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:
- That I’m not 21
- That I don’t make money and;
- 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).
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 :)