The Unusual Suspect

She looked distraught while chatting. She was tense and was worrying so much as if her complete world had split into pieces. So I thought it was my Dharma to call her to find the trouble. As a nice citizen, I dialed her number.

Me: Hi, what has happened?

Her: Oh nothing, I am a little tensed.

Me: Why so?

Her: Someone has stolen my and my friend’s purse.

I thought ‘that’s it’ but I did not have courage to utter these words so bluntly. So I continued.

Me: Oh I am sorry, what has happened? Where did it happen? How much money did he steal?

Her: It was stolen from the office when I was having my lunch. Our drawers were open but no one was there when we went for lunch. It contained almost 2000 INR.

So much drama for 2000 INR, what the heck, but you cannot show your rude emotions while talking to girls.

Me: yar, this amount is not even good enough to take so much tension.

Her: Mr, It is almost 25% of my salary. So it is a huge amount for me.

Me: Okay then, why don't you go to the management and ask them to catch the culprits?

Her: It will not help and I do not want to ruin their lives.

Me: Are you mad?

Her: Why?

Me: You must take some action to catch the thieves so that they will be discouraged and they will not even think of repeating this in future. Your silence will provide them the courage to repeat this again.

Her: But management will fire them.

Me: Culprits must be punished.

Her: Okay, I will try something.

The discussion was over with her commitment though I was convinced that she would not do anything except sitting idle and hoping for a miracle to happen assuming "Someday someone would face the heat for their acts". Days passed so as weeks. It was almost a month when we talked last time and I almost forgotten the incident.

One day on chat she announced she almost found the culprit and would get her money back soon but she would not take any action once she gets her money back. I was curious and stunned. So I called her right away to know the details. I was sure the culprit must be a housekeeping personnel who does not get enough wages for survival.

Me: So how was the journey? What did you do?

Her: I went to HR to find out the Cash Card Numbers so that I can track them further.

Me: What are you talking? What cash cards?

Her: Arre, this person did not take any money from my purse. He took the cash cards which I got during some events conducted in my office.

Me: What the heck? You were so tense for gifted money.

Her: Yes, is there a problem? Do you want to listen or not?

I made faces as she would not see them but to calm her down I continued.

Me: Okay madam, go on.

Her: Once I got Card number from HR, then I thought to visit the stores which accept such cards. Luckily number of stores was less. First I went to Pantaloon and told them the complete situation and asked them if someone had used the card (with exact card number) there. I repeated this same stuff in 10 more stores with no luck. 12^th store in the list was Life Style. I thought to try my luck there as well. So I went there and repeated my story 12^th time. After completing the story I requested them to check their Database if someone had used those cards. It was quite a tough task to convince these store people to provide me such information. All of them resisted but a few checked and looked into their database. At Lifestyle it was easier to convince the people and found this information. They searched in the database and found the entry. Ladies stuff was bought using the cards and cards were signed by my senior person. I got the details of the shopping. Though I was not still convinced that my senior had stolen the cards and used them here but I had proofs. I looked at the list of items and remembered these items were purchased by my colleague, who sits next to my desk, and showed it to me 2 days after the theft.

Me: He He He, She showed those items to you.

Her: Yes, She did. I asked my senior if he had shopped from lifestyle in near past and as per my expectations he denied. I was sure who has taken the money. She who had stolen the money before going home. This is the same lady who was crying about losing her wallet when I told her about the theft. I called her and asked her. She denied again and again but I was sure. She told me "Sir had given her the cards and she had given him the equivalent money". I had reasons to invalidate her reasons on the spot. I told her, that I have reached the police and lodged a complaint against her. But she was still persistent in her denial. Now I am waiting for her to come back to office and then only I would be able to get my money back…

Me: Awesome!!!! Great work.

After few more days she pinged and told that the thief would come in couple of days.

This complete story is not all about the money that she had lost or she will recover. But it is more about the fight she had put to find the culprit and blacken her face.

I do not know the way to eradicate such activities from society but finding such culprits and showcasing their acts to others can help all of us. Along with that it will change the notion regarding people with lesser wages (As in my case I was sure that this some housekeeping person has stolen the purse.). My friend's work was appreciable and such incidents must inspire all of us to not sit back in such cases but instead we must take some actions to find the guilty and bring them to justice.

Sunset and Sunrise

We two were sitting on rock. Our hearts were pounding and were heard to one another but distance between these two hearts was zillions light years away. Our shadows were long and 2 inches distance was increased to couple of feet by the setting sun. There were not any words between us. We were just staring at something or nothing. Passion and love between us were washed away by mistrust and usual fights

Sunset view at Chandrashila Peak

There was chirping of birds, sound of wind and trill of grass but there was not any humane intervention. It was dusk and sun was going to disappear in some time. Radiance of its light has made the blue sky look reddish. It's rays were keeping the wind warm but mountains were trying to shiver the body. Everything was clear and visible. There was not any noise, there was not any pollution and there was not any person except we two with gloominess in hearts and invisible tears in eyes. Everything was serene but silent and heart breaking. There was not any respite for us in Himalayas as well

A “Sorry” echoed. I was still staring at the setting sun but she looked at me. Though the sun was gloomy but it wanted to tell me something. Though there was silence but it brought storm of thoughts. Though it was cold but it multiplied the warmth for my wife at that very moment.

She stared hard and tried to say something but she choked and sobbed. I saw tears rolling down from her eyes. I heard her crying. I stretched and took her into my arms.

We two were on our last trip before divorce. We were in love for last 10 years but a misunderstanding had brought us on the verge of separation. Amidst all this chaos, we planned a trip to Himalayas and planned to travel to Tungnath. At this very moment, we were sitting at Chadrashila peak which was 13500 feet above sea level and were kissing each other passionately. She was trying to say something but everything was said and told by overflowing stream of tears.

Apart from one and only “Sorry” nothing was said and told. There were not any questions, answers and clarifications. We climbed down the peak holding each other's hands. Sun had already gone behind the mountains leaving darkness to us and after thanking god, doors of our room were closed whereas doors of our hearts re-opened for each other. The complete night was spent in passion.

Sun began to unravel its brightness and We started climbing the peak to see the radiance and brightness of the new sun. It was coming up slowly but every next moment it was more beautiful, brighter and happier. Every next moment, its rays were covering more ground. Within some time it cherished the earth with rays and it cherished us with joy, happiness and light.

Sunrise View at Chandrashila

We sat there on the peak, keeping her shoulder on my shoulder and holding her hands in my hands, without speaking any words. From a far distant I heard voice of singing maestro Mohammad Rafi singing “Oh Sathi Re Tere Bina Bhi Kya Jeena…”. We remained silent and enjoyed the fading voice.

Happy Republican Day

I woke up in the morning with the loud voice of a speaker playing a well known and an everlasting patriotic song "Yeh Desh hai veer jawano ka.". The very first thing that hit my mind was, wow it is a national holiday and I do not have to wake up at 8 o'clock and rush to the office right away. I can stay on my bed as long as I want.

Time moved on and several loud speakers started yelling the same old songs. It was similar to all radio channels started playing the same song and you do not have a choice but to listen to it until and unless one of them took a chance to change the theme of the day.

It is the Indian Republic day. 63 years back, on the same day our constitution came into force and the Indian people got their rights and freedom in their hands which were in British empress hands. Most sections of the constitutions were taken from the British constitution. Dr Ambedkar and Sardar patel were instrumentalist of our constitution.

Due to the increasing intensities of loud speakers’, it was nearly impossible to nullify the voice of the speakers showing patriotism for first and last time in this year. (Once in a year is still better than never.) To please their parents, children were singing patriotic song and praising Bharat ma. Patriotism was in the air just outside my balcony door and I was trying to find ways to keep this air away from my room. But all the efforts were in vain and I had to give up my sleep.

After few moments one society, whose ground is visible from my balcony, hosted the Tiranga and flag hosting was preceded with the chants of our awesome national anthem, written by Bankim Da, “Jan Man Gan…” Our anthem brought me on my feet and it gave me a momentary satisfaction of being an Indian.

Momentary, why was it momentary? Moment of satisfaction was preceded by the moment of dissatisfaction. I was happy at one moment but at very next moment gloom shaded my happiness. Then an inner struggle started to figure out the reason behind such contradictions in mind.

These contradictions are usual for every Indian who loves his country. Whenever we talk about governance, policies, people, roads, buildings, infrastructures, securities, education, economy, business, industry, growth and more, we talk about their negatives. Even if we try to figure out the positives, we end up finding a thousand negatives in compare to a few positives. It is more than 65 years when British people left Indians but still we blame them for our current miseries. In any patriotic event, we curse them as if they are still holding our chords and making us act like a puppet

In 65 years our governance has not improved a bit. Government still introduces policies to widen or exploit the differences of different segments of society. Corruption is still looming. Growth is part of minor segment of society whereas other bigger segment has been neglected completely. In those gloomy moments I could have found other reasons to hate India more.

On the contrary I started wondering is this all I got from India. Not really, I know why I stood up on my feet to acknowledge the respect for my country. It was not all because of miseries around me but it was due to the respect for my country. I respect my country because it has given me struggling powers, indisputably it has taught me to fight, it has given me morality, and it has given me the combined understanding of hundreds of cultures. What else do I need to live my life? A human being does not need luxury to live the life happily. All he needs is the knowledge and fighting powers. All these qualities are pumped into us by our inheritance, culture, and society then our country deserves a huge respect from us.

There are problems everywhere and I had been part of these problems in one way or another. Sometimes I have faced them, sometimes I have created them and most of the times I have exploited them so should I blame the government for leaving those loopholes or should I try to take right path and ask others to follow the same?

Koi bhi Desh perfect nahi hota, use prefect banana padta hai.

Vibha Diary: First Meeting

After joining Vibha, we started receiving mails regarding a team meeting. Vibha members were planning to meet on the coming weekend at a CCD in Koremanagala. Meeting was called to decide the calendar of the next month. Mr. Ashish confirmed his gracious presence in the meeting and decided to drag me in with him. After his confirmation he received a call from Venky who summarized Vibha's work and methodologies. At the end, Venky made sure to invite us for the meeting as an introductory session for Ashish and me.

Without resisting much, I accompanied Ashish. As we did not want to leave bad impression in the first meeting so we reached before time and waited other members to join us. Other folks were late due to traffic chaos in Bangalore. Within sometime few members, including Venky, arrived

Though things were little off track but Venky, without losing much time, summed up everything about Vibha. In his short introductory speech, he introduced us with the history, objective, functionary, and work in India. He told us about the organization structure and heads. He was not shy about narrating the reason of choosing CCD over any Vibha’s office.

This was my first visit to CCD and I was not aware of different kind of coffees available. So I ordered the cheapest one. Rest expected folks joined us within some time and we started planning for the next month and it was decided to conduct at-least one event, in continuation with the previous events, in Hope School.

This event included entertaining the kids, knowledge sharing and promoting moral and social ideologies to kids so it was necessary to plan according to their grasping powers and understanding capabilities. Before I joined Vibha, other volunteers had conducted 2-3 successful events and this proposed event was for kids who were studying in 5th standard.

In the mean time our coffee arrived. Everyone got their coffees. Some were cold rest others were hot; some had chocolates others had cookies and so on. I expected my coffee to be as tempting as others but waiter shattered all my dreams of tempting coffee. He brought a small cup with some black substance i.e. espresso. In-spite of not getting as tempting coffee, I was still hoping for some milk so requested waiter to bring some milk which he denied with courtesy and weird smile. All others were enjoying their coffee whereas I was staring at my cup. I emptied 3-4 sachets of sugar and somehow finished the sweet poison without seeking much attention.

This meeting lasted over an hour and we concluded this meeting after deciding the agenda for the next meeting. Each of us had to come up with innovative gaming ideas for the kids, try to bring in more ideas on table to make event more interesting, propose something better in snacks and last but not the least the gifts for the games. After that we all paid our shares and moved back.

This meeting set the tone for both of us. We were excited and happy with the idea of doing something real.

So stay tuned for next meeting and further updates.

Let me capture fleeting 2011

So here it is, December 31st 2011. I quit my job on November 4, 2010 and started the year 2011 started with lots of expectations, speculations and desires. Year 2011 started with the following expectations.

 1. I had expected to face at-least one thunderstorm in winters. In every newspaper an article was dedicated to report the number of causalities due to cold waves and the decrease in the temperature in Delhi. So due to adverse and rapid effects of Global warming, I had expected fiercer winters this year. 
 2. Another expectation of 2011 was to confront a dust storm in summers. As I had moved closer to the deserts (Mind it Rajasthan is not far from Delhi), so dust storm is a realistic expectation. Newspapers in Bangalore and scientific discoveries related to global warming used to indicate many dust storms in peak summers in NCR.
 3. This was a new company for me, so I had expected lot of new challenges for me. Okay, do not take me wrong but really I had expected at-least a couple of foreign trips. Work does not pose any challenge but cooking, washing clothes and utensils, sweeping and rest could have kept me at edge of the cliff in pardesh. 
 4. This year started with the agenda of completing and moving to the new house at my home town. 
 5. Finding a girl was another big task for people around me. Everyone contributed in this task. Whether they were my relatives or colleagues or friends or brother or my maid all of them contributed significantly to find a girl for me.
PS: I do not want to mention few other blunders.

2011 just fleeted, I did not even realize when a month passed, then another and finally 12 months just sped away and became the past. Though I did not achieve anything significant but I am 1 year older and wiser (Do not argue. Let’s assume it). I had wasted (optimistically -> Enjoyed) my evening in playing TT and badminton. I wasted (optimistically -> Invested ) lot of money in buying books to showcase my bookshelves to people but none of my friends even noticed this. I wasted (There is no optimistic synonym to it) my weekends in travelling to my native place for no good reasons. Amidst all this chaos year 2011 vanished. My achievements of this year can be counted on finger tips. Few important events are the following.
 1. I had visited 3 places in this complete year.
   a. Agra.
   b. Aurangabad and Ellora caves
   c. Ranila, Jain pilgrimage.
2. Our mansion is 90% completed, so my parents can move to our new house soon.
3. Most unexpectedly, I was appreciated first time in my career for my work ;).
4. I have read lot of novels so my count has increased significantly and along with that my reading and writing speed has increased a little in compared to last year.

Okay, that is all, I could not remember anything more. Shhhh disappointing, is not it? I should not be disappointed so much as number of achievements remains same every year. Every uncompleted task will be carried forward to next year and give heads up in the new year.
So I think following will be 2012’s expectations.
1. Weather Front
 a. I am still waiting for Thunderstorm to shiver my body.
 b. I think for dust storm I have to visit desert once otherwise I might have to wait little longer.
2. Shopping spree
 a. Mummy kept asking me to buy some gold, so she might persuade me this time… Shhhh…. Moms na…
 b. Someone might push me to buy a car.
 c. A House/Flat is in my list for sure.
3. Personal Front
 a. It might not feature in my aims but my Marriage is the aim for everyone related to me.
 b. Yeah my mansion will surely be over next year end. (Suri and Amit ghar poora ho hi jayega salon)
 c. I would like to visit at-least 5-6 places this year.
4. Professional Front
 a. At-least one foreign trip. Work pressure will remain same this year as well. So I do not need to worry about work.
  
Hmmm, I hope I will be able to do everything listed above and keep everyone happy in next year. I am really happy with the way this year has gone. I lived and enjoyed life a lot and I expect to enjoy the next year as well.


HAPPY NEW YEARS FRIENDS, Hope this year will bring more smile on your faces and cheers in your life.

It matters when wait is longer

Papa called me up and his tone of speaking was not as usual. For a long time he is been quite busy and stressed due to amount of work in recent past. Our house is under construction for past ten months and it is not completed yet so He remains busy to make sure none of the workers rests. His tension increases when he thinks none of his sons are married yet and, top of all this, one call from his SDM exaggerates his tensions. Rest other family commitments and tensions make his life more miserable. So his tone was not usual for me.

Most of the times, he calls me to consult or ask something. This time it was different, his voice was cheerful. He broke the news of his promotion after small chit chat. Yeah, my dad got promoted. He has been promoted to Girdhavar(One who manages Patwaris) from Patwari (Lekhpal) and he is a gazetted officer now.

Sahi Mein Bahut Khush hain Pa

I am really happy for him. I have seen him working on one post for past 25 years. First he worked in Irrigation department, and then he was moved to revenue department without any promotion which increased his burdens. In 25 years of his service, he got continuous increments but his work and burden kept increasing but government does not promote people so frequently so his promotion was out of question.

This promotion is quite important for him and for all of us. Papa will get some rest from his field work and he will have lesser things to worry. In my five years career, I have already got two promotions and I never felt proud of it but when I heard about Papa's promotion, a feeling of proud ran through my blood. I was as happy as him and I can breathe a little as I have to worry about him little lesser.

PS: My dad was little unhappy also, as instead of getting salary increment, his allowance will decrease and hence the salary as well.

Vibha Diary: Search for an NGO

I had been thinking to join a social group, but I was lazy enough to type "NGO in Bangalore"@Google, so joining such a group was just a dream. Though the  fuel was always there but the medium to burn the fuel was not available. People in office had lots of different reasons to join an NGO. My office used to support an NGO and my colleagues used to visit the place once a while, but I never took any interest in supporting these workers and their causes.

After 3 years one room-mate left and Ashish came to Bangalore with the fuel and the burning power. Once a while in our inconclusive discussions, we had discussed about joining an NGO and "GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE SOCIETY". I was never too sure if I was really inspired to do something like this but as usual we made statements and forgot them after the discussion. But one such discussion clanged to Ashish's mind and our heated and in-depth discussion provided him the inspiration to do something which I dreamt for last 3 years i.e. TYPE "NGO in Bangalore" in Google and enter.

He did not disclose any results of his search but went somewhere on the same weekend. After returning back he told about NGO. This NGO was for dogs, something like PETA. People at this NGO were working for a good DOG life. Ashish was supposed to assist a team which would catch all the stray dogs from the streets and take them to a safer place. Though I am not an animal lover and I argue with people who fight for animal's cause (Quite frankly, they are also assisting but ….). People argue when human cannot be trusted then why not love someone who can be trusted i.e. Dog. Why do we even trust our family, our relatives, our friends and people around us? People say animals cannot speak, cannot demand and cannot hit back then that it is our responsibility to feed them and take care of them. Okay, there are a lot more humans who are living life very similar to this, why not work for them. I know, there are lots of people against my ideology but is it not worth to work for humanity or to work for people similar to you who need help just like the  animals. If we all reach a level where humans are not in need then in such society we can think of uplifting the standard of animals not until someone, like us, is in pain.

Anyways Ashish and I again had in-depth discussion about the importance of social work and preferences and somehow I convinced him. Though it was difficult for me to change his thoughts but this time our discussion reached to a conclusive end. So he searched again to find an NGO for children.

Within half an hour we registered for an NGO called VIBHA, which works for underprivileged children. This NGO supports various organizations across the country, mainly in south India. This organization provides financial assistance to other organizations which work for children born with lesser privileges and higher expectations. These organizations try to bring in more children under the radar to improve their current and future life.

Vibha working for under Privilege Children

I was not yet fully sure if I would like to continue this NGO but there are few reasons which might have impacted my decision.

1.     Ashish pushed me a lot to join so that we both can go support each other for the cause.

2.     MBA was much awaited future for me, so I wanted to add something in my resume to increase its worth.

3.     Lots of girls join NGOs so …...

4.     I had lot of time on weekends, so wanted to enjoy my time than wasting it in home.

But all stated reasons were secondary as I wanted to join some group where I might not be able to make a difference but can contribute towards the cause and assist people who are trying hard to make a difference.

More to continue…

Perfume - A story of murderer

Perfume, A story of murderer, started with a lean and weak guy whose hands and legs were cuffed. The guy seemed in ease but the uproar outside the prison demonstrated the weirdness of the story. People were screaming, shouting, stoning. They were having axes, weapons and wooden articles to kill the culprit. Soon the Prisoner was brought in balcony among a higher uproar and shouting of giving him the instant capital punishment but his punishment was read to people there and narrator travels in the past to tell us his past.

A child was born with extra-ordinary capabilities that could smell good or bad, stench or perfume. He could recognize any scent irrespective of the distance of the source. He could smell dust, water, rock, stone, frog, iron, rotten rat and human body. There was not any smell which was hidden from him. Every day he encountered new smells and added them to the list of known smells without even knowing their source.

One day he smelled something extraordinary and became hysterical about it. He started looking the source of such marvelous smell. It was a gal. He followed her without following conducts and manners of society and under some unstated circumstances he managed to kill the gal. He did not stop here, like an animal he smelled her body without any notion of pain or fear in his eyes. He wanted to preserve this smell desperately but he was helpless.

Soon he found one old perfumer who might know the trick of preserving the smell. He created lots of new perfumes for the old perfumer and in return he asked oldie to teach him the way to preserve any smell. Old guy passed his trick to the protagonist but it did not suffice. With this trick the boy could not preserve the smell of iron, dust and animal body. So Old man suggested him to visit Rome city to learn other preserving mechanisms.

On the way to city, the boy realized he was odorless. He was different from people, living and non-living things. So he determined to find his own odor. He reached to the city and started finding new way of preserving the smell. 

He found one and story of murders started from here. He killed one gal and tried preserving her smell but failed miserably in this technique. He learned another way and tried it on different gal and succeeded this time. Here started the spree of murders. Most 13 beautiful gals of the city were his victims and their smells were stored in different containers. Killer was merciless and inattentive and was committed to his duties. He worked like a messenger sent on earth to take beauties back to heavens.

With these 13 smells he created a perfume which was unique and exemplary; and he decided to use this perfume as his own odor and rest of the story should be kept secret.

I have tried my best to keep secrets; everything written above has an explanation in movie. I liked the movie a lot due to its unusual theme, direction, and pace of the movie. There was a sequence of 10 minutes which bored me a little but in all movie is must watch. At each step I was waiting for next step of the psychopath.

Thank You Sir

As soon as I wake up on a working day; two questions pop into my mind. First is "When will maid arrive?" and another is "Will there be huge traffic at under pass?" Maid does not concern me much but traffic chaos@underpass is a big pain in ass.

Under pass, what is this under pass and why is it so crucial on weekdays?

As name suggests it is a way, under National Highway 24, which connects Indirapuram society Ghaziabad and Noida Sector 62. Day by day sky scrapping are inaugurating, no of flats are increasing, more people are moving, and prosperity in the area is booming. With each wealthy individual a four wheeler vehicle is adding to the huge list of already existing vehicles. So in the morning number of vehicles, traveling to Noida Sector 62, is huge and this number is increasing day by day.

The concerned Underpass is barely enough to provide comfortable pass for two vehicles at a time and the road is filled with digs. Bumpy and small road makes life troublesome for people. So this pass works as a nerve which dampens the blood flow and increases the chances of heart attack i.e. traffic Jam.

The complete problem is not the underpass, but the impatience of individuals living in the locality. In general, to cross the pass, people create a line which keeps things in order. But there are people (XXX i.e. lot of slang to them), who do not understand the moral responsibility and instead of following the unforced but moral rules, break self imposed regulations to initiate the problem. These stupid people do not even act stupidly but also they provoke people who were following the order and it becomes chaos within few minutes. Few individuals get advantage from their heinous act but rest other people have to face the consequences. Sometime it takes 25-30 minutes of time to cross 500 meters.

People need guidance, a law, a regulator or a helper to demonstrate them the right path. This pass found one volunteer. One guy, who neither belongs to any law enforcement department nor any social group nor travels from this underpass, regulates the stupid people from initiating the chaos, He slaps an auto Driver, he shouts at Rickshaw driver, he guides the four wheeler driver to the correct lane, and sometime he routes stupid folks to NH24. Police, standing there, enjoy the intelligence and determination of this volunteer but their intellectual lack the capabilities of managing the underpass in such an efficient manner. This guy, with whole lot of muscles, mustaches and body fit sleeveless T-Shirt, looks like an army man. Once people see him standing in front of pass they themselves understand the order.

He shouts and Suggests people to behave as a human instead cattle.

He has earned a respect, an admiration and a lot of thanks from each selfish individual. Everyday people hope to see him at underpass. If he is not there it means you lost 20 minutes of your time to solve the Underpass riddle.

I do not know his name, his designation. I do not know where he stays. I do not know what he does for earning. I do not know where he disappears on some specific days. I do not know why he is doing all this for society. But I appreciate his work every day while passing the underpass.

I never got guts to ask him his name, designation, place of living. I never got guts to step down from my auto and tell him we all are very thankful for his work, time and charity. I found this platform i.e. my blog(Read by least number of people on earth) much safer and less humiliating to acknowledge the work of an individual to whole Indirapuram locality. He must feel proud and twist his mustache looking into one's eye to tell his role in the lives of others.

Hats off to you sir. Once again thank you very much for managing the underpass and saving our asses from our bosses.

Update: Based on the comment posted, His name is Sanjeev Trehan. He's 52 and a catering firm owner. Thank you very much sir.

Curious case of Ramayana

In childhood we were refrained from arguing, criticizing or analyzing the incidents/stories illustrated or said or taught to us. We believed such stories/incidents with at most respect instead authenticating the roots of the story. Most of these stories were interesting and catchy for a raw mind and due to such impacting nature of these stories, these stories were settled in our mind.

Each childhood story had two extreme ends. Daemons, bad guy, who will try to rule the world in improper manners. These bad people will harm people, promote injustice in society and provoke many other inhumanly acts. At another end of the string was Gods, good guy, who will finish the daemon to restore justice, truth, and humanity. Almost 99% part of the stories would demonstrate devil power and at the end a God would overpower devils who were equipped with enormous powers.

In our childhood these stories were written to manipulate our trust, to exploit our fear and carelessness. Restrictions were imposed on us at the name of religion. We were blinded by the hot rod of religion.

Though I am not quite familiar with other stories but, thanks to television, incident of Ramayana and Mahabharata are quite fresh in my mind. As Mahabharata is quite near to realities (Human characteristics) so I am bringing up questions, related to Ramayana, which disturb me most of the times.

Why do we have Ramayana? Why was it composed altogether?

When Lord Vishnu wanted to kill Raavan, why did he not kill Raavan in the same way he killed other devils? Why did he not choose his fast forward incarnations to kill Ravana? Why did he choose a war which costed lot of lives, money and time? Whether it was Hiranyakashyap or Pritikshit, Vishnu reincarnated just for one day and saved the world just in one day. He killed Hiranyakashyap as a Narsimha, Pritikshit as Bona Pandit and he distributed Amrit as Mohini. Then why did he reincarnate as a normal human being to suffer from earthly pain to demolish another devil?

Did Ramayana justify Vishnu’s incarnation as a human?

Even Ram, rebirth of Vishnu, was a human being but writer could not justify it. He left many loopholes to show Ram more than a human. As per the author everything was well thought and well set before he could take first step on earth. Among many loop holes few were

1.     Hanuman was planned to meet Ram to assist him in his search.

2.     Sugreev was planned to roam around in forest so that he could meet Ram.

3.     Jamvant was assigned the task to enlighten Hanuman about his power.

4.     A traitor was sent to Ravana's home.

5.     Raavan was cursed to not touch any woman though he was allowed to drag any woman into his flying machine.

Do not you think, Ram did not live perfect human life. Gods, super Gods kept assisting him in each and every step. This incarnation can be termed as buggy as it did not depict Ram either God or human.

Assuming Vishnu reincarnated himself to depict the suffering of human being and to show case the right attitude/path/direction in adverse situations, there were few things which were not written@humanity front.

Why did Kaikayi chose 14 years for exile? Why did she not choose life time exile for Ram?

How did it help her cause? Did she want to see her son to sit on throne just for few specific years? Because she knew once Ram is back, he should be handed over the state's charge as he was eldest brother of all. Then she should have asked for lifelong exile to erase any possibility of dethroning his son.

Why did Ram let his father die?

Even though Dashrath did not accept Kaikayi's demand then why did Ram accept these demands? Even though Ram knew his father would die but he chose Rajput Dharma over his father. Which is prior? I think father, who has taken his care for years, should not be left behind to die.

Why did Ram take Sita with her?

Ram could have avoided Sita from his own suffering but he chose otherwise. Did he reduced his own suffering by taking her as a companion or was she 'hukm ka ikka' for God’s plan or was Ram weak enough to sustain the strain of forest?

Why Laxman?

Next comes Laxman who acceptable exile with no logical reasons without his own wife. First of all, why did he suffer the pain of forest? Why did he not take his wife along with Sita? She(Urmila) would have been Sita's better companion and Laxman would not have discarded from worldly pleasures.

Did Ram n company survived on vegetarian food in forest?

As per the Ramayana, Ram and company lived on fruits and roots during his exile. If it was true then why did Sita need the golden deer so desperately? Was not it another misconception or confusion created by interpreters here? Ram was kshtriya and he followed his Kshtriya path rigorously then why did he change his eating behavior?

Why did Ram kill Bali from a hidden place?

Why did not he face and kill him. Ramayana says Bali used to suck 50% strength of the opponent. Is this not the incorrect and unethical behavior? If this is the right human behaviour then we all, following Ramayana, should not care while deceiving someone else.

Why did they need to construct a bridge?

How much time would it have taken to construct the bridge on 100 miles? It was huge efforts and times involved. Why did Ram not take Hanuman’s help to carry all the monkeys by aerial route? It might have solved the issue faster.

Why did Ram ask Agni Pariksha from Sita?

Did we hindus not acknowledge it as a torture on females? Why was a female counterpart asked to prove herself? Ram also stayed few years away from her and knew lot of ladies in between, cannot someone(Any Pandit or Sita herself) ask him to prove himself. Was not it another display of disparity between 2 important genders of society?

On what grounds was Sita sent to forest again?

Once they moved back to Ayodhya, everything was perfectly fine. But one day one messenger saw a washer man cursing his wife and cursing Ram to accept Sita after living in some else’s house for so many years. After hearing this Ram decided to send his better half to Jungle. This incident created lot of questions in mind.

1.     Was this the first time someone had made such derogatory comment?

2.     Was messenger stupid enough to communicate this stupid comment to the emperor?

3.     Was not there any hierarchy where some intelligent people could refrain messenger from delivering such comment at the hour of washer man’s rage?

4.     Was it necessary to keep public and private life so open to world or Was Ram not able to convince himself about purity of his own wife?

5.     Was Ram looking for some chance to throw his dear wife away because she was a dirty spot in his public image?

Possibly there may be not any of the reason but is not this something which made you rethink about the condition of female protagonist. She had faced all the adversity of the world and still she never got chance to live her as an empress. Was this the right attitude toward a specific gender in Ram Rajya?

Significance and process of Ashvamedha yagna has been altered in Ramayana. As per the other information available this yagna was to sacrifice the horse after completion of the yagna whereas our altered epic tells about releasing the horse after yagna is completed.

Anyways I am not saying every story needs to be perfect without any humanly mistakes but when a story has such a huge significance then it has to be nearly perfect, otherwise society may lead to wrong directions. We should question our epics to make them better and bring them next to perfect. When epics were written they were perfect, then they evolved, modified, tweaked and currently we are following the tweaked versions of those stories. Let’s put across our questions and try to achieve the near perfect epic back to stores.

PS: This blog is medium to understand some mysterious circumstances or find answers of unasked questions, Influencing or hurting religious sentiments are not the intentions here.
PS1: Deepika Ji was my favourite actress at the time of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan.