03.09.2025
‘You love fighting, do you?’ Alfonso asked me. ‘With a name like Tiger?’
‘I’m not going to deny it.’
‘You watch those violent Hindi films. Don’t you think it is ridiculous that the hero is always fighting? That might is right?’
‘The hero fights against might in the films. Showing that might is wrong.’
‘Why does he win in the fight? Surely that is might is right?’
‘The hero wins because he is morally superior. Not stronger. The hero wins because he is good. And good will always triumph over evil in the end. That is why we fight. We are the good. The Tiger is goodness.’
‘Look at the world around you. Evil has overtaken this planet.’
‘Not all of it.’
‘You really believe? Despite all of this? Despite your life? Despite the treatment you have gotten?’
‘I can’t be the only person in the whole world that tries to be good.’
‘And yet, you love fighting. Fighting means hurting someone.’
‘The human condition is that we allow others to hurt us. Quite badly. Even your lover is really your enemy.’
‘You don’t feel regret when you fight with someone? When you are otherwise so soft-hearted and considerate?’
‘I was born to fight. I was trained to fight in martial arts as a child. I have been in the debating society at school and university. I argue. I fight. It is who I am. To have good in the world, you have to fight for it. The message of the god Krishna is that it is the duty of a king to fight. We are not like others.’
‘You are so big headed. You call yourself a king. You call yourself a god. You call yourself a hero. You call yourself The Tiger. Not even just Tiger. You call yourself The Tiger.’
‘If there is anyone better than me, I have never met them. People might be better at me in one thing. But not in so many things. No one can compete with me or keep up with me. I have always been the best. I am not arrogant about it. It is just fact.’
Alfonso laughed and shook his head. ‘I am not like the others,’ he said. ‘I know that you are talent itself. I know that you deserve this world on a plate and every happiness it has. I am your real friend. The one that can value what you are. But forget this conceit.’
‘As long as you do not lord it over others, there is nothing wrong with confidence,’ I told Alfonso. ‘The reason they hate my confidence in this country is because of my brown skin. They want us to shrink and grovel in front of them and accept the shit they want to stuff down our mouths. Well I have news for them. They can eat shit. Not me.’
Alfonso laughed. And I looked at him and laughed too. It is good to laugh. Tomorrow the enemy. But the future? That is us. The Tiger.
diary of a lone man 