Tuesday, August 3, 2010

My Tryst with our Epics

I am fascinated with our epics which are possibly the most well written scriptures across civilizations. Their importance can only be realized by those who feel the society is in the chasms of deep troubles with insecurity, immorality and crimes pegging us in from all sides. I feel relieved when I read them through Rajagopalachari’s immortal English renditions or even watch their serialized versions done so wonderfully some two decades ago. My tryst with the Ramayana and the Mahabharata began at the infant age of 3-4 years when I used to bother my Grandma for bedtime stories whenever she used to come visiting our house. She is not much educated but her fabulous command over the religious scriptures used to awe me a lot. She has also derived much of her gyan from them and uses to straighten us even to this day if at all we deviate. Since that tender age, I got fascinated with the scriptures especially the Epics.

I used to wonder how someone can become so perfect like Lord Rama. He was an excellent fighter, was a dutiful son, a responsible brother, a protective husband to Seeta, and finally proved to be the ablest king of this land. Such was his perfection that the Mahatma envisaged a Ram Rajya in this country and said that it has become all the more relevant in this modern age when people would get corrupted.

I was amused at the folk tale of the larger- than- life Rama, his birth as Lord Vishnu’s incarnation on this earth to slay Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka. Rama’s decision to follow his father’s orders to leave for the forest, where uncertain dangers lay in waiting, was really touching. His grief at the loss of his wife proved that he was unaware of his divine origin and displayed emotions just like any normal human. Finally when he set course for Lanka with the help of the Vaanar Sena it concludes that one shouldn’t neglect the poorest and the weakest. They can help you on any day of your need.

Rama’s return to Ayodhya after slaying Raavana is still celebrated in the form of Dussehra and Deepawali, especially in the north. Rama’s story can be an inspiration to any individual. I believe, on how to perform one’s duties. However we can only strive towards perfection, not be entirely perfect as that is the domain of the Supreme Being.

The Mahabharata impressed me even more with an authentic display of present day strife in the form of a war between brothers of the Lunar Dynasty. It is called the Mahabharata as legend says it weighs more than the combined weights of the four Bharats-RigVeda, SaamVeda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda. Having more than 1 lakh slokas, the beautiful story of the Kuru Dynasty was brought alive by Sage Ved Vyas in poignant terms. From the story of Yayati to the Pandavas’ final journey, it is full of intricately woven tales of Administration, Management, Political Science, Diplomacy, Military training, Valour, Romance, Devotion and so on. You name a field and it is there in Mahabharata. More importantly, it contains the Bhagavad Geeta, the sacred teachings of the Lord given to Arjuna on the battlefield which culminated in the Lord showing the Universal Form to Arjuna.

Although the 18 day Kurukshetra war was a foregone conclusion as the Pandavas were under the care and guidance of the Supreme Lord Krishna from their birth onwards, my heroes in this epic are Bheeshma and Karna. Bheeshma, formerly known as Devavrat, the son of Ganga, was born as a result of a curse by the Brahmarishi Vasistha as he dared to steal his cow Nandini. He was actually one of the Vasus, the lesser Gods, more appropriately, Pravasa, the Sky God. His perfection was also like Lord Rama, almost equal in valour, strength, knowledge. The future King of Hastinapura, he sacrificed his material pleasures through a terrible vow or pratigya to enable his father to marry his love. In due course, he got the boon of ichcha mrityu from his father who was clearly impressed. Withstanding the long suffering of Hastinapura and saddened at the plight of his kingdom due to the constant infighting between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, he was finally defeated by Arjuna when he took off his weapons. The story of Bheeshma is unique in the sense that he didn’t breathe his last till he was sure of Hastinapura’s transition into safe hands.

The story of Karna is a mixed bag of misfortunes and wrong company. Ignored by his mother at his infancy, he was the greatest among all Pandava brothers in all aspects. However he was weakened by his repeated support of Duryodhana’s eveil deeds. His consideration that he was forever in debt of Duryodhana, caused his downfall and final defeat in the hands of Arjuna. It sends a message across all of us that however good a person is; he will surely go down if he starts quivering from the paths of justice.

All conflicts and wars in our societies and homes are all mirror images and micro forms of that Great War of Kurukshetra. However the truth and the righteous will always prevail in this never ending war however beating they have to take. I hereby end this narrative with a respectful bow to the two great epics whose importance in this cruel world have increased manifold.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The value of Education

The world has progressed a lot since the folks of stone age started making clubs and weapons of stones and rocks to defend themselves. The discovery of fire,wheel, agriculture, and barter were important points in human history as the human race took very critical steps forward in the history of the civilization. Compared to those times, nowadays development and advancement has been too rapid and sometimes they are frighteningly fast.

As different knowledge domains have diversified with increasing expertise, so have the complexity of the education system in India and abroad. Education system nowadays have become too proficient in collecting advanced Guru Dakshina by charging hefty fees. A high profile MBA from a highly rated Business School can set you back by as much as 10-15 lakhs for the 2 year duration course in the country. The logic must be something like we are taking care of your placements, our brand name will be attached to your resume for ever and we have to pay salary to the profs. and you have the luxury to sit in AC classrooms so you have to offer us a small token of your savings. A well accepted status quo nowadays but is education for sale? Too trifle a question to dismiss it at the first instant,isn't it? Do they radically transform students overnight or in 2 years? More important is the question whether people apply the values, they have learnt in educational institutions, to their social and personal life.

How many IIT engineers, IIM grads and AIIMS doctors have really contributed to the welfare of the Indian society and how many among them have really cared to even contribute something back to their motherland? Now think about this: how many of them have become big shots and have made "big"? How many of them migrated to other countries in search of better opportunities? Is brain drain really justified? People say that in absence of facilities in India they migrated to earn name, fame and money.
To put it across simply, my hats off to those who have stayed back and have worked for the development of the country. May this country rise from ashes like the mystical Phoenix. May this great nation regain its past glory and greatness.

Friday, February 26, 2010

“Save our Tigers” by Aircel: Is it a little too late?

One fine morning I was greeted by a nice cute ad showing a young tiger cub being the centre of an emotional scene and with Dhoni, Kiran Bedi, Suresh Raina and actor Surya claiming that they fully support Aircel’s newest initiative to Save our Tigers whose numbers they claim stands at only 1411.

Lets go a little back to the era of the Raj when maharajas and nawabs used to go hunting for what not and this addiction was passed onto the invading East India Company’s footsoldiers. These people hunted the kings of the jungles so badly that the majestic Cheetah went completely extinct from India and is now restricted to only the African Savannahs.

I am sure the generation x, y, z, bla bla won’t even know that the Tiger is the national animal of the nation. 15-20 years from now, I imagine people will identify it only from vintage pictures in books or stuffed carcasses in museums.

I still remember Bill Clinton visiting the Ranthambhor National Park in Rajasthan in 2000 while on a visit to the country. The tiger last attracted the people’s attention at that time. Now I remember reading news articles in leading newspapers that tigers have been exterminated from that National Park. Another national park Sariska has been added to that wonder list where tigers have miraculously vanished to the surprise of the local authorities.

More surprising is this became known to them when not even a single pug mark was recorded in Tiger census record. The Kings simply fled the country for their lives, or they might have vanished into thin air or some deep rooted smuggling mafia have put an end to their hapless lives in this country.

Just two weeks back I read in another popular news magazine that the famous Corbett National Park, the success story of Project Tiger is now a favourite haunting spot of urban kings, who organise night shows and all sorts of nuisance parties. Not a surprise as I feel they know that no tigers will come to haunt them as they are already dead by now.

I don’t give Aircel’s initiative much chance of success as it will fizzle away too quickly amid all this confusing chaos our nation is under.It might be a marketing ploy in this age of cut throat competition or their owners might have soft corners for our national beast. However I think it has all come a little too late. It is high time we get conscious of all the dangers the varied flora and fauna of this land are facing and should extend every possible help for their conservation. otherwise, the tiger will join the cheetah in becoming a dodo in this nation and our wise politicians will have one more arduous task in their hands to choose a new national animal.