one of his child be a blues musician, and now he is proud of his son Theo, a guitarist who plays in an open eyed trance. He knows that music speaks unexpressed longing or frustration, a sense that he’s denied himself on an open road, the life of the heart celebrated in the songs.

With these thoughts on his mind he came down to the kitchen where he meets Theo. He informs him about the erratic plane landing, and during their coffee drinking session they exchange views on the ongoing international politics, including the religious fundamentalism of the Middle East, about which Perowne thinks these type of cultures only extend hatred. In his opinion such people are in the persuit of utopia.

Theo leaves for his work, and Perowne comes back to his bed room, where the environment attracts him to make love with his wife. He is now free from thoughts, from memory, from the passing seconds and from the state of the world.

Perowne will not be joining the antiwar march. Though he reluctantly shares the national paranoia, his intelligence can contain both poles of the debate about Iraq, aggression and appeasement, and at the edges of his thoughts about the day ahead, he drifts between them.

There are, other necessities too, competing for his attention: the familiar sensuality of making love to his wife, Rosalind; a regular game of squash with the anesthetist colleague who has assisted him in the week's cool battles with tumor and trauma; a visit to his mother, who, because of Alzheimer's, no longer recognizes him; and the return of his daughter, Daisy, from Paris to celebrate her first volume of poetry. It is a day typically replete with purpose.

He thinks of Darwin’s work and summarizes it by saying that endless and beautiful forms of life, such as you see in a common hedgerow, including exalted beings like us, arose from physical laws, from war of nature, famine and death. He then thinks of William James and Henry James particularly of his novel The Golden Bowl.

Having read Anna Karenia and Madame Bovary, the great masterpieces, he condemns the attitude of nineteenth century society towards adultery. He however, agrees with Daisy that genius was in details which were apt and convincing.

The readings done on the advice of Daisy did convince him about the existence of flaws in the contemporary fiction which he found too sprawling and a mixture of hit and miss to inspire uncomplicated wonder at the magnificence of human ingenuity of the impossible dazzling achieved. He believes that compared to fiction music possesses more purity.

Later in the day, he finds out that the plane landed safely. According to his Saturday routine he walks out to go to club to play squash, he observes behavior of the people who are leaving to join the march. Everywhere he turns, the mass of marchers is a presence – peaceful, yet their enormous size and potential threatening. The plane and the marchers – like the danger in Iraq, both Saddam Hussein’s criminal rule and the violent solution that is being considered – are all kept at a distance: the world is close, but does not really intrude. Indeed, Saturday is an intimate novel, and the author rarely brings several people together at the same time – and, not surprisingly, when the scene does get crowded, things get very ugly.

Perowne is not convinced with the cause of Iraq war being propagated by the great powers as he thinks history will not be impressed with such causes as opinions are a role of dice.

With regard to conflict he believes that the world has not changed and it will take a while to settle the ongoing differences.

He is moving towards his destination deeply immersed in his thoughts when he is encircled by a small bunch of thugs who want to robe him, and their leader namely, Bexter challenges him.

Neurosurgeon and sharp-eyed diagnostician Perowne realizes that there's something wrong with Bexter. The man has Huntington's disease, a cruel, debilitating ailment. Bexter knows (and knows what awaits him), and when he realizes Perowne knows he back off (and has his mates back off too). It's enough to allow Perowne to escape -- though the memory of what happened, and how he acted, haunts him for most of the rest of the day. Needless to say, Perowne does not manage to escape Bexter entirely, and it comes to another confrontation.

Perowne thinks Bexter's disease makes him dangerous: "a man who believes he has no future and is therefore free of consequences". The disease also manifests itself in mood swings and unpredictable behavior. Perowne is curious about the case, from a medical point of view, and can't help but try to regard and analyze it as he would with any patient in his office. He also sincerely wants to help, though it is difficult to balance that with Bexter's threatening actions.
But the conversation between Perowne and Bexter becomes boring for the other thugs, and after losing interest they walk away and do not come back even on the call of Bexter, that is how Perowne saves himself from violence.

Having a first hand experience of violence, he thinks that holding the unruly, the thug, in check is the famous common power to keep all men in awe a governing body, an arm of state, freely granted a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. But drug dealers and pimps, among others who live beyond the law, are not inclined to dial nine-nine-nine for leviathan; they settle their quarrels in their own way.

On his return journey he continued to ponder over different issues of politics, of literature, of music and of the characteristics of the city of London. He describes in detail the hall marks of the city, why they are known, and what the attributes of such places are? He thinks of Kafka’s novel ‘Mataphoris’. He considers it as ill disposed of tale. Theo is still sleeping, but he remembers to attend his performance in the afternoon.

He moves out again to visit his mother; he is quite familiar with the environment where she is living. The visit is part of his weekly routine. Although due to his illness (Alzheimer), she does not recognize him, still an unknown attraction is visible. He spends sometimes there.

Later in the day he attends the performance of Thew. The occasion is well attended. He comes a cross the Prime Minister, who recognizes him and appreciates his professional work. It was a bit surprise for him.

While he was driving he had noticed a red BMW which was following him. It looked quite odd.

He comes home and continues pondering over moral and political issues confronted by the world. He is bothered by the attitude of different warring groups and the unrest around the world. While he is thinking about these serious matters, Daisy arrives. He exclaims; “So let me have a look at you.”

He wonders that for the first time he is meeting her daughter after six months, the longest she’s ever been away from her family. And while holding her, his mind recalls the growth of Daisy in all these years.

They exchange the usual niceties of home coming and he explains to her activities of the day, he has been playing squash, visiting his mother, cooking the dinner, all these sort of things.

For a short while they discuss the war issue and condemn the same. At that moment Perowne’s father in law Grammaticus arrives.

They continue to discuss many different things from each one’s perspective. At this moment, Perowne thinks about his wife, and starts missing her and longs for her to arrive home.

Theo is home and embraces his sister. Seconds later, they enter the sitting room hand in hand, and present a tableau of their respective obsessions and careers, precious gifts. Daisy holds a copy of her bound proof, her brother grips his guitar in  its case by the neck. Of all the family, Theo is by far the most relaxed with Grammaticus. They have their music in common, and there’s no competition: Theo plays, his grandfather listens and tends his blues archive – now being transferred to hard disk with the boy’s help.

While the family was enjoying these happy moments, an odd event happens. The thugs with whom Perowne had an encounter in the morning do enter their home by hijacking Rosaland. The whole family suddenly stands hijacked by Bexter and other thugs and they are ready for a deadly violence.

Bexter suddenly observes Daisy, and all the thugs become interested in her. Bexter orders that she should pull down her clothes and the orders are made at the tip of knife. She ultimately sings one of his poems which forces Bexter to change his mind to go ahead with their plan to outrage her.

Ironically (if not entirely surprising), it is art - poetry, a tool that Perowne doesn't have at his disposal — that prevents the situation from getting out of hand at the most critical point. (It is this, surely, that drives Perowne to head back to work that Saturday night, the need to reassert his own life-and-death power, the operating theatre the only place he knows he is in control.)

In a sudden encounter Bexter is overtaken by father and son and he gets a fall in which he receives a brain injury, all other thugs ran away. But unclothing of Daisy reveals the fact that she is pregnant.

Perowne has to operate Bexter and Drummacutis is bandaged too for the nose injury.

During the night, Perowne discusses Daisy’s pregnancy with Rosalind, she tells him, they love each other, he is an Italian boy studying Archeology, Daisy has decided to keep the baby, at this hour we’ve to support her. Perowne agrees and says, ‘I’ll support her’.

Ian McEwan is a modern author and in his work he is full of irony and playfulness where these characteristics are apparent. In ‘Saturday’ he has chosen many subjects, wars and conspiracy theories are prominent subjects among them in which history of the mankind has been depicted ironically and with humor. He has used pastiche technique, by combining the elements of other genres and style of literature to create a new narrative voice. In his novel he has also used the technique of inter-textuality, by acknowledging the previous literary works in his story. Temporal distortion is very much present as the author jumps back and forward in time, and the element of paronia too is very much there as the thought process is heavily influenced by anxiety and fears.

The novel ends with the hard-won virtues of forgiveness, familiar love and decency. The highly textured but low-pitched prose, with its accretion of detail and its insistent use of the present tense, allows the submerged uncertainty of life after 9/11 to emerge not as an occasion for rhetorical or stylistic fireworks but as one of the many total strains, albeit an intense one, pervading man’s daily experience. The novel explores the question of ‘to what extent’ it is possible to insulate yourself against world’s concerns. The author in fact distills all that is good, decent and honorable about English society to day.

The novel amply demonstrates how good fiction, by dramatizing unwieldy and fraught ideas in a deeply personal narrative, can fashion the world into gobbets sometimes more digestible than factual reportage. The novel itself is not about politics; It is a novel about consciousness that illuminates the sources of politics.
McEwan is writing close to the news and to the facts: fiction has to take its place within a context of reality. Both are given equal weight, but there can be no doubt that this hyper-real novel is absolutely convincing on its own terms. The reader is able to coexist with the writer, in an identical time frame and with the same preoccupations.

In this novel, though, threats are never quite implemented. Perhaps this is a sign of artistic maturity, a response to the political situation, or both.

McEwan finds in Henry Perowne an ideal alter ego. Exact and erudite, he is a man who leaves nothing in his life unexamined. He palpates experience, looking for vital signs. In the novel's memorable set pieces, Perowne buys shellfish for a stew with the comic weight of mortality on his back. He plays squash in the constant knowledge of his brief span on earth, as if each titanic rally might be his last. And, most notably, with painstaking love and duty, he tries to engage his mother in the life in which she has lost all bearings.

In giving us a protagonist so steadfastly hostile to the charms of his own art, McEwan signals a return to some of the questions about the purpose and value of literature that he posed in ''Atonement.'' Here, though, the contemporary setting lends the questions a new moral urgency. ''The times are strange enough. Why make things up?'' Perowne asks. Which is to say, in a world that can present us with the phantasmagorical spectacle of 9/11, what has fiction to offer? Like Adorno, famously announcing that ''after Auschwitz writing poetry is barbaric,'' or the many writers who, in the wake of 9/11, expressed anxiety about the relevance of their work, Perowne suspects that making up stories -- fretting about mots justes while buildings burn -- is not just an unnecessary occupation but a frivolous one.

 The paradox, of course, is that even as Perowne denies the fundamental usefulness of fiction, his daylong preoccupations supplies the matter for the reading of the novel. He is right by observing; literature cannot give absolute answers, or furnish watertight explanations. McEwan proposes, literature can capture the moral tangle of personal life and historical context that is our lived experience.

Ian McEwan is, of course, not known for his magic midget drummers or similar flights of fancy; it's not magical but clinical realism he offers, and in Saturday, built entirely around neurosurgeon Perowne.

Babu the Barber

The small neighborhood Grocery Store stands located at a walking distance from the center of the town. It's more expensive but less overwhelming than the other stores, and there are small toadies that offer comfort everywhere, for example, free Ice Cream, a recipe-exchange board, the soft sound of classical music in the background, with no overly excited voice breaking in to describe unbelievable savings on sweets, and the smell of beef roasting in the back room. And besides it, on the second floor of the store building there is another popular business house located namely, “Babu 's Haircutting Saloon.”

Babu's saloon is furnished with the kind of mismatched but comfortable things you can still find at a haircutting saloon. The saloon is housed with a sofa, a chair in front of a mirror, and a table besides the wall.

Babu belongs to a family of limited means but he claims not to be affected by it. Babu likes to serve people, to live for them and to share their grief. His living is simple as is evident from his clothes whose fabric tells the money spent. As an individual he is loveable.

☆

Babu's work routines are quite disciplined. He begins early in the morning and breaks for a siesta, and restarts his work late in the afternoon.

☆

Saien the Guru, commonly known as Guru, is a mysterious personality though, yet influential among the town folks.

Sasbadni, a town folk, is not only cute but also possesses pleasing manners. She is the daughter of Man Khan, a wealthy landlord. Guru is very fond of Sasbadni, but to ask for her hand is impossible as she does belong to the aristocracy.

☆

           Nutt and Behram are also living in the town commonly known as Mehargarh, college graduates though, yet they are unemployed. Nutt is very fond of horses and likes horse riding as a sport.

☆

           Mehargarians usually criticize the social environment; they feel equity and equality is being jeopardized to support the powerful. Guru tells them to be patient!

          ☆

             Mehargarians are afraid of “Saien the Guru,” yet there are many who believe him as a blessed one.  Guru’s disciples, though illiterate, are very influential among people. They pretend themselves as the guardians of Guru’s interests.

           It is a common belief among the Mehargarians that Guru do have a role, direct or indirect, in the ongoing disputes among the various factions of the town folks.

☆

"Come on, tell me what do you want to do in your lifetime?" asked Babu.

"I want to be a swimmer in the Olympics before I am twenty-one," Nutt said.

"That's great." Babu exclaimed.

Behram raised his hand.

"Yes, Monsieur?”

"I want to be a traveler."

"That's your ambition?," said Babu. "Well, why don't you? It isn't very difficult!"

"For me, a visit to the city looks too far and you know my bicycle is broken."

"You can catch a bus, can't you?"

"It's a long walk from my home to the bus stop."

Nutt laughed.

"All right, Behram" Babu said. “I’ll take you along on my bicycle."

"Oh, thank you," said Behram.

☆

And on that day it all started:

“I’m going to pick up food; you better stay here," Babu asked Behram.

"Okay."

"Hi, how are you guys?" Behram asked the visitors who were surrounding him. "We are fine, Behram... how do you do?”

"I'm doing fine. What you guys are doing here?"

"We're looking for you."

"How come that?"  

                    “Guru does not like your friendship with Babu.”

                    “He is noble soul.” He said.

          There is no match between aristocracy and a Shudra, keep away from him.”

                   “What?”

          “I don’t know, nothing I mean, I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you anymore, Behram. Should we talk about all the little things? Or just… you know major things?”

          “What do you mean by ‘major things’?   

          “Not really.” I thought I’ll tell you some facts about Babu – Babu, the enemy of Guru.

          Oh, I understand, but it is too late, it is too late.

           “I don’t know if you got the message.”

          “No!”

          “Well so.”

          “Tell Guru I’m not his slave.”

          “Okay,”

☆

          Why you are looking so odd, asked Babu.

          “You and Guru did split up or something likes that?”

          Babu nods and leans back against the café wall. “Guru” is playing dirty games; he is exploiting the innocent people on the name of divinity. I also know my limitations – as a Shudra, the down trodden, I’ve no role to play in this class divided and race conscious society.

          “Oh. I never knew these happenings”

           “Is there any place in the town that people look deeper in their hearts?”

          Are you sure about this Babu? You could get a real nut.”

          “Well, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t afford it by myself.”

☆

The store was crowded and people were busy in shopping. Babu was waiting for the Behram and Nutt, no sooner did they arrive at the grocery store, than he started climbing the stairs leading to his shop. Soon he tripped and fell, the impact of the fall made the people nervous, for a while no one could comprehend what had happened? As the people regained their senses, they found Babu lying unconscious on the ground.

Babu was given a good massage. These efforts helped him to regain consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and began to mumble in a strange voice. He uttered the name of Guru several times he the said, “keep a watch on Guru’s disciples, they are helping Guru to entice away Susbadni!” It was shocking for people.

“What for you are waiting here?” Babu asked Behram and Nutt. “Go and tell the Mehargarians the evil designs of the Guru.”

Behram and Nutt rushed to the town and informed the town-folks about the evil designs of Guru and his disciples.

“What does Babu know about the Guru,” the village headman remarked. “Guru is blessed with spiritual powers. He is an innocent guy. A Shudra can’t advise us how to behave, ask him to shut his tongue.”

Behram and Nutt tried their best to explain to the Mehargarians about Guru’s evil designs. “We are more interested in the welfare of town-folks rather than confronting the Guru,” the headman told them. They again narrated the events and happenings of Babu’s fall – a fall which had bestowed unknown secret powers on him.

“It appears to be nonsense. Take it lightly,” the village headman advised them.

Nutt was disgusted with the shortsightedness of the town-folks.

☆

Babu's prophecies came true. It was shocking for Mehargarians, and People were dumbfounded.

Saien the Guru for whom Mehargarians possessed love and respect cheated and dishonored them, and his disciples, who were being fed by their charity, came out to be thieves, it was painful.

☆

At the town center, Mehargarians stood in silence. Bicycle in his hand, Babu arrived there, without  noticing the people, he was moving slowly down the road.

Man Khan got down on his knees in front of Babu and started crying. "Help me, Babu! Please help me..."

"How can a Shudra help the aristocracy?” He was too cold, too tense and too tired.

Man Khan's wife was sobbing; she suddenly started crying in a state of shock, "Please help me... Oh, my child... where is she?"

A mother's cry melted down Babu's annoyance.

“Be patient now,” he said to Man Khan. “The girl will come back soon.”

☆

“What’s this nonsense going on outside, Babu asked Behram.”

“People want peace in their lives.” Behram said. “They need your help.”

“How can I help them?”

Babu I can tell you a tale. A pundit asked his students, “How do we know the exact moment when night ends and day begins?”

“When it’s light enough to distinguish a cat from a dog,” said one boy.

Another student said: ‘No, when it’s light enough to distinguish a mango tree from a mulberry tree.’

“No, that’s not a good definition either.”

“Well, what’s the right answer?” asked the boys.

 “When a stranger approaches us, and we think he is our brother, at that moment all conflicts disappear, and that’s the time when night ends and day begins,”

“It’s a difficult proposition,” said Babu. “Peace follows love, patience and forgiveness. Who believes in these virtues?”

☆

 Babu turned out as a helpful Guru for the townfolks – he was helping them to solve their problems. He used to foretell arrival of happiness to many and advised others to be prepared for the coming rough times.

The crimes table registered a sharp decline. It was Babu who told the Police in advance about the evil plans of thieves and thugs.

Tales sprang about Babu, he was emerging as a new balancing force in the local politics. The events attracted the Police, and they arrived at Babu’s saloon very quickly. There were lots of them. Some with cameras climbed on the building to take pictures..

“Good morning, I am Inspector Dhillon and am assisted by assistant inspector Ranjha,” The Inspector said while introducing him.

He was a big man in an old blue suit and a blue hat. “So what should I do, Inspector?” asked Ranjha.

“Take his statement.”

Babu smiled and said:

“First the daughter, mother, now the father, too, all have disappeared. It can’t be a coincidence, Inspector.”

“I would like to talk in camera.”

The moment his fellows left, he said:

“You’ve no idea the world is a dirty place.”

“I knew all about the world, but I didn’t like that sadistic shit. I didn’t damn it. I didn’t understand it. It made me mad, even scared. How could a man like you act worse than an animal?” “And well, you were there for money too, weren’t you?”

“It’s just a word, Babu,” Inspector said in apology.

“Nobody knows where they have gone, or when and why they left, Inspector.” “Don’t you think Inspector, these disappearances are strange?”

“Yes, very strange.”

“It makes you think, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it makes me think.” “Maybe, it was the evil spirit who took them away.”

“Of course not, Inspector, who would believe anything like that?”

The Inspector looked nervous, and fear glimmered through his eyes.

“You can’t understand,” he cried. “We are not paid well… my mother is suffering form a serious illness, and it is impossible for me to afford her expensive treatment. Who cares about us or about our problems? You’ve to sort them out by yourself!” “Tell me what to do?” He started crying.

“I don’t poke nose in others affairs, you know. Forget about this, no one will ever know,” said Babu.

The inspector heaved a sigh of relief. He left. The others followed him. The policemen had left without extorting money, it was unbelievable.

☆

Babu’s popularity attracted masses, people from far off started visiting him to seek his guidance on their personal issues – issues linked with family, wealth and property.

☆

One day, Mayor called on him. As he entered his shop, Babu received him.

“I welcome a leader, who robs his own community, and does not have any respect for them.”

Mayor stood stunned. “Babu, he said, “it is the environment in which you live and the same shapes your attitudes. If we can change our environment only then positive outcome is possible.”

“Well, we can make a collective effort to change our environment,” said Babu.

“We appreciate your efforts, you’re doing a good job, and he told him. I now need you help to locate my lost child.”

Babu identified the place of his captivity.

Mayor's son was recovered. He was pleased with Babu and nominated him in the Local Council.

☆

Emerging leaders steadily gain importance and fact sheets are gathered to compile their profiles. It so happened in Babu 's case.

The profile read:

"... Babu, the barber, is a resident of Mehargarh. He possesses supernatural abilities. He can read the hearts and minds of people, and can locate things buried or hidden beneath the earth or in the sky. He is blessed with special powers and talents. He can be an asset to the state..."

The Governor learnt about Babu’s profile, and he decided to call on him.

The local administration acted promptly, the area around Babu's shop was cleaned and decorated to show their efficiency and to impress the Governor.

☆

On Thursday, Babu arrived at the market and started climbing the stairs leading to his shop. He tripped and fell down. He was found unconscious. Nutt and Behram massaged him, he regained consciousness.

“Why such a huge crowd is gathering here?” He asked:

“The men and women are here to seek your help. The Governor is also coming to call on you, you know that… don’t you?” Nutt asked.

“I’m not sure, why the Governor is calling on me?”

“For improving the community services, they need your help,” said Nutt.

“I don’t posses any secret powers,” cried Babu.

“What at? Didn’t you possess secret powers?” exclaimed Nutt. “How is that possible? Didn’t you in the past exhibit the same?”

“I don’t remember anything anymore.”

☆

After the Governor’s formal reception, the Mayor escorted Babu to the Municipal Hall. The Governor was waiting for him.

☆

 “You possess secret powers.” Governor asked Babu?

“Sir, there appears to be some serious misunderstanding. I don’t possess any secret powers, I’m a barber.”

The Governor became furious, and asked for Mayor’s explanation for bringing to his notice a false tale.

“Sir, till yesterday this man possessed all the secret powers in the world. Today, he tripped from the stairs, had a head injury, and lost his powers,” explained the Mayor.

“It’s all nonsense and rubbish. Babu’s mysterious actions are threatening the age-old order of the society. He is either an enemy spy or a clown, arrest him,” the Governor ordered.

☆

Babu is still behind the bars. The first information report alleges that his actions tantamount to terrorism. The investigation is still going on.

☆

A zealous follower of the Guru believes, all the happenings are a wrath from the Guru.

☆

Behram and Nutt are pondering over the mysteries of the universe! An injury may open up a third dimension and the next one brings you back to square one. Ah! How mysterious the ways of God – at times, all knowing and then, in a flash, I’m not sure!