Who hasn’t tilted at windmills at least once in their lives? I know I have. But is that such a bad thing? After all, like the Man from La Mancha, we too need to have fun and adventure, be heroic and fight the good fight.
And so it is that a select group of people have decided to help us in this endeavour. These generous, selfless souls have been going out of their way to make sure that all Alonso Quixanos of the world become Don Quixotes. They see to it that the windmills are transmogrified into gigantic monsters so that we can attack and bring down these abominations. This is the first symptom of a very unique cataract that causes hyper-myopia; that is it clouds our vision of objects both near and far.
These generous souls are Sancho Panzas, who have turned wizards. They make sure the minds of the Alonsos of the world are awash with these ideals of chivalry. They know that in the heart of every citizen resides a hero and they ensure that these heroes rise to safeguard their traditions, culture, race or community. That is whether these require saving or not. Being vision-impaired, all Alonsos rely on the Sanchos to help them navigate the difficult terrain and creatures around. Be it Aldonza Lorenzos, Rocinantes or muleteers, Alonso always needs the trusted aide’s vision.
So it is that these Dons in their heroic mission see through the group of people disguised as immigrants as threats, people entering places of worship as intruders and those at the inn eating meat as barbarians. And so not only do they lift cudgels against these ruffians looking to destroy our way of life but also hit them repeatedly for there is a saying in Hindi, ‘Laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahi maante’.
Now, these Sancho in the eyes of a few ignoramuses are supposed to only serve Dons everywhere. They claim that since Don was the one to give Sancho the post, Sancho should also be loyal and faithful (See, both are the same, but these ‘geniuses’ still use them both). They keep on harping on the fact that there are some ‘real’ monsters out there, ‘real’ damsels to rescue and ‘real’ quests to go on. But what do they know. They are, after all, rude obsessive activists who only have narrow vision and can’t see the whole picture.
These Sanchos are kind-hearted souls who are just guiding the Dons. They are ensuring that their ‘masters’ never stray and run around helter-skelter looking for causes. They understand that these Dons don’t want to make these heroic missions their life, but just do enough to be called heroic. And so they are shown those atrocities and injustices that the Sanchos think need addressing and also those that these brave souls, they believe, can address.
But two Sanchos don’t make a right and so sometimes two Dons can end up fighting each other.
I don’t know which is right — sitting on a rocking chair and reading about the abominations, but not getting up. Or getting off the rocking chair and running up the hill at the windmills. But all I know is that Dons and Sanchos go together. Only if Alonso is leading with wide open eyes, will Sancho remain stable also.
