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Eventually, Meridies turned blind from staring too hard and too long into his own glory. He was no deity, but with money and power and minions, he managed to make a halo appear around his head. That synthetic nimbus shone so bright in Meridies' eyes, it burned up his retina. He was not a demon, although his zero tolerance for differences made him appear like one to some. His charisma and his "you scratch my back and I will scratch yours" modus operandi turned him into a cult-like personality. To many of the browbeaten, he was their saviour and the object of their adulation. The most mundane truth about the time was: money can buy love. To all, Meridies was either Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde, and nothing in between.

Meridies believed the establishment conspired to deprive him of his proper place. He finally lost the high chair he occupied, his fiefdom was nullified, He had to stand up in the courts of law and defend his deeds, many of which - after closer and objective scrutiny - were indefensible, legally and ethically. As a result, Meridies suffered defeat in his legal battle. But instead of facing up to his fate like all other mortals have to do, Meridies fled the land, crying foul. To him, escape from accountability and paying his dues was justified. The rules were rigged against him. He was forced to run because he did not get a fair deal. While others who faced the same ruling were called convicted felons, he was to be the martyr. This was not just rhetorical; Meridies willed himself to believe this to be the truth. Cry me a river.

He made no secret that he genuinely believed he got into trouble because he became too popular for the establishment and the old order to swallow. Never for a moment did Meridies entertain any notion that his spectacular downfall was brought about by his own doing. Meridies hit back hard at those he perceived as having done him wrong. For him, it was always an eye for an eye, and that too turned him blind. What did Mahatma Gandhi say?

Meridies did not realise that hubris had got the better part of him. Because of it, the intelligent and resourceful Meridies thought that his feet did not touch the ground. As his blindness worsened, so did his judgement and his delusion. He took off his gloves and released punches, both methodically and madly. Some landed above the belt, some below, which he thought was warranted. His perceived enemies deserved it. If they played dirty, he was justified in playing dirtier - to teach them some lessons.

Meridies made accusations without substantiation against people he knew were not inclined to respond. They knew that if they did, they would fall into the trap set for them; their rejoinder would ricochet in the direction Meridies' intended. Meridies knew that in the real world, it is not "innocent until proven guilty"; the burden of proving innocence is upon the accused. How can any man answer the question, "When will you stop beating your wife?"

He once preached to anyone who would listen that the old order of the land was only for dinosaurs, that the dawn of a new age was around the corner. But in his high chair, he was imperial and very few people dared to go against his will. It was always his way or the highway.

With a team of trusted Sherpas on social development projects, Meridies established many policies aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the rural and city poor. He made them feel for the first time they were not forgotten, and that they counted. It was a deed very commendable. But how much went into the hands of those who received and how much went back into the hands of those who gave? The gap was staggering. Everything has a price, and the prices rose in direct proportion to the position one held in Meridies' fiefdom. But for those whose lives had been touched and made better by Meridies, they were willing to overlook. They were, and he knew it, to become his loyal followers. A lesson learned from Eva Peron and her "collective conscience" stimulus effort that unleashed the power of the "descamisados" or the "shirtless ones"?

The last pages of this story were torn away, so we cannot know how it ends. If past is prologue, they may contain comparisons of Meridies struggle to two tragic episodes. One is the Cultural Revolution in China between 1966-1976. Even China's official records call that chapter in its history "an unmitigated disaster for the country and the people". Such destruction was driven by the desire to regain political control of China's Communist Party by Mao Tse Tung and his wife, who was a part of the "Gang of Four". Their political objective was achieved by mobilising the thoughts and actions of China's youth, which formed the Red Guard. That event succeeded in ripping up a precious cultural landscape that had developed through centuries of China's civilisation.

The other tragedy was the mass suicide on November 18, 1978 at the People's Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. More than 900 people died together that day after swallowing cyanide. The founder of the temple, Jim Jones, convinced his followers to take the "step to the other side", not because he knew there was "the other side," or that it was a better place. It happened for three reasons: Jim Jones himself grew obsessed with the conspiracy theories of intelligence organisations conspiring against his church; he and the Temple had been investigated by the US government; and Jones realised that his political support was waning. Quit while you are still ahead, maybe?

But Meridies was not a quitter. He called for his cohorts to rise up and fight for a political ideal, one that he says he cherishes but the meaning of which still seems to elude him. With a gritty "Dear Leader" and a collective madness, the moths would fly fearlessly and gladly into the flame.