The Children's Garden

After spending several hours in front of the tele trying to decipher Lord Krishna’s words, I had ample respect for the Lord. He was able to narrate the entire Mahabharat to Arjun, while still maintaining insane control over Arjun’s chariot. The dexterity of the act in itself demonstrated pure genius, something which was unfortunately not captured by the show’s visual effects team. Despite their tight budget, they could have atleast inserted a few words in the disclaimer and made it clear that relative motion and the laws of gravity were conveniently ignored in some scenes. They were lucky to have escaped law suites suing them for misrepresentation of facts and misleading discerning viewers such as myself! (If only I could write!) However such would only be the concerns of an amateur. When most of you, while watching this epic, must have been busy swallowing your rice balls, bhais ki doodh, idli paste and what not down your throats, I was enduring tight slaps on my cheeks for not swallowing my food. 

You may ask why I was being slapped despite my obvious stature?? 

A: When one is on the path to seek the truth or on the quest for freedom or even on the unlikely journey to find love, one does not like being questioned or slapped because one is never able to let go of one’s pride, the breakdown of which results in tears for most average people!! Just to clarify, I shed tears only because the nervous system responds to pain and not insult. However, unlike the average truth-seeker (if ever there was one amongst you), who may succumb to such overwhelming odds, I take into account 3 factors:

1. That I’m not 21    
2. That I don’t make money and; 
3. That I don’t make my own food.

  

Although my core being detests the above archaic if not self-preserving norms set forth by the rulers of society, I however firmly believe that the discerning television viewer, regardless of the above criteria, should stick to their principles and seek the truth even if it means enduring hardships!

For those who failed to grasp the essence of my reasoning:

I got slapped for keeping food in my mouth while watching Mahabharat on TV. Also I cried out helplessly! But I had a damn good reason, I’ll have you know. One just needs to understand the cause and effect relationship before laughing out loud!

Nevertheless, with such ferocious determination (despite adequate mental trauma), I was able to observe what even the most discerning viewer would have missed - the beautiful demonstration of a teacher-disciple relationship between Lord Krishna and Arjun! Truth is, it reminded me of my relationship with Jiko. He would demonstrate unbelievable maturity in even the direst circumstance and I would often take mental notes. It was his way of teaching through action.

However, off late, there has been a significant loss in telepathic understanding. I blame my superior intellect for quickly developing speech. (Speech is more efficient! My brain must have realized there is too much scope for misunderstanding and false imagery when using telepathy. Hence as part of evolution’s constant endeavor to improve the human condition, telepathy was scraped off from my list of skill sets!) I also blame Aesop’s Fables that show animals to be far more intelligent than they actually are! Infact my five-minute Mahabharat speech to Jiko, enumerating the repercussions of greed (that included making children cry) terribly backfired when he once decided to grab the entire chocolate bar from my left hand as against the single piece on my right. It was then that I realized the injustice of it all! 

While I can always shed tears, complain to the norm setters of society & family (Mom!) and get another chocolate by blaming my human brother, Jiko could never convey his feelings to us in the same way. Neither could I, mine. He was answerable to no one and could do as he pleased. Although it generated some envy in me, I came to realize it was futile to live as dog, do what you please and die in 12 years. In other words he wasn’t governed by the same norms that governed me. I realized that all the lessons given by Jiko so far were not necessarily in my best interests. If anything, he had only taught me how dogs behaved and not how humans should behave (although humans ought to take certain cues from animal behavior). I had lost faith in his abilities to dispense supreme worldly knowledge. He could never compete with the animals in Aesop’s fables. Heck he couldn’t even compete with my human brother. It was then that I realized I needed a peer (the very thought unsettled my guts) with whom I can share and compete. 

Although the humiliation meted out at the Institute’s entrance exams was fresh in my mind, I did not for once discount rational thought. I put aside my pride and decided to welcome change. 
I was a firm believer in the Darwinian theory of Evolution. The Homo Sapiens are a social species. They have evolved because they have learnt to cooperate with each other and live within the confines of a social construct (refer the 3 factors I quoted earlier). Although human beings are perfectly capable of living on their own and sometimes even managing a dignified death - say by cholesterol or diabetes (there is some sort of glory associated with their presence in your bloodline since not many of us can boast of an uncle or grandfather who died while taking on a cannon ball head on!), they cannot function in a civilized manner unless they are able to cooperate with another of their kind (hence the reason to let go of Jiko). 

History is replete with examples of cooperation among groups that have successfully furthered mutual interests (I was more interested in the fact that these groups had an autocratic nature and had a self-appointed and widely accepted leadership consisting of an individual(s)). Cooperation forged bodies like BRIC, United Nations, G- 2 to G- (N-1) [where N is the total no of countries in the world. Minimum is 2 as you need 2 to start a group and highest is N-1 because even the biggest group needs to exclude atleast 1 other country to justify its existence!). I realized if I don’t comply to standard Darwinian laws that favor the survival of groups rather than individuals, my genius would soon be lost to herds of mediocrity (I mean lets face it, EVEN I CANT TAKE ON THE ENTIRE WORLD BY MYSELF. I atleast need someone to pass on my legacy). In my case, I would have to start from humble origins – probably section A, desk 4 in Pre-KG. The simplicity and the grandeur of the plan seemed to alleviate all sensations of pain and the tears automatically stopped. Although my critics might point out that I stopped crying at the sight of small green skirts outside the said institution (another of darwin’s theories apparently which I find irrelevant), I still have faith in my reader’s abilities to put Darwin’s theories in the right perspective :)

Despite my utter disregard for the institution called The Children’s Garden and its admission process, I decided that it would be the most apt place to find a peer if not my next disciple :)