Old myth, new meanings!

 The Ramayana is a unique symbiosis of the human and the fauna. We have very many references to birds and animals in the Ramayana. Why, the very initiation of the Ramayana is rooted in the cruelty meted out  to a bird. The "kraunch vadha", the heartless killing of the (heron like) kraunch bird, begins the great epic!

Then there is Jatayu, the father figure of a bird, who tries to save Seeta from the clutches of Ravana. I think he is the "gridhraraj", that is, the king of vultures (though some versions have him as an eagle). Yet he opposes the vicious act of Ravana trying to abduct Seeta. He fights off the demonic impropriety which costs him his life.

Why, there is even a 'kakbhushundi', a chiranjivi, that is, the eternally living spirit  who narrates the Ramayana to Garuda in the form of a crow, it seems.

All of us have loved the small little squirrel who cutely helps Rama build the bridge, pitching in her wee little bit that strengthens the bridge. Most all birds and animals enjoy, in brief, a lovely symbiotic  relationship with Rama, thus making him an ideal ruler who is kind and generous with all the forms of life. In this Utopia, Hanumna reflects this bond perfectly.  Why, even the Wali story can be explained as the just act necessary to destabilize a usurper.

In this context, the only story difficult to explicate is the Jayant story. He enters the Ramayana as a memory. In the Sunderkand, Seeta is narrating to Hanumana the story of their triune stay near the Chitrakuta. 

Rama, it seems, is a little tired one particular day, and sleeps off, resting his head on Seeta's lap. Jayanta comes there in the form of a crow, and disturbs their loving togetherness. Jayanta tries to insult Seeta. He pecks at her breast, while in the Bhakti Panth versions of The Ramayana, he pecks at her feet. 

She does not want to disturb the nap Rama is enjoying. While trying to shoo off the  nasty bird, she is wounded, and her clothes get dishevelled. Thus Rama wakes up, while Seeta is trying to ward off the bird with a blade of grass.

Rama assigns the blade of grass the power of the brahmastra. It starts chasing the bird who is actually Jayanta, the son of Indra. He tries to hide behind his father (equally lascivious! Like father, like son! Remember the Ahilya story?). But even in the heaven, the brahmastra chases him. Finally, when he falls at Rama's feet, Rama explains that the weapon cannot be taken back, and it hits the bird's eye, blinding him in one eye. 

May be, the story can be read as a poetic explanation of a crow's unique vision. I look at it differently though. I think that Jayant stands for all the wicked forces that bother a hapless woman. Significant it is hence that Seeta remembers the story when she is absolutely helpless.

The punishment Jayant is made to suffer is the perfect punishment meted out to anybody who disrespects a woman. I remembered this rather lesser known story because on a 'women empowerment group' was shared a horrifying pic of a naked woman being paraded by men who were all along violating her. It was so horrible I could not even look at it, and deleted it immediately.

Apparently, it is from Manipur. I would not know how far this is true. Wherever it might have been taken, the pic was a terror made more vicious because the men were leering shamelessly. It proved how unsafe women are, especially in violent areas full of insurgencies.

The tragedy of the ancient Jayant myth, now re-visited in the third decade of the twenty first century, is that now there is no brahmastra whatsoever against such crows, be it the Manipuri men as it was reported on the group or be it the rejected, obsessed creep of a besotted fool as in the Pune incidents. 

Difficult it is getting by the day for a self respecting woman to live, when the whole stupid world cheers on such cheap fools called 'loving men'! So this use of an old myth to explicate a contemporary cruelty! 'Old bottle, new wine' version as the English phrase goes which would in this context translate as ancient injustices, but no new significations as far as remedies and reparations go!

Pratima@ Discrimination, thy name is patriarchal  injustice!

Correct or right?

 Does the title confuse you? To begin with, let us look at the difference of meaning in these two near synonyms. Hope you know that no two words are exact synonyms. There is always a shade of difference as far as meaning goes. A 'slim' girl most like; a 'thin' girl many dislike, right?

So let us look at our two words. 'Correct' refers more to errors. 'Right' has more of positivity built in. Our choices, be it of career, books, people, are 'right' rather than 'correct'. We prefer the 'right' direction, right!?!

Well, let me analyse the difference by giving you another example. If you have a child at home, and the kid will not go off to sleep unless the bedtime story ritual is followed, should you, or should not you, tell Aesop's fables, Anderson's fairy tales?

Well, there are people who argue that it is not 'correct' to tell children such false stories. Their argument is animals do not talk! Are not, moreover, fairy tales far away from reality? Well, this argument may be 'correct', but it is not 'right'.

Fables, fairy tales teach children very many life lessons indirectly, and in an amusing way. Such stories, moreover, make their intellectual and imaginative capacities better. Their visualisation improves. Their concentration gets better. Most important, their communication attains a strong base as they get a lot of language exposure by listening to stories, the narrativization, the dialogues involved in story-telling.

Is it then 'right' to be 'correct' and jump on to the band wagon of some recent, half-baked fad regarding child rearing, and deprive the child the happy, intimate feel of nestling next to the most loved adult which adds in a huge way to the protective feel, making the child happy and healthy?

Well, in my opinion, most often in life, it is better to be 'right' than 'correct'. 'Right' has in it an in-built sense of the good, the ethical, while 'correct' as in 'politically correct' is more hypocritical, however 'smart'!  So the choice is yours when to be 'correct' or to be 'right' is the question.

Pratima@'Right' is legally and ethically right as well, which makes you spend a lifetime happily, while 'correct' may just fetch you a few brownie points. Hardly very important, right?

The Mandela Magic

"There can be no greater gift than that of giving one's time and energy to helping others without expecting anything in return," is indeed a great quote celebrating a wonderful capacity. Such generosities, extremely rare, need to be celebrated. This urgent need of honouring benevolence is a clarion call by whom? Any guesses? Gandhiji! Yes, you are almost there, almost right coz a follower of Gandhiji's was the man who wrote it.

Okay, let us not waste time and energy going about guessing the father of this quote! It was Nelson Mandela who thus made the world understand the unstated, silent strength of generosity beyond the need for reciprocity.

Quite possible it is to argue that his entire  anti-apartheid movement was a rejection of a give-n-take of responses, bounties, goodies because a 'return gift' approach to relationships creates mo(ve)ments of imbalances wherein the weaker, the less powerful,  the marginalised, like the black in the white obsessed South Africa, are always at the receiving end.  

This apostle of an equal freedom rejected such systemic inadequacy by spending sixty-seven years of career fighting racial injustices, more than thirty of these from his prison cell. Hence the real tribute to him is not the very many first's in his illustrious career, the first black lawyer in, the first black president of South Africa, the black Nobel Prize winner, and so on.

The genuine pledge to his memory is the 'sixty seven' mission whereby one pays respects to this exponent of democracy and liberalism in the face of oppressive apartheid by spending sixty Seven minutes per day doing some concrete good to the the causes he espoused. 

The genuine celebration of his birth anniversary on July 18 is a re-dedication to all the values he espoused. Thus would the ideals he fought for be realised, slowly but surely, thereby making the world more humane. 

Long live, Madiba, which is an honorific title of respect, deriving from his native Xhosa clan word signifying all that he stood for during, and beyond, his eventful career.

Pratima@"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others," writes Mandela. Touche!

What comes first?

 What comes first? Did the title make you think of that ancient debate which apparently science seems to have now answered, that is, the rather notorious egg/chicken stuff? Well, no, not really! That is not the theme I am referring to.

Actually, I was alluding to the great Tilak-Agarkar debate. Yes, both of them, best friends, fell out over the issue, 'what comes, and what should, come first?' Indeed, it was an issue literally central to the very identity of and meaning of being 'Indian', especially because we were not Indians then. We were the colonised. In other words, the answer to this question would decide the very future of our national being. Hence this title of our blog.

So what exactly were the two alternatives defining this debate? Tilak thought that political freedom preceded any social re-vamp, while Agarkar thought progressive societal contours would accede political maturity. What great thinkers they both were to have so profoundly and deeply  thought of the independent India, that heaven of freedom in to which the country should wake up, as Tagore would put it.

Indeed, what wonderful thinkers they all were, Bhagat Singh, Tilak, Agarkar, Gokhale, Nehru, Gandhi, Bose, Patel. The list is literally endless. What I admire the most about them is the fact that their debates dealt with huge and honest ideas. These were not merely self-centered either. They had the larger good at heart. They respected each other, moreover, and seemed ready 'to agree to disagree'. They made, moreover, the common man dream, debate, discuss "i-deals", that is, both ideals and "i deal's", that is, actual action charged with these ideals.

Well, now in the third decade of the twenty- first century, almost a century later, we all are enjoying the fruits of their labour. Oh, yes, we continue to be the argumentative Indians as well. What do the common, ordinary Indian people debate these days though? A majority would heatedly squabble about, bicker over grand themes such as hotelling, recent most films, tinsel celebrities and their glamour, t.v. serials, cricket, fashion, and politicking, both at the workplace, and as party politics!

So vitiated and minimised is the public space now that public intellectuals of the giants of the variety mentioned above no longer matter much, while the private space obsesses with 'i, me, mine'. The question now hence is, what comes first? Self-respect or self-centeredness!?!

Pratima@They say, tell me who your friends are, or show me the books you read, and I shall tell you who you are. May be, these days, it could also be, tell me what comes first for you, and I shall tell you who you are!

Death, here is thy sting

 The newspapers and the social media had a rather sad, quite tragic, news today. A rather well-known, senior Marathi actor in his mid-seventies was found dead in his rented house. It appears he might have died a few days back.

Sad as the news is, it made me think a lot, and deeply. How come none of his relatives, however busy, never noticed that he had not communicated with them for three long days? Or was it the case that he was so lonely, so left out that none communicated with him at all?

Yet another question I have issues with is how come he never had a "mama", a male nurse, with him, especially because he was a senior citizen, and living all alone,  and he was supposedly ill, moreover? It seems he was staying in that rented house while he was recuperating!

Even in the apartment as well as in the area, how come none noticed that he has not been seen around for quite some time?  Serious questions with tragic overtones galore! Surely, as a senior actor, there could be financial issues as well as there is hardly any support system once an old actor stops getting any work, any role.

Of course, one feels very bad for the diseased, and one prays that his soul would rest in peace. Yet this death brings out the gerontological issues in to focus yet again. The senior citizens form almost more than forty per cent of the population. Most do not have any pension. The next generation, busy with their own lives, may not stay with them. Daily life itself must be death. Hence the title of the blog. 

There must be well-defined policy measures regarding the elderly. That is an urgent social need. These policy measures include not merely financial issues. The police, for example, must every alternate day be on the round, keep a contact with the elderly in the vicinity, for instance. There could be jobs wherein the young or middle-aged  trainees work for a few hours per day. The job profile would  include collecting the gerontological data, keeping in touch with the aged per day, fulfill their shopping needs, for instance.

The elderly, too, should manage their finances well. If they have no support system and are physically ill or weak, they should rather stay in a hospice. As for children, they are legally supposed to take care of their elders. And, oh, yes, with  such cheap data available in excess in India, a wapp message a day costs nothing either for the old or the relatives, right?

Despite these possible measures, one gets the shivers when one thinks of the condition of the low income group elderly. Life must really be hell for them. Death here is thy sting would be the precise summation of their non-descript, derelict lives!

Pratima@ Life is so costly and death so cheap these days that there are 'supari' killers; families are entering in to suicide pacts; so-called lovers are killing women they obsess over, and stalk. Very few are the ways for living, while many are the modes of dying. Death, here is thy sting!

Small step, but a giant stride!

 It was 2.34 p.m. Ever since they woke up at whatever time in the morning, most all Indians had been reminding each other of the historic mo(ve)ment to happen at 2.34 instant. The WhatsApp statuses were overflowing with the "watch-it" messages, just as 2.40 onwards, all the internet modes, every audio-visual medium would buzz with constant pics of the event flashing across every possible screen and/or each audio wave-length.  

Yes, it was the ISRO propelling the Chandrayan III in to the space, on its way to the moon. Why is it "a small step, but a giant stride"? Well, first and foremost, it saves on fuel. It uses a unique mode of propulsion whereby by orbiting around the earth almost like a planet, it escapes the pull of gravity, propelling itself higher with each gyration. Thus would it enter the lunar sphere as well. The process takes time, almost close to two months, but makes it highly cost effective. Apparently, some recent flop films had a bigger budget!  

This "made in India" device should manage a smooth landing on the lunar surface this time. Once that happens, India would be in the first five countries to 'match' that feat, but India would still be unique because the Chandrayan would land near the lunar southern part. The rover would search the lunar surface, and hopefully the Indian 're-search' of the lunar surface would bring back solutions regarding better ways to manage the fuel deficiency on the earth.

Hopefully, it would not add to the rat race which consists of the  "spatial" ( in all senses of the term) colonisation of the moon. Sure, the days of the lunar tourism appear very far away, especially given the Titan disaster, but with AI advent, there is no knowing! 

Hence, the scientific-technological wonder is indeed "a small step for India, but a giant stride for the entire mankind"! Here is wishing the spacecraft a highly successful mission and a safe re-turn to Terra Firma!

Pratima@ "The intelligent use of science and technology is the tool to acquire a new direction," says Jacques Fresco. I would add "a new dream" as well to the quote.

Paper is worth it!

 Just a few days back was celebrated the 'paper bag day'. Are you sniggering and saying that these days there are days aplenty. In a way, you are right, though there is no need to mock, right? Yes, practically every day is some day these days. Yet what this particular day celebrates is indeed important. Let me clarify.

Most citizens are just careless about the excessive use of plastic. It does not much bother them that plastic can cause immeasurable harm to the environment. Unlike other materials, plastic is both non-natural and (hence) non-bio-degradable. Whether in the sea, atop mountains or in the local market, human-beings have created sky high dumps of plastic that are suffocating  animals, fish, fowl, the very environment. 

Hence the urgent need to stop the use of plastic bags which appear attractive and handy. Well, there has to be some alternative. Thus emerge the paper bags. Yes, paper bags look chic. They are easy to make, too. Once I did make a few for us, that is, my  brothers and for me, and Aai. In fact, so easy is the process that the unemployed can start a small 'work from home' unit even if they do not have any specific skill sets/crafts.

Yes, despite such obvious advantages, I do have a few problems with paper bags. For one thing, they wear-n-tear easily, and, yes, literally. In brief, they lack shelf life. They are useless even when it rains just a wee little. Such a wet bag just lands up in the trash bin. Obviously, people would thus waste a lot of paper. True, paper is bio-degradable. To make paper, however, trees get wildly cut! 

As an alternative, how viable are such temporarily attractive ideas? Let me give you an example. The e-vehicles need batteries that and their chargers need metals, and hence mining in big way! May be, hence, natural alternatives like wind/solar energy could be solutions as they have appear less destructive.

In my opinion, however, the real solution is minimising our greeds. The moment it happens, our needs would get taken care of, I suppose. If I am happy buying veggies at the doorstep hawker, I would not need any kind of bag, right?  If people do not obsess with mindless purchase and senseless buying sprees, plastic bags would be less and less needed! Well, unfortunately, ideals never translate in to 'I-deal'! In such a world, the lesser evil is always better, and hence is to be chosen!

Pratima@"Some people do not like change. But you have to embrace change if the alternative is disaster," says Elon Musk.