Finding Nemo

When Parikshit was bitten by Takshak, his son Janamejaya started a yagna to burn all the snakes in the fire. All the snakes rose in horror and cried foul over this mindless massacre. At this time, Astika – newphew of the serpent king Vasuki, told the story of Indraprastha to Janamejaya. Many years ago, the Pandavas approached the king of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra for their share of the kingdom. The kauravas very shrewdly gave a forest – Khandavprastha to the Pandavas to build their own city. Under Krishna's suggestion, the Pandavas burned the forest in order to clear ground for Indraprastha. Arjuna build a barge of arrows all around the forest and all pandavas killed any living creature – Yaksha, human, demon, bird or animal that tried to escape the burning forest. The forest incidentally was home to the families of serpents. Living under the earth, they escaped the burns but were forced to flee to save themselves from the heat and the manhunt. On this cleared ground, the Pandavas ...

At a time when there is no dearth of historical or mythological serials on the television, Star Plus went on to produce yet another version of Mahabharata. And they made it big – making it India's most expensive TV series – spent close to 100 crore as per statistics disclosed in September 2013. The producer of the show commented that it took him nearly 20 days to shoot the most iconic scene – "Draupadi's cheerharan" due to the grandeur that needed to be created. Since both, my wife and I grew up watching BR Chopra's – then state-of-the-art, now lackluster – retelling of Mahabharata, often find the current TV series appalling for various reasons. The topmost being the time spent in bringing out the emotions during the 'most iconinc scene rather event'. Definitely this is the turning point in the history which started the avalanche brining the entire India to a halt. This event is also a reminder of shame. While we kept discussing the efficacy of the epic an...

Time and again I have questioned the purpose of the happenings around us or even my own actions. Many a times, I have been able to find a suitable answer and sometimes I have suited myself to the answer that came to me and moved on. My teachers in college and school always complained that I lost my focus quite easily ad went too deep looking for meanings when others kept moving higher. Probably, I never grew as fast as them because of my questioning why. But ask yourself the importance of the question "Why?" The importance of the purpose in everything we do is critical. The purpose is what defines the path taken in the journey. A very famous quote of all times is that life is but a journey and we all need to travel it tirelessly till the last breath. Sure we do. But how? What path do we take, what companions we shall have, what company we shall keep, what shall we see and what we will choose to avoid – all of this depends upon what we want to experience during the journey....

We were celebrating our daughter's birthday over the weekend. She chose to enjoy the day with her friends in the water park. While playing in the water park, I accidently pulled the lever on one of the taps and a jet of cold water soaked me and my mind almost immediately. My very lovely daughters offered a facial for me to help revitalize my facial tissues later that day. The water and the facial left me thinking of something that had always amused me and troubled me at the same time. Years ago, when I was a little kid, I visited Sri Shravanabelagola – a small city in Karnataka, close to both Mysore and Bangalore. The city is a famous pilgrimage center in Jainism for the statue of Gomateswara Bahubali. Every twelve years, the giant statue is bathed in water, milk, sugarcane juice, saffron paste and is sprinkled with powders of vermillion, sandalwood and turmeric. Later, I visited Jatipura – one of the many villages around Mathura – a place associated with the advent of SriNath Ji a...

Now that monsoon has entered India and is all set to advance further, I thought it apt to share my twisted ode to rains. Please note that this in no sense a subliming of their importance. Hope you shall get the message as you go through the words - मुझे  बारिशों से प्रेम है यह प्रेम  सन्देश लाती हैं। तन -मन का मैल धोती हैं दुःख दूर कर सुख लाती हैं। धरा के ह्रदय ज्वाला शांत करती हैं धरतीपुत्रों को जीवन दान देती हैं। सर्वत्र हरियाली का सन्देश देती हैं  और प्रेमी इन मेघदूतों को देख प्रसन्न हो उठते हैं। एक रोज बारिश आई थी निर्मम निरंतर बारिश। सर्वत्र अँधेरा, सर्वत्र नीर देखने से लगता मानो यहीं है क्षीर। सब कुछ बहा ले गयी वह बारिश पेड़, पौधे, ढोर, डंगर सब।  उन्हें भी जो बारिश का स्वागत  करते थे, नाच गा कर मन में उमंग भरते थे। यह बारिश सब बहा ले गयी, तुम्हें भी।  अब मुझे बारिशों से घृणा है। इसका काम सिर्फ बहाना है। इसमें भीगने का जो रस है , वह मात्र एक छलावा है। इसके चले जाने पर हाथ कुछ नहीं आता है, कपड़ों के साथ मन भी निचुड़ जा...

The Upanishads are a collection of Vedic texts, also known as Vedanta and are considered to contain the revealed truths about the ultimate reality – brahman and the character and the form of human salvation – moksha. While more than 200 Upanishads are known, the first dozen are considered to be the oldest and the most important, thus referred to as principal or mukhya Upanishads. Ever guessed when and how were they formed? So the story dates back to Sri Rama's father Dasharatha. Dasharatha had a daughter – Shanta – elder to Sri Rama. When the kingdom of Anga faced severe draught the king Rompada approached Dashratha and offered to adopt Shanta and marry her off to Sage Rishyashringa. This was to break Rishyashringa's celibacy and his father Vibhandaka's urge to control nature. Vibhandaka had realized the cycle of life and how the new life was created through the seed. He realized that no living beings had control over shedding their seed except humans. He understood that th...

During the twelve years of exile, the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi roamed around different forests and came in contact with many sages. The sages helped them by telling stories of their ancestors and of importance that had far reaching impact on their thoughts. In a way, the sages were helping the Pandavas grow as leaders. In their early years, with all the education and fun, the Pandavas had grown to be good warriors, administrators and providers. The exile years are considered as the bridge between the princes to the common man that gave birth to great rulers. However, the sages were not the only ones to have taught the Pandavas. In the period of exile, Arjuna once met a forest dweller Kirata, who challenged Arjuna to show his skill and claim the prize. Despite using all his skills, Arjuna could not come close to Kirata. Finally, Arjuna realized that he was no ordinary human being and prays the Kirata to reveal his true being. Upon surrendering himself, Arjuna then realizes the K...