An Artistic Quest

Comprehensive in his literary inventions and creative approach, Dr Jernail Singh Anand, in his path-breaking work, 'Lustus', records a fascinating journey into human condition across eons of human history, continents and centuries of action and thought, epics as also mythologies. Lustus baffles categorisation as it overlaps the genres of epic drama, mock-epic, and the mock-heroic poetic drama. Like a web-series, 'Lustus' has been rated 18, and is described by the author as: "Thriller, Violence, Sex, War and Neo-mythology". Dr Jernail Singh Anand, who has to his credit, around 140 books of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spirituality and philosophy, and six epical works, here, quite intriguingly, ventures into fictionalization of the mythology [Neo-Mythology].

Lustus, the Corporate of Evil is anointed the Prince of Darkness, at a colourful ceremony at the altar of Greda [Chancha Ma], the Goddess of Avarice and Greed. Lustus issues 'Lustitution', his constitution, and the Ten Commandments, in his Press Conference with paid media portals Killer Instinct and Lust and brags about his army of intellectuals, scientists, teachers, industrialists, and even sages. Brahma sends Vishnu and Indra to earth, who report back that the devils have complete sway over the earth and the skies. A war ensues in which Lustus and his generals cause widespread bloodshed among the ranks of gods which unnerves God. Gods were on the verge of collapse, when Durga arrives who takes up the command of angels, and once again, spreads destruction.

The epic takes off with Ravana's abduction of Sita, underpinning the tragic fallout of excessive knowledge at the command of the Demon King which fails to impart him basic wisdom to respect womankind. The epic delivers a powerful message that we have failed to process our knowledge and instead of maturing into wisdom, we have slunk back into the debris of delinquent philosophies of commercialism, capitalism and wealth-creation.

Lustus is shown as the real "Emperor" presiding over the destructive downslide of humans, having already destroyed the sanctity of institutions like Marriage, Family and Man-Woman Relationships, in fact even the Global Politics of Rabbit Republics, remarks Dr Kul Bushan Razdan. Lustus wants to derail not only the human race, but also the benign world of nature.

He has developed a 'homovid vaccine' to impart human consciousness to the beast and birds, to ensure that nothing is free for mankind.

The hero of 'Lustus' is not Satan, but the Devil's metamorphosed Evil Penumbra called Lustus. If you meet Lustus, you will feel Satan was a monk. Lustus is vibrant, energetic, inflicts Detotalising Turbulence on God's Kingdom of Humans, propelling a Cosmic Warfare between God and Satan as Lustus, which ends in no victory for either, but a Truce as a highly revelatory-cum-realistic Truth: God and Evil are two sides of the Almighty's Cosmic Coin: The Universe of Man and his Existence.

Dr Jernail Singh Anand is perhaps the only author who has revived the genre of epic drama and thus, given a twist to contemporary literary history in a world more comfortable with fiction. To conclude, one must agree with Dr Lalit Mohan Sharma that "Lustus is Dr Anand's artistic quest for the life lost in the mundane trivia of artificial intelligence. The poem is an invitation to each of its readers to discover his own answers".