The second story is about a jain monk who campaigns against pharmaceutical industry’s cruel

treatment of animal. He fights a case against this issue. After some days, the monk got diagnosed
with liver cirrhosis. And this requires the liver to be transplanted. Now, the monk faces a dilemma of
whether to get the liver to be transplanted or not because this requires him to take medicines
produced by the pharmaceutical companies against whom he is fighting for animal rights. Everyone
in the dharmshala, where the monks live, forces him to drop his objectives and go for the transplant
but he denied. When his condition worsens and he was in his death bed, he eventually decides to go
for the transplant.

The most fascinating and interesting thing I like about this story is the conversation between
Maitreya(the monk) and charava(intern lawyer).

.The introduction of the animal rights activist and monk is one of the brilliant character introductions
I have ever come across. The monk campaigns against pharmaceutical industry’s cruel treatment of
animal and fights a legal case for the same. From his walk to the court bare feet speaking of his
dedication to the cause while him being a helping hand to a caterpillar with his documents speak
volumes of what he fights for. His interaction with a junior advocate Charvaka was a testament to his
friendly nature while pondering Charvaka’s opinions of his thankless rescue of a caterpillar. Charvaka
here comes out as an idealistic with his intentions of understanding both sides of a dialogue yet to
come. The dialogue amongst the advocates about animal rights even though appearing to be a
bunch of formulated opinions but the brash arguments of the advocate siding the pharmaceuticals is
a mere red herring snatching the benefit of doubt. This doubt is further whitewashed when the
rabbits are trapped in a guillotine like contraption before the testing lighting the sympathy one must
have for animals cementing Anand Gandhi’s stance regarding the issue. This scene reminds me of
Josef Mengele’s or ‘The Angel of Death’s’ ruthless experimentations on twins in the Auschwitz
concentration camp and his eventual escape to Argentina, Paraguay and then Brazil. Whereas the
animal Mengeles whom Maitreya fought didn’t have to escape like Mengele did. I’d quote Arthur
Schopenhauer “Compassion for animals is intimately associated with the goodness of character, and
it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to living creatures cannot be a good man.” I was
then taken to the sage’s ashram learning his name Maitreya singing his song reflecting his ideas,
principles, atheism and aspirations which is achieve moksha. He is then found engaged in a dialogue
with Charvaka about his book and his atheism followed by more isolated long walks till he discovers
his rotting liver. The sequence of Maitreya entering slowly into the MRI reminds me of the first line of
‘Down in A Hole’ an Alice in Chains song; ‘Bury me softly in this womb’ followed by Maitreya looking
at foeti locked in glass jars. Moments later, Maitreya sits in front of the sea and its breeze looking at
the drugs prescribed to him pondering their births. Made possible at the cost of countless animals
being tortured refusing to ingest his prescribed medicines. He later walks past a street play to learn
of all pharmaceutical’s disregard towards the ‘Illegal Treatment to The Animals Act.’ Charvaka
concerned later confronts Maitreya about his refusal to take medicines with his pragmatic thoughts
challenging Maitreya’s thoughts of the each molecule in the universe being affected by our actions
adding further that if it wasn’t the truth then everything is meaningless questioning existence
without this thought. A caricaturist version would be inanimate objects and animals being put in
Murder Trials in Ancient Greece. Maitreya further talks about life and the duality of soul being both
perpetual and temporary also mentioning his idea of purpose of the soul evading Charvaka’s concern
for him. While talking of killing by consent Charvaka draws an analogy of Maitreya harming himself
with his beliefs to a suicide bomber to which Maitreya replies. “Are you really making that analogy?”
The scene with its thought provoking lines shadows Charvaka’s concern towards Maitreya while the
latter’s desperate attempts to evade it. Maitreya continues his journey with his peers amongst the
wind turbines to picking potatoes and oranges. With the character’s deteriorating health even for a
short clip, the conflict is the peeling and eating an orange followed by the picking of its seeds as he
gently places it on the remenants of the devoured fruit. He refuses to eat the following day yielding
to pain choosing to withdraw from his own life. Desperate attempts of Charvaka to save Maitreya to
persuade treatment fails. His health detoriates further with scars on his back and his soiled bed.
Charvaka narrates Maitreya of a fungus’s role in the death of an ant questioning his thoughts on
mortality. He later turns weak and frail as hunger torments his body with his fading senses to a
painful self-imposed death