A Chronicle of the Peacocks

1. The story opens with a reference to India’s first successful nuclear bomb test – “The Smiling
Buddha”: 18 May 1974, Pokhran, Rajasthan.
2. The blast frightened the peacocks, which flew and sca ered, terrified.
3. The narrator writes a column expressing his sympathy for the disturbed birds. But the thought
doesn’t leave him.
4. He thinks that the problem follows him like the fish in the story of King Manu.
5. Jaipur, the pink city and the capital of Rajasthan. The narrator thinks of an early visit he made to
the place, and is reminded of the many peacocks that he could see there.
6. In his imagina on, the narrator sees a forlorn duck on the shores of a sea whose water is dark
and oily. The various wars – Saddam Hussain against his countrymen, the Iraqis against the
Kuwai s, and the Americans against the Iraqis – have polluted the world, and especially the
waters.
7. This picture is contrasted with the beau ful swans in the Mansarovar lake.
8. A conversa on the narrator had with his grandmother. It speaks about the fate of the peacocks,
the bird of paradise. But now, because it was deceived and cheated, it has no place of its own.
9. Travels with the narrator take us to Sravasthi, the Buddhist pilgrim spot, and to Delhi, especially
Nizamuddin. These places that were once with the fullness of life, now lie in ruins. He could see
and hear the cries of peacocks, that are not in groups anymore, but alone and lonely.
10. Imagina on takes over: the narrator reaches Indraprastha, the city of the Pandavas.
11. The narrator feels that he should go back home. He has seen lots of peacocks. So he wants to
writ down his Morenama, a chronicle of the peacocks.
12. The narrator senses that someone is following him. He is shocked to recognize the person:
Ashwa hama, the son of Drona.
13. The Kurukshethra war: Ashwa hama uses the Brahmastra. He wanted the weapon to bring total
ruin upon the Pandava clan. Ashwa hama receives a curse: he will have to wander alone for
3000 years, with his body covered with wounds that never heal.
14. Ashwa hama’s Brahmastra would have destroyed the Panndavas totally, but with the blessings
of Shri Krishna, Abhimanyu’s son Parikshit is restored to life. Parikshit sits on the throne of
Has napur and brings honor to the Pandavas.
15. The story takes us to a conversa on between Parikshit and the sage Vyasa. Vyasa too cannot
answer a significant ques on: why don’t man understand that war destroys everything?
16. Wars are always with man. Ashwa hama’s wanderings are not over. And that is how he follows
the narrator, preven ng him from wri ng a story of peace, beauty and joy: the story called
Morenama. The narrator reaches home, but is shocked to find Ashwa hama s ll following him.
Our story ends with a cry of the narrator: “Oh my Creator, when will this evil spirit complete his
curse? When will I be able to write my Morenama, my chronicle of the peacocks?”
 Incidents

1. 18 May 1974: India’s atomic bomb test at Pokhran, Rajasthan.

2. The narrator writes a column expressing sympathy for the peacocks, and also visits Rajasthan.
3. Manuji and the fish.
4. Peacocks of Jaipur.
5. The lonely peacock on the distant hill.
6. A forlorn duck.
7. The war between the US and Iraq (the reference to the two brahmastras of the Kurukshethra
war remind of the scud and patriot missiles used in this war.)
8. Men on of the Manasarovar.
9. Story of the peacock of the Paradise.

People

1. The narrator
2. Manuji
3. Ashwa hama of Kurukshetra
4. Dronacharya
5. Arjuna
6. Vyasa Rishi
7. Shri Krishna
8. Subhadra, Krishna’s sister and Arjuna’s wife
9. Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna and Subhadra
10. U ara, Abhimanyu’s wife
11. Parikshit, U ara’s son, who was s llborn, but was restored to life by Shri Krishna