Timanfaya (Fire Mountains) active volcano national park

I remember watching volcanoes erupting and molten lava oozing out and more such documentaries on Discovery and National Geographic channel on the tele as a kid and always was intrigued and fascinated with what Earth offers us, Geology as it is - an interesting subject, besides I am a superlative fan of Astronomy and Astrophysics, still no doubt on admiring the wonders of Earth and the geological formations, my other favourite -  Grand Canyon! (A marvellous natural artistic beauty)

Surprised to know that this volcanic activity at Timanfaya still continues at Lanzorete. The Park is a protected area surrounded by volcanoes and covered with lava surface, Timanfaya’s temperature in the core ranges from 100 to 600 °C at the depth of about 13 metres, which was demonstrated by pouring water into the ground which erupted a geyser of steam.

Was taken a back to see tons and tons of chunks of ashes from the molten lava dried out and the delta of lava patterns left behind, undisturbed, untouched, definitely a mind boggling formation to see, where the whole range of mountains and surrounding areas are covered with gorgeous volcanic black soil and some mountains are a formation of a rusty red soil, which I think of is different minerals mainly ferrous oxide which have been spit out during the eruption 🌋 

So educational especially for kids, makes them think beyond, witness something real - one such wonders of the Earth.

While I speak I am already imagining the actual volcano and eruption, how it affected the civilisation at Lanzorete who experienced this in the 18th - 19th century.. the tour guide did a great job explaining about how the locals felt and how the whole thing was recorded and the most interesting part was the story of the devil of Timanfaya - a bride groom to be, was about to get married and the eruption started filling the place with ash and smoke and wanting to save the bride which was futile as she died in the eruption site, he ran around carrying a 5 pronged fork for help and disappeared in thin air as the ashes covered the scene…and the villagers thought he was the fire devil, with a big fork, carrying the volcano flames on his head and so on... The story is more likely to be a humorous reference to the hellish landscape and heat of Timanfaya than a reference to a legend.

As per the original records none of the civilians were hurt and the irony is they all called the ferocious fire mountain a good one! 

The lava craters and the ashes have been supporting Aloe Vera plantation, which is quite famous as the localities use the soil and crater pattern to grow aloe and vineyards…

I am still  in that transcend state of imagination of volcanic eruption which happened at the 18th-19th century and my research on the internet continues about other volcanic eruptions!

Definitely worth the visit and having Geologists guide you !

Highly recommend this tour if you’d visit Lanzorete or any Canary Islands.

My first Stall!

This was a very first time I had a stall of my own at one of the local Dassera/Navaratri events, something close to my heart and yes it was a stall related to Painting and most importantly for the kids!

I did prepare well to establish this stall which had various painting activities, all tailored for the young minds, it was very whelming to see kids take part, there were all types of parents and children and the way they negotiated to try what they wanted/liked to.

Mostly every parent’s desire and wish was that their kids get to do some activity rather than get a face painting done from another stall.
I could see how a child got dejected for not being able to do what the heart told them to…

Some parents were more than happy to just let the kid do anything as long as they get some time to wander about around other stalls.

There was one mom with a 20m old kid who really wanted to get her daughter try her hands on some of the activities, felt really happy seeing the way she was motivating her and encouraging her to feel and see colours, she was not worried about the paint sticking on to her DD’s little fingers or smudge over her face, all she wanted was her kid to experience it!

Another dad got pulled by his son who was 3yrs - who desperately wanted to paint something but I saw dad was happy but so paranoid about the mess the son would make and constantly behind pulling the wipes and wiping his hands and table, upon saying, " it’s ok, I shall take care of that later”, he then arrogantly said me to clean the boy after the activity, all I did was stand there with a grin! Phew! But good thing was he did let his son do what we wanted to!

There was another couple who made sure their son was comfortable, left him on his own to ponder and think about what he wanted to do to the best of his imagination and before going around to other stalls both mom and dad assured of getting back and he would do his best at the activity corner and make use of the colours and props available. I have to admit, the kid did quite well.

There were a few parents who were trying to escape when it came to paying for the activity, this I really felt so absurd, and I had to demand to make the payment, I don’t understand this, they are all happy to pay for food for clothes, for all the pomp and glory, etc etc, but not for the activity the child enjoyed and learnt?! In fact they let them do, but not pay for it, its not the activity but its the money they don’t like to shed on!

There were parents who asked their kids to share one activity, while the younger one did not manage to get a chance in the go and she was totally interested in another activity while the Dad was particular in them doing another. With a lot of negotiation, the kid gave up but still she longed to do the other one.

There were two other interesting teenagers who both knew what they wanted to and at the right time when the stall was empty got their activity sorted and all well done, I wonder how kids grow up and they are quite clear what they want!

The girl was in her pre-teens came and enquired about the pricing and she also checked if I would reduce the price if she got it done at a lesser time.

I was so impressed, she was quite smart and already knew how to manage her expenses!

Applause to such kids and parenting, I saw that their parents had left them choose what they wanted to do but with a limited budget for the event/day.

All in all, a very good day to see different types and scenarios and situations and of course parenting apart from the pleasure of following my passion and a stall related to it for the first time!

And  I was telling, “Please let the kid decide”, of course that was my mind’s voice!  What a day :)

Green beauty - Skandavale

I need to really tell you about this wonderful hike which we as a family did over the last weekend end at Wales, initially we weren’t sure how it would turn up with a 3 year old hyper active kid.

All we knew was that there was a beautiful temple amidst nature. 

So was it...

And we were warned about the narrow un-asphalted roads, so the drive began all the way from almost London until Carmarthen in Wales, with few pit stops in between, the time came to enter the narrow roads within the woods, Green boulevard were a lovely sight to see…

Nevertheless it was frightening to an extent, as it was a wild elephant zone, mostly a forest zone, slowly we crept along on the sinusoidal wavy road up the hill, all to witness a very DIVINE place...A Spiritual place in tranquility and peaceful hill top, ‘Skandavale’

We had to park our car at the temple entrance and hike up further for about approximately 30 min and all of us including my parents (Senior citizens) and our lovely every active 3 year old daughter, enjoyed thoroughly, the green - NATURE!
As I always believe Nature is the most beautiful thing.

We looked high up to see the tall trees kissing the clear blue skies, the climbers dancing and prancing, some of them tightly embracing the tree logs, there were all shades of green, the dark green, the light, the yellow - mellow green and much more it was so rich and lucid, we all enjoyed the glorious sight of green, all of us were spell bound except our little one, who just happens to talk a lot when excited and happy - which she did! 

We hugged the trees and I had read somewhere what it feels like hugging a tree and it suddenly struck to me that I need to experience this and I did this.
Somehow when I did it, some sort of happiness, adrenaline oozed inside me, I was feeling overwhelmingly happy! I closed my eyes, could feel the sunshine upon me, the cool breeze blowing over my face, chirping birds, the smell of the pines and grass, it was all fascinating, in no time I was feeling much calmer, I felt that I could connect to something, I could connect to the tree… the Nature… 

May be all we need is to open our materialistic eyes and see the world through reality, to be simplistic and grounded, coz happiness is everything at last - The real happiness!

Finally we reached the Durga Temple up hill and what could get better than having to chant mantras which had real spiritual and divine vibrations amongst the serene mountains! Was definitely a goosebump moment for an instance!

Hiked back to the temple entrance, finished the darshan of all the deities and had a wholesome scrumptious prasdam and started to our hotel after a long drive.

Having a smile on our face and happiness inside the heart, feeling merry and light and that was our night and a very lovely day indeed.

Re-entry!

Hello! hello! A very big hello indeed, its been infinite years since I have written something here, well 3 years now... So, yes there has been a lot of things, lot of changes and have had a new entry into my world! My daughter and guess what she is already 3 years old! Time flies isn't it :)

So how did this re-entry after donkey's years happen? well as usual I was looking to do something and I suddenly realised google blogger still exists - alive and kicking...

I will look forward for myself to be actively writing to keep up my own memories and my opinions here in the coming new year, until then have a good time :)
Happy Reading and Wish you all a merry Christmas and a Fantabulous New year :) 2018

P.S: Handmade cards for Daughter's nursery 

Irksome few-some!

I was on the bus to office and a person next to me sneezed without a hanky or anything covereing his face... It was disgusting, I really felt like telling him, I prefer showers only in the mornings and at my home and not in the bus!

I see some people with almost over flooded chocked nose, almost trying to get everything out of it, making nasty sounds... I feel like saying them, please stop blowing the trumpet... I know its the choky effect and they wanna get rid of it, but why so many tantrums and without an ounce of regret, they do it! Yuck... another disgusting way to start a morning...

Hate it when people yawn or pant for breath on my face.. ba****ds I dont want to smell your gutty stinky bad breath! Christ sake.. have some sense, you call yourselves Brits and don't have such a simple sense..

And at office, I see people scratching their arm pits in a meeting, come on now.. when you are talking about the quarterly goals, how the hell can you feel like or even think about putting your hand on your arm pit.. in front of about 10-15 people! Gosh!!!

How should I be saying to a colleague of mine to use the toilets properly... she comes out and I go in to use and see a spray of whatever on the seat pad! can it get any worser than this...

I feel like saying please leave the toilets as neat as you would want it to be usable... Arghh... I literally walked out of it! wanted to slap that girl and say... look you may dress like a Diva, but your manners sucks! where did your f***ing hygiene and cleanliness go?!?!

When a colleague next to me gets a stinky fish for his lunch and comfortably eats spreading the nasty smell all over... I was almost about to puke... but managed to cover my nose and mouth with the hanky and walked out of my cubicle to breathe in some fresh air... Bloody hell, in the first place he should have had it in the kitchen... poor me, had a stomach upset the whole day! stinky fish and a sensless bugger...

And lastly to people who sweat profusely and smell like a dead fish! how can I better explain this... I need to gift them something they really are not aware of its existance, called "Deodorant" My God! 

Be Civilians and not hooligans! please!!!

I might seem bitching about everybody and everything today, but can't help…

And I have never got the courage to tell people about their etiquette's and manners but just cant stop feeling nasty and blue about it... may be friends and dear family members should take the initiative to educate them when they show up their nastiness... really somebody has to tell them... else the world is gonna end up in a complete piece of nastiness!!!

A frustrated Post! sorry guys, but really if you happen to meet such guys in your circle please make them aware of it... Initially nobody would like to be told badly about them, but somebody would have to tell them.. so please do it! for their better, for your better and for the betterness of the entire universe!

Thank you!

Memory Frames...

Reviewing my memory frames... :) Feels nostalgic to remember the cheerful and the merry times, the laughs, the pranks, the tears, the pampering...I am so lost in my thoughts and in my past...

Thank God, for I have had a wonderful past so far...

Those days and moments I remember, some bad, some good, some cheerful , some guilty... When,

• Daddy bought me a doll and a nice frock for my birthday
• Mommy played with me in the park, despite of being tired from the household chores.
• Pushed my brother on to the wall edge for which he was taken to the hospital
• Thata's innumerable stories and his fantastic, impeccable narration...
• Daddy's badminton training evenings, where I used to be pathetic and eventually became a pro, representing college and university..
• Gully cricket with cousins and brother and with daddy and also mommy at times :)( love it - while imagining)
• ChowkaBara with Ajji on lazy afternoons during summer holidays...
• My Ajji's unforgettable sambar and its aroma
• Hide and Seek, Kho-kho, Lagori, churchandu, cricket - splendid time with cousins... Golden era...
• Cricket evenings with Uncles , cousins and daddy, where the whole street used to come out and watch us! 
• One evening when a stray monkey chased all of us - kids
• Heavy whacks and beatings from mommy for innumerable mistakes...one such - drenching in rain making boats, jumping in the water filled puddles, reaching late - almost 7pm to home from school.
• mom's yell to do homework while we were still in dark evenings playing hide n seek
• Thata's Idli n Dosa morning treats on weekend - after a long walk
• Endless talks with Thata, on almost everything on earth
• Daddy's Math teaching sessions every evenings...
• Fighting with brother and cousins - ripping their clothes out of anger ( I was short tempered :P - I am still but no more wild :P)
• Chupa Chuppi escape from home works to ajji thata's TV serials and Cartoon Network's popeye's show :P
• Grand feasting and new dress for every festival
• Masala Dosa mania - during Tirupati trips
• My half done Sangeetha, Veena and Bharatanatyam classes - to fulfill my basketballa nd cricket dreams ;)
• My passion for painting
• Thata's gift was my first painting set gift ever.. he gave me when I was 7 yrs :)
• My passion for reading Comic books - gokulam, tinkle and champak
• Craze for chocolates and kulfi eating
• Craze for bicycle :) and passion to drive it to school n flaunt off - the feel used to be as if I owned a ferrari.. :P
• hanging out street friends
• Cycle racing across streets :P
• Representing State for Ladies Cricket U-16
• Having a spring roll and tomato soup wid College friends at jayanagar 4th block
• Tutions for SSLC - I never wanted it.. Daddy's force! But splendid results ;)
• Thata's encouragement for every good step
• My first ride on TVS 5T
• Daddy's onsite-trip to France
• Activa ride to college - some flaunting
• Representing State for Ladies Cricket U-19
• My CET results - :P not tat good!
• 4 years of engineering and some great friends!
• Chats and Juice feating with friends!
• Campus recruitments...
• Spending time with Mommy's gardening and cooking
• First day at Infosys... and the last day in 3 months :P
• First day at Telelogic :) Yay!
• So many things learnt and practiced at IBM... good and great colleagues 
• journey to Dharmastala, Kukke and Sringeri...
• Badminton sessions on bunking classes.
• Amazing shopping time for the wedding
• Good time spent with my DH at coffee Day and Baristas before the wedding
• All d wedding chaos - :P Cant ask for more!
• Heavy heart when I was supposed to fly to London...
• I missed Mommy so much ;( ;( Sob sob! n still I do...
• Beautiful life in London.. - new job, nice lifestyle, nice people - good things to explore...
• Sunshine!
• Lunch @ park
• visit to the temple 
• Prayers - some answered, while some in the queue.. :) 
• Hogging south Indian food at restaurants :P
• Coffee/tea after a heavy weekend brunch
• Friends and cousins get-together..
• And spending some quality time at office - writing such blogs :P :P ... I know I know, have been whiling my time off... but at the end of the day I still manage to do my bits :D :D

Life just goes on... with small things but great happiness, Love, Laughter in the air, never ending chit chats :), some tears, some mistakes - some good and some bad, some nonsense, some time pass ... All needed is some time to cherish our own lives... Life is for once, Live it fully!!! :)

Have a happy week ahead folks!

Deepawali ...

Deepawali is a festival which is designed to celebrate the suppression of the Ego by the Higher Self. Man is plunged in the darkness of ignorance and has lost the power of discrimination between the permanent and the evanescent. When the darkness of ignorance caused by Ahamkara (the ego-feeling) is dispelled by the light of Divine knowledge, the effulgence of the Divine is experienced. 

If the darkness of ignorance is to be dispelled, man needs a container, oil, wick and a matchbox corresponding to what an external lamp needs. For man, the heart is the container. The mind is the wick. Love is the oil and vairagya (sacrifice) is the matchbox. When you have these four, Atma-jyothi (the Divine flame of the Spirit) shines effulgently. When the light of the Spirit is aflame, the Light of Knowledge appears and dispels the darkness of ignorance.

The flame of a lamp has two qualities. One is to banish darkness. The other is a continuous upward movement. Even when a lamp is kept in a pit, the flame moves upwards. The sages have therefore adored the lamp of wisdom as the flame that leads men to higher states. Hence, the effulgence of light should not be treated as a trivial phenomenon. Along with lighting the external lamps, men should strive to light the lamps within them. The human estate should be governed by sacred qualities. This calls for the triple purity of body, mind, and speech--Trikarana Suddhi (purity of the three instruments).

The inner significance of Deepavali is to lead man from darkness to light. Man is perpetually plunged in darkness. Every time he is enveloped in darkness, he should light a lamp that is ever shining within him. Carry that lamp wherever you go. It will light your path wherever you may be.

Courtesy: One of my friend shared this info and I could not stop from posting it here... 

Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

Meaning:

1: Om, Lead us from Unreality (of Transitory Existence) to the Reality (of Self),
2: Lead us from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to theLight (of Spiritual Knowledge),
3: Lead us from the Fear of Death to the Knowledge of Immortality.
4: Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

BitterSweet...

Kicking out the enchanting summer, came in the Colours, for now I was thinking yet another wonderful summer came to an end...
and the depressing winter, more dark and less light days takes in the pride dominating all the sunshine :(

But then the Autumn is a complete mood lifter - which gives me the sense of some happiness to enjoy the fall - the colours, where in all the trees like maples and oaks undergo a seasonal change...they are bright and ripened and before they wither away...!
Yes, indeed, its such a delight to see the golden, pink, orange red... the subtle colours of maples and oaks...blushing and smiling and giving away the last love for the year...

Everyday I walk down the streets from home to office, I admire in awe, the beauty of these trees and their adaptability to save energy during winters when there is less sunlight... for me who loves both science and colours,
this definitely made me happy and smile with glee... And then decided to vist, "Westonbirt Arboretum" before the winds roar high until the leaves fall off and the tree stands bare in the dark...

"Westonbirt Arboretum" - ranks number 1 place in Britain to visit the Autumn colours... This National Arboretum is managed by the Forestry Commission and reading the reviews about this place on net and also seeing the pictures on Facebook, I could not really wait long to go there...
It showed about 2:30 hrs of journey from where we live, its situated in Gloucester near Bath Road... but no matter the distance, I wanted to witness the heap of colours...and the very thought of it made my heart to rejoice!

So we started on a weekend morning by 10ish, reached there by 2 in the afternoon... within sometime managed to get into the arboretum , following the map we could see hoards of colourful tree... Started gazing deeply, could see the divinity in the trees...I was seizing every moment to capture the colours, really could not stop myself from engrossing in this fantastic beauty..! Words never make justice... I say, one has to really feel it by seeing it!

One particular path called, "Circular Colours" or something was spectacular...There were so many trees all of them unique and beautiful - Acer Glade, Japanese Maples, Birches, Oaks etc...
It was just colours and colours everywhere... As if God painted them Gold, Red, Pink, Gold... :)

If colours were one side, the other side was boulevard of tall huge trees... a really mind-blowing view... all I did was to stand there and let my eyes n heart have the fun!
There were loads of fallen leaves, loved (as always) the soft walk on these fallen Autumn leaves making rustling and crunching noise and loved the way it felt like -  a bit of cushion :)

In the midway we stopped, rested on a bench-chair had our home made wraps and the amazing home made Indian chai!!! definitely added and elated our trip of Colours, a complete treat to eyes!
Managed to cover about 60% of the reserve by the end of the day, as its very huge could not really capture it completely, but this is one of the best places I have visited so far, If you like colours, the smell of woods, the sound of crunching leaves - then this is the place!

Autumn is BitterSweet indeed! :)

Hearing Sita’s Silence

A very interesting article on Yahoo News - could not stop myself from posting that here...

Draupadi screams for bloody vengeance and we valorise her. Sita bears the brunt of Ram’s rule-following and she makes no sense to us. But Sita is not a victim, she is a sage. Take her away and there is no Ramayana. 

- Devdutt Pattanaik

I once asked my sister if, given a choice, she would marry Ram or Krishna. Her reply was predictable: “Krishna, of course!”

But he would not be faithful to you, I warned her, reminding her about Radha and Satyabhama and Rukmini. 

“But I don’t want to marry a man who throws his wife out of the house because people gossip about her faithfulness,” she snapped. 

But what if he never married again, remaining resolutely faithful to her despite family pressure, I asked. Is he not the only heroic god to be given the title of ekam-patni-vrata, ‘faithful to a single wife’? This made my sister pause and think. Finally, irritated by my championing of Ram, she said, “I don’t think he is the ideal man at all.” 

Who said he is ideal, I asked. “Well, everyone,” she replied.

That got me thinking. Ram is called maryada purushottam, which means ‘he who follows the rules perfectly’. He is not merely purushottam, or ideal man. That qualification of maryada is important to distinguish him from another purushottam, leela purushottam – Krishna, he who ideally plays games, referring to Krishna’s ability to bend and even break rules with a smile.

To try and understand Ram without Krishna is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle without all the critical pieces. In fact, to understand any god or goddess in Hinduism, we need the rest of the pantheon. The idea of God, for example, cannot be explained without the Goddess. They embody not masculinity and femininity as is popularly imagined, but rather the mind and the world outside the mind – in other words, humanity and nature. Each complements the other. Every character and plot is a metaphor, and this web of metaphors creates a narrative fabric that reveals what we call today Vedic or Hindu or Indic thought.

 Most people, like my sister, prefer the rakish and charming Krishna to the stoic and distant Ram. But to me, as a mythologist, this seems odd because they are not two different people. They are both avatars of Vishnu, two forms in two different contexts behaving differently in response to two different situations. 

Ram belongs to the Treta Yuga and is the eldest son of a royal clan, obliged to uphold the rules of the kingdom. Krishna, however, belongs to Dvapara Yuga, a later, more corrupt era, and is a younger son of a clan that is cursed never to wear the crown. So we find Krishna defending kingdoms and serving as kingmaker, but in temples we rarely see him as a warrior: he is worshipped as cowherd and charioteer, lowly servant roles that, considering the caste hierarchy in India, are neither accidental nor insignificant.

If Ram stands as champion of the varna-ashrama-dharma (code of civilized conduct determined by social station and stage of life) that defines Vedic social engineering, Krishna challenges it from within, subversively, without openly confronting it (open confrontation is left to another avatar). Thus Vishnu is prescribing a system and at the same time warning one against it. This escapes the eye of those who are too busy worshipping Ram and Krishna, but it does not escape the eye of those who seek patterns in the many plots of the epics and the chronicles.

Vishnu is described as preserver of social order – the order that Brahma creates and Shiva destroys. All orders are based on human rules and values, and Shiva as hermit mocks human rules as unnatural, since he prefers nature’s way. But in nature’s way, only the fit survive, and the unfit have no hope. Social order is about the human attempt to create resources, to help the helpless and to create a world that does not favour only the strong. Hence, rules.

But rules have a dark side. And the Ramayana reveals it. Rules force Ram to go into exile so that his father, the king, can keep his word to his junior queen. This is best brought out in the line from Tulsidas’ Ram-charitra-manas where the father says, “Do not forget the great tradition of the Raghu clan, son: better to lose your life than go back on your word.” 

This tradition weighs heavily throughout the epic. Later in the forest, Lakshman draws a line around the hut where Sita resides. This line, which is mentioned in later regional retellings of the Ramayanaand not in Valmiki’s Ramayana, is a powerful metaphor for rules. Within the Lakshman-rekha, social rules apply, and Sita is the wife of Ram. Outside it, she is just a woman for the taking. Within, Sita is safe. But then comes a hermit asking for food, and the rules of hospitality demand that the guest’s wishes be fully satisfied. So should Sita worry about her own security and stay within the line, or should she do what is expected of a royal princess and feed the guest? Sita chooses the latter and pays the price for it. She is abducted. 

Later, the rules come to haunt Sita again. She may be pure of mind and body, but her reputation has been tarnished. Can she still be queen of Ayodhya? No, say the people. And so Ram abandons her. Rules that made Ram the ideal prince, the ideal king and even the ideal son, fail to make him the ideal husband. Or so we think.

The plot is even more complex. The rules demand that a king must have a wife next to him during the ritual of yagna. The people ask Ram to remarry; he refuses. He abandoned the queen, not the wife. He would rather have a golden effigy of Sita beside him than marry another woman. So he demonstrates his love for his wife, in a way, and becomes the ideal husband too, one who never looks at another woman except his wife while being true to his position as the rule-upholding king. Such fidelity for a wife is unseen in mythology.

Krishna breaks the rules. When he plays the flute, wives of other men flock to dance with him at night outside the village. And yet, this is pure. Why? Because it is all about others, and not the self. He does not seek them for his personal pleasure; he seeks to make others aware of their ability, and freedom, to have pleasure, despite the burden of rules. His focus is not tangible action that can be misunderstood, as in case of Ram, but of intangible intention.

In the Mahabharata, the kings of the land abuse the rules by upholding them more in letter than in spirit, and so not a single nobleman raises a voice in protest when a woman is being publicly disrobed – not Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, Drona, Karna, or the Pandavas. Everybody hides behind rules. This is what makes Krishna break the rules, for they fail in the primary objective of society – to help the helpless. A society that favours the mighty is no society at all. It is worse than the jungle – a warning given by Shiva in the earliest stories of the Puranas, when he attacks and opposes Brahma.

Hindu philosophy is all about outgrowing the animal within us. We can civilize the world around, but dharma is about civilizing the beast within, that predatory instinct that makes humans territorial and dominating.  Ravana displays this animal nature when he breaks rules and claims rights over another man’s wife, despite her protests. Duryodhana displays it when he upholds rules to gain access to the body of Draupadi. Ravana is a rule-breaker like Krishna, yet he is not worshipped as God, for he submits to the animal within him and is unable to show compassion for the weak and helpless Sita. Duryodhana is no Ram even though he upholds rules, because he is a pretender who upholds the law that benefits him and enables him to exploit and abuse Draupadi. These complex narrative structures
tend to be ignored, or even denied, in the pursuit of simplistic explanations about God and religion that were popular in the 19th and 20th centuries.

We valorise Draupadi as she screams for blood and demands vengeance, and not the quiet Sita who bears the brunt of Ram’s rule-following and decision-making. Draupadi makes sense to us, not Sita, for we live in a society where we want to be heard but forget that we also have to hear. So we scream our point of view and refuse to listen to anyone else, like the wounded Draupadi. (In the end she gets her justice but loses all her children.) 

Sita does not do that. We forget that she is the daughter of the sage-king Janaka, patron of the Upanishads. This relationship is not accidental: Valmiki is telling us something important. Sita is no ordinary woman. She is not just daughter, wife and mother. She is also a sage. She quietly watches the toll that cultural rules and values take on her husband. She watches how Lakshman expects his elder brother to follow what he considers to be ideal conduct. She watches how Surpanakha cannot handle rejection and crosses the line of propriety, and ends up playing the ultimate victim. She watches how Ravana turns his sister’s humiliation into an excuse to satisfy his own lust. She observes how people judge her silence as weakness, not the patient and affectionate acceptance of people’s shortcomings that stems from her confidence that they need her, while she does not really need them.

Sita hears her husband and herself and realizes Ram is Vishnu, the dependable God, while she is Lakshmi, the independent Goddess. She dutifully follows Ram when he goes to the forest, patiently waits for him in Lanka, and finally, quietly accepts her fate when he kicks her out of the palace. She has the capacity to bear the burden of all consequences. She is like the earth from which Janaka ploughed her out.

Culture, by default, is not fair. It feeds on nature, destroying ecosystems to nourish itself. Cultural delusion prevents us from recognizing this truth. No matter how hard we try, every society will have rules, and rules will create a hierarchy, and hierarchy will have its oppressor and its oppressed. To imagine a society without this hierarchy is like imagining a forest without a pecking order or a food chain.

Brahma struggles to create a perfect society but eventually succumbs to his animal side, provoking Shiva, who destroys his creation. Between the creator and destroyer stands the preserver, Vishnu, as Ram and Krishna – upholding and breaking rules, fighting wars with Ravana and Duryodhana, hoping that people realize that if they act too smart, disrespect Sita and Draupadi, fail to recognize the power of nature represented by the female characters of Hindu mythology, the demure Goddess will turn into Kali, spread out her tongue and consume the world whole.

What I liked the most were these two paragraphs below:

Ramayana is not the story of Ram. It is the story of Ram’s relationship with Sita and, through her, his relationship with the humans of Ayodhya, the monkeys of Kishkinda and the demons of Lanka. Take away Sita and there is no Ramayana. 

It is when she follows Ram into the forest that the gravity of the situation emerges. Sita reveals that actions can be provoked not just by desires or rules, but also by affection. She wants to be with Ram so that Ram is never alone. She reminds him that he is part of an ecosystem. His actions impact this ecosystem and all the events in this ecosystem impact him. Without her, he cannot demonstrate his dependability. Without her, he cannot demonstrate his sacrifice. Without her, he cannot demonstrate his love. It is she who completes him, makes him God. That is why she is the Goddess.

 

Source: Yahoo News

Image Courtesy : GRIST Media

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik 

This is a gist of his new book, 'Sita'