The escape clause?

Fair dues warning: This is a spiritual post. Please leave if you are easily offended. 

Krishna demolishing Kansa

I heard a talk from a Hindu scholar recently. He was narrating the story of Krishna and the troubling times he was born into. Rather, the Protector of the Universe, Vishnu, manifested himself as Krishna to maintain law and order. Too many influential people were abusing their positions to create chaos, which needed to be curbed.

Krishna's immediate duty was to defeat Kansa, his uncle, a demonic King. Trouble started when Kansa married off his sister, Devaki, to Vasudeva. Deep inside, Kansa intended to usurp Vasudeva's land. At the wedding, a prophecy was heard that Devaki's eighth child would be the reason for Kansa's defeat. Kansa imprisoned the couple, and Devaki's seven children were all killed at birth. Why all the other births, too, not just the eighth? Somebody alerted Kansa that the seven siblings could rally behind the eighth to attack him.

When the eighth child was finally born on an auspicious star on a wet rainy night, the hypnotic illusion of Vishnu came into full force. With sleeping guards and extremely lax security, a child was born, taken out of prison, transported across River Ganga, swapped with another baby, a baby girl, born at the same time, and returned to Devaki's cell. The baby girl cried only when it arrived at its destination, alerting the guards. The palace was alerted, but by the time Kansa laid his hands on the baby, he knew he had been duped. Was the prophecy wrong? The eighth born turned out to be a girl! Kansa tried to smash the baby on the wall. Surprise, surprise. The baby girl turned out to be Goddess Kaali, who announced that Kansa’s assassin was safe on the other side of the river and that his days were numbered.

Kansa spent the rest of his days thinking of Krishna, turning every corner and looking for his assailant. Long story short, Kansa sent so many adversaries to finish off young Krishna, but in vain. When Kansa was finally killed, it is said he attained moksha (released from the curse of rebirth) because Krishna was always on his mind, thinking of Krishna day and night.

Ravana

The same thing is said to have happened to Ravana. After kidnapping Sita, keeping her captive, and wooing her, he was shocked when Hanuman arrived in his supposedly safe cocoon. Hanuman created a ruckus by burning Lanka. It was a warning to Ravana that the end was nay. Rama was coming sooner than he thought. Just like Kansa, Ravana went into alert mode. 

Despite being the sorcerer and the erudite person he was, the fear of Rama and the accompanying Vanara army sank in. Ravana shuddered. What carnage could the rest do if one representative could do such damage? Every minute that followed, he was compelled to think of Rama and only Rama. Again, Ravana was defeated but also attained moksha because Rama was always at the tip of his tongue and immersed deep in his thoughts. 

My feeble mind does not comprehend all these. These great tyrants, despite all their evil deeds, the pain and suffering they inflicted upon others, and the trail of destruction left behind, escaped the dreaded curse of reincarnation because they went on thinking and chanting the Lord's name. It is a rather lazy way of cutting the queue, surpassing all others who went the problematic way of collecting brownie points and spiralling through birth after birth to attain salvation. In my mind, katas (sermons) like these are the crossroads where itihasa (history), tattva (philosophy) and sciences morph into myths. The scriptures tell about Rama and Krishna's dates of birth indirectly through constellation positions, permitting accurate dating of certain events. This information can be fed through astronomical apps to verify the presence of such a constellation. Astronomical calculations had verified it to be correct. Their births probably happened. That is science. But I am not so sure about others. My blinkers are still on, and I may not be ready to receive the essence of the nectar of the Lord's divine wisdom. But I persevere...

(P.S. I had been under the impression that the law of karma works like Newton's Third Law of Motion. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You reap what you sow. Perhaps this escape route to erase one's sins is reactionary to what the Catholic Church was preaching at that time in India. A sincere confession under the name of the Lord cleans the slate. Fearing losing their congregation to the order side where something else is offered to the Law of Karma, the stakeholders may have relented. Instead of uttering ‘Hail Mary’ thrice and absolving your sins, they offered the chanting of ‘Hari Krishna Hari Rama’ indefinitely.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

I'm afraid of no ghost?

Diary (Tamil; 2022)
Director: Innasi Pandiyan

The story is based on an urban legend that arose in Beijing in November 1995. A local bus, no 375, left its station late one night to a remote destination. An old lady and a young man were travelling on it. Three people in traditional garb waved it down as the bus moved on. When the old lady saw these people, she started a quarrel with the young man she had come up with. She accused him of stealing her purse. Startled, the man fought back. They were both forced to get down by the bus conductor to sort it out at the local police station.

Once they were off the bus, the old lady apologised to the young man for creating a ruckus. She told him the three characters who boarded the bus had no feet, so she thought they were ghosts. She just wanted to get away from them. They both went to tell the police about their experiences, but their story was laughed off.

The next day, it was reported that the bus never reached its destination, and two days later, the bus was submerged in a reservoir. The driver, the bus conductor together, and three badly decomposed bodies were found. The level of decomposition of the bodies was not consistent with the alleged time of the accident. Nobody could give a rational explanation for these findings.

Bus No. 375

Stories like these are found in all cultures. The Chinese believe spirits roam the streets yearly during the Hungry Ghost Month in mid-August. Stories of scary ghosts, beautiful maidens, and lactating mothers luring and haunting people are abundant in every nook and corner of the world.

This Tamil movie is based on Beijing's Bus No. 375. Still, to whet the appetites of Indian viewers, the director, who also wrote the story, tries to stretch it to two hours with unrelated stories of runaway couples running from the disgruntled bride's father and his henchmen, a connection to a sub-inspector's case study, tribals performing a wedding for the runaway couple, robber's running their loot after a murder and the angle of time travel! It brings the story to the notorious Hairpin Bend no 13 in Ooty.

The plot could be clearer. Everything is rushed through towards the end. Before viewers could understand the loose ends, it was game over. 3/5.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Messiah?

Kalki 2898 AD (Telegu; 2024)

Director: Nag Ashwin

Why is it that every culture predicts a nihilistic future where annihilation is the final outcome? Almost all paint a picture of chaos where morality is down the drain, virtue becomes an alien feature, and pandemonium is king.

According to Hindu culture, time is cyclical in Nature. A time unit, chaturyoga, lasts 8.64 million years. It is divided into four yugas—Satya, Treta, Dwarpa, and Kali. We are in Kaliyuga, which commenced in 3102 BCE and will last for 432,000 years. Each yuga depicts further deterioration of human behaviour. Like the four seasons on Earth will repeat indefinitely. By the end of Kaliyuga, human behaviour will be despicable, with total anarchy and chaos, reaching the point of entropy. Decoiry, emphasis on external beauty, false divinity, fakery, greed, and the list go on about what can be expected by the end of Kaliyuga. Nature would need to reboot and restart the system, returning to Satya, the golden age. Rinse and repeat.

It is believed that the end of the Kurukshetra War marked the commencement of Kaliyuga. With so much disorder (adharma) ongoing, with so much breaking of conventions and ethics, it is said that Vishnu's 8th avatar, Krishna, manifested to set rules for mankind so the effects of Kaliyuga could be minimised. 

It is prophesied that Vishnu's final avatar, the tenth, will appear at the end of Kali-yuga to set order once again and pave the universe into the next yuga, Satya-yuga, the golden age.

In the Hindu scripture, eight icons are booned (cursed) with immortality. Besides Hanuman, Vyasa and Markandeya, Ashwattama was cursed by Krishna to roam the jungles, deformed with wounds festering with blood and pus for 3,000 years. For the context, Ashwattama was Drona's son. Drona was the archery teacher to both Pandavas and Kauravas. Because of politics, Drona and Ashwattama fought for the side of the Kauravas. Krishna was the charioteer for Arjuna, the principal warrior of the Pandavas. 

As dirty as war can be, the Pandavas tricked Drona into believing that his son, Ashwattama, had died in the war. Drona's temporary lapse of concentration cost him dearly. In actual fact, an elephant named Ashwattama was killed. The angry Ashwattama went on a rampage, which eventually led to him attempting to kill Pandava's last heir, Uttara's unborn child, Arjuna's grandchild. Hence, the curse.

This is where the movie starts. Six thousand years into Kali-yuga, 2898 CE, the world is dystopian, with Kashi being the only 'civilised' place left standing. Kashi is ruled by a despot harbouring serum from pregnant mothers for youth rejuvenation. I do not think Shrimad Bhagavadam describes things as these. The storytellers have taken the artistic liberty to draw in viewers. The rebels have gone underground at Shambala. One of the mothers in the incubation pods carries Kalki in her womb. But the extraction of serum proves fatal. Hence, the rush to save the day. We can deduce this from the fact the mother's name is Sumathi. 

Ashwattama springs into action. A bounty hunter who catches anyone and anything for a fee is also on the trail. Unbeknownst to the bounty hunter, Bhairava (a reference to Shiva's incarnate. controller of time) is a reincarnation of Karna. The movie is obviously just a teaser to one of many more sequels. 

Ashwattama was cursed with immortality for aiming 
a celestial weapon at Abhimanyu's pregnant wife to
kill the Pandava lineage. In his defence, he was not
taught how to disarm the weapon.

With all the CGIs, this is undoubtedly a rare attempt of Indian cinema to create science fiction using Indian mythology. With no local templates to follow, it is evident that the makers got the prototypes of their props from Star Wars. 

Is it a coincidence that most civilisations and religions present a world entirely of sin and debauchery, leading to the annihilation of the world? And a saviour always comes on a white horse. What do you know? Kalki is said to ride a white horse, too. Why are there so many overlaps between Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic traditions? The story of a newborn escaping royal capture happened in the cases of Jesus and Krishna. Moses and Karna were placed in a waterproofed basket in the river to be adopted by someone else. 

One possible explanation goes back to the time after Nebuchadnezzar's army destroyed the First Temple of Jerusalem. The Israelites were taken captive and brought to Mesopotamia as slaves. There, intermingling with the local populace before King Cyrus the Great brought them back to Israel, the early Jews added tales common to Hinduism to their pantheon of stories.

(P.S. 2898 CE is long before the end of Kali-yuga if it lasts 432,000. It seems too premature for Kalki to be born.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A little self indulgence, maybe?

The Etymologicon: 

A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
Author: Mark Forsyth (2011)


This book will excite you if you were one of those, me included, who gets excited knowing things that add minimal value to your mundane day-to-day life. It gives you a false satiety that you are a bigger being for realising some worthless fact. In no imaginable way is it going to improve your life. Perhaps, a transient warm fuzzy feeling when you sigh and say, "Ha. I see, that's what!"

Well, reading is not about passing examinations. Sometimes, it helps you pass that awkward moment in a boring or break the ice with a total stranger when mysteriously transplanted in the company of a haughty visitor that your wife conveniently pushed to you to entertain. These are moments when you find worthless information, a boon that could morph that awkward silence into lighter moments. The danger in this strategy is that your wife's unsavoury friends could change camp to be yours!

You need to know that Hawaii was almost called Sandwich Island. Its natives called it such long before Captain Cook 'discovered' it and showcased it to the rest of the world. Cook wanted to name Hawaii Sandwich Island to honour the Earl of Sandwich. Luckily, Cook died before it could be official. He was killed by the natives. Well, that is what you get when the Native's kindness is reciprocated with diseases and the instigation of fights.

Now, why is Sandwich named Sandwich? Well, this Earl of Sandwich was once a compulsive gambler. In one instance, we went on a gambling spree for two days. The concerned servants packed his meat, vegetables, and such between two pieces of bread and served them to him to cut unnecessary time for dining and serving. For the record, sliced bread did not come till 1928. People found the idea refreshing, and thus came about 'the sandwich'.

This information may be helpful when you start a conversation at a party where you do not like the attendees and want to make them feel stupid. It may also be a valuable tool to extricate yourself from their friends list.

If you are stuck with a young person, someone young at heart or is into anime, cosplay, manga or even Godzilla Minus One, you could start talking to them about the genesis of Godzilla's name. Godzilla was actually born Gojira in the Japanese imagination in 1954, after being pounded with tonnes of American nukes during WW2. When Gojira grew big and went places, especially to Hollywood, he was christened 'Godzilla' to roll smoothly on an Anglophile's tongue. Pretty soon, Godzilla filled the masses' psyche to mean something gargantuan. Godzilla burger was not made from a mutated Japanese life form but denoted a massive burger. Mozilla Firefox intended to be the most prominent web browser after Netscape at its inception.

This book could be a go-to while waiting for an appointment or boarding a flight rather than just watching each other in the lobby. You may risk being taken for a stalker and told, "I don't feel comfortable you looking at me!" You question the commonly held notion that God is perfect in all His creations. You were wondering what He was thinking when He made her. What was He smoking?

P.S. Thanks, Cousin Joe, for this book. Never a dull moment!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The undercurrents beneath the surface

Ullozhuku (Undercurrent, Malayalam; 2024)
Director: Christo Tomy

An old Tamil proverb goes, ‘Tell a thousand lies to make one marriage happen.’ In Indian society and most Eastern cultures, a person is highly encouraged to get married once he or she is of marriageable age. 

Before Bharat Matrimony and Shaadi.com came into the picture, the services of marriage brokers were often summoned. Like St Jude Thaddeus, the patron of the impossible and lost causes, the broker, armed with various biodata including age, educational status, skin fairness chart, horoscope, Varna, and juicy family scandals that needed to be suppressed, would come the most appropriate match. 

Like in game theory, both sides may have their bag of worms but would find it appropriate to keep them buried. After all, they would see the bigger picture. A married person reaches a certain elevated status in society. Even funeral rituals are slightly different for the unmarried.

With time, all these societal norms have changed. In matters of the heart, with urbanisation and girls coming out of their homes for jobs and education, romance took the wedding brokers out of a job. 

Coming from a Catholic family, the family flipped when they discovered their beloved daughter, Anju, was in love with Rajeev, a Hindu boy. They quickly get her married to Leelamma’s son, Thomaskutty. Soon after the marriage, Thomas becomes chronically ill with a brain condition. 

Frustrated living in a loveless marriage caring for her bedridden husband, she rekindles her liaison with her former lover. Under the guise of collecting her husband’s medicine from the hospital, she spends quality tryst-filled times with Rajeev. 

Thomas soon dies, but Anju discovers that she is pregnant. Leelamma finds out that she is involved in an affair. 

The crux of the rest of the story is how Anju tries to leave her mother-in-law to be with Rajeev. Contrary to what Anju had been made to understand, Thomas had been known to be sick even before the wedding, but Anju’s mother concealed this from her. 

A poignant drama depicting the relationship of a mother-in-law with her daughter-in-law. As a lady, Leelalamma feels that she has had a raw deal from God despite doing her part of her bargain to God. She thinks that God is jealous of her being happy. All her moments are short-lived. How she had to cut short her big dreams at 19 when she was drawn into matrimony. Then, she lost her husband and her sick adult son with an intractable disease. 

Against the wet background of a flood-ravaged village in Kuttanad, Kerala, amidst the rising and ebbing of floodwaters and pouring rain, the story tells the tale of undercurrents that the ladies had to endure to conform to society and fulfil their duties as daughters, wives, mothers, and God-fearing people. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Not so quite neat!

Anjaamai (Fearlessness, அஞ்சாமை, Tamil; 2024)
Direction: S P Subburaman

I thought having private tutoring was only confined to school children caught in the rat race of wanting to excel in public examinations. So I was taken aback when a colleague I was working with in 1988 in Malaysia told me he engaged a private tutor to coach him to pass his medical examinations as a medical student in India. No, not passing medical tests but to secure a pass in his exams as an undergraduate. Until then, my understanding of tuition was that it was for weaker students who could barely keep up with the rest of the class. To engage tutors for mature university students, the crème de la crème of the society who were supposed to be handpicked for the clamoured professional degrees, was laughable to me, then.

Since then, it seems much has changed. Medical studies in India have undergone much scrutiny as more politicians and politically connected businessmen consider building private medical colleges a lucrative business. As the quality of medical education and the selection of medical students varied based on arbitrary conditions and recommendations, there was a need to streamline entrance to medical schools. Uniform examinations were needed for this purpose.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is conducted by the Indian National Testing Agency for undergraduate admissions to MBBS, BDS and Ayurvedic Medicine.

In keeping with the Eastern fixation with the idea that a profession in the healing business is the panacea to all troubles in mortal life, the competition to enter the profession only snowballs over the years. After the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examinations (IIT JEE), the NEET is considered the most challenging test to excel. There are plenty of sad tales of students, their families and the heart-wrenching sequelae after putting all their hopes sky high.

With so many vested interests in running medical schools, the decision to conduct a central examination to maintain medical is naturally met with resistance. This film highlights one of this system's shortcomings, especially to the little people who try to uplift themselves from poverty with their own bootstraps.

A farmer, Sarkar, and a part-time stage performer has everything going well for his little family. He sees academic brilliance in his son. He gives up his stage performance shows to be a good role model to his son. As the son performs better as he ages, he expresses his desire to be a doctor.

The competition gets stiff, with private medical colleges going all out to recruit Sarkar's son to their fold. The Union Government introduces NEET to complicate things. Sarkar has to fork out more money to coach his son to pass the newly introduced national exams. To add salt to his wound, the son has to sit for the exams in Jaipur, some 2000km away and a day and a half of train travel.

After much drama and near misses, Sarkar and his son reach Jaipur and the examination hall. The journey and all the excitement prove too much for Sarkar. He dies of a massive cardiac event. What ensued afterwards was the selling point of the movie. Sarkar's son, with the help of a sympathetic police inspector, sues the Indian Government for compensation. The difficulty the NEET gave with the tedious and unsanitary travelling conditions precipitated Sarkar's premature demise. The story ends with an open verdict but proves its social message that a haphazardly rushed decision leads to chaos and confusion. One must also realise the hidden message behind the scenes: the central government wants to micromanage state concerns.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

From Srinagar to Ladakh: A Cyclist’s Diary

https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/08/14/from-srinagar-to-ladakh-a-cyclists-diary/

They say to go forth and explore, to go to the planet’s edge to increase the depth of your knowledge. Learning about a country is best done doing the things the local populace does, travelling with them, amongst them, not in a touristy way, in a manicured fashion in a tourist’s van but on leg-powered machines called bicycles. Itching to go somewhere after our memorable escapade in South Korea, cycling from Seoul to Busan, as the borders opened up after the pandemic, somebody threw in the idea of cycling from Kashmir to Ladakh. Long story short, there we were, living our dream. The plan was to cycle the 473km journey, climbing 7378m ascent in 8 days, between 6th July 2024 and 12th July 2024.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.