Another God In The Making?
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general reading only. It’s not based on any personal feud. People who find this irrational and disrespecting, are not advised to read along. I am not responsible for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from any inspirational or eye-opening remark.
Remember the following story?
There was a prince of Ayodhya, who won the hand of a beautiful princess, but due to plotting of his step-mother, the prince was exiled, and his wife kidnapped by a ten-headed demon. A vulture tries to fight and protect, the elusive search & rescue by the exiled prince begins, aided by monkeys. A flying monkey burns the whole golden city of Lanka, an army of monkeys gathered, a bridge of floating stones to Sri Lanka and a fight full of stories, one as impossible as bringing a hill from the Himalayas down to Lanka for the sake of finding a medicinal herb in the middle of a battle at a time when no ships or jets existed! Well, I forgot they had a Hanuman then!
How dramatic those days used to be! Today it’s much more boring. We don’t have arrows that blast at the recital of a verse. We don’t have monkeys whose tail is so long as the Great Wall of China.
Now what is a story that does not have exaggeration? Would it be so interesting if they would just say that Rama and Ravana fought for 14 days or a month and Rama won!? But the author or maybe his translator(s) made it such a wonderful story to listen to. A boring story would not attract crowds, but an interesting one surely would. Humans have always been fascinated by fantasy. So that’s how a story displaying male chauvinism with a human being as the hero, translate into one of the most famous mythological tales of our country, with the hero now being considered as a God.
In any case, none of you would probably believe me so let’s straight jump to the topic. I was keeping mum about this earlier but today, as I brushed through a quote, I thought it’s high time I should pen down something about this.
Freedom of Speech, as they say, is only a thing of the books now. Few days before, for putting up an honest and by no means hurting Facebook status, a girl was arrested in Mumbai. A clinic has been ransacked, reportedly by a 2,000-strong mob, for no reason other than that it belonged to an uncle of a girl. Well, I guess the Police these days seem to be more eager on arresting people based on Facebook statuses. Rapes, Murders, Robbery, Riots, Vandalism and other crimes have all ended, then!
And who is forgetting our great media? “Such idiots who do not respect a great man like Bala Saheb and make joke on his death should be treated the same..” said the news.
Personally, of whatever I know of him, I like his intelligence and charisma. He did what he thought was right, and his voice had the power to fuel the actions of an entire army. But does that mean he was a good human being? I still won’t step on the answer. Look up HERE and decide for yourself.
Here’s this quote that flared my thoughts.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
- Martin Niemoller
Now, should we raise our voice? Or should we keep mum?
In any case, he is deemed to be a God now. Say, after a few centuries, when people describe Bala Saheb, how much drama would’ve been infused into that story! Our great great great.. great grand children would be reading, “2 lakh people gather for the last rites of the great leader who shaped this gigantic metropolitan as a father does to his child..”
There would be framed photos of Bala Saheb everywhere in local Maharashtra and there would be numerous temples of him. His stories of heroism and spirited living would make up great evenings in the temples and gatherings alike. The rate at which we Indians believe in stories, this is going to be a blockbuster then.
Or not? Do Indians deserve better? Only if they change!
Remember the following story?
There was a prince of Ayodhya, who won the hand of a beautiful princess, but due to plotting of his step-mother, the prince was exiled, and his wife kidnapped by a ten-headed demon. A vulture tries to fight and protect, the elusive search & rescue by the exiled prince begins, aided by monkeys. A flying monkey burns the whole golden city of Lanka, an army of monkeys gathered, a bridge of floating stones to Sri Lanka and a fight full of stories, one as impossible as bringing a hill from the Himalayas down to Lanka for the sake of finding a medicinal herb in the middle of a battle at a time when no ships or jets existed! Well, I forgot they had a Hanuman then!
How dramatic those days used to be! Today it’s much more boring. We don’t have arrows that blast at the recital of a verse. We don’t have monkeys whose tail is so long as the Great Wall of China.
Now what is a story that does not have exaggeration? Would it be so interesting if they would just say that Rama and Ravana fought for 14 days or a month and Rama won!? But the author or maybe his translator(s) made it such a wonderful story to listen to. A boring story would not attract crowds, but an interesting one surely would. Humans have always been fascinated by fantasy. So that’s how a story displaying male chauvinism with a human being as the hero, translate into one of the most famous mythological tales of our country, with the hero now being considered as a God.
In any case, none of you would probably believe me so let’s straight jump to the topic. I was keeping mum about this earlier but today, as I brushed through a quote, I thought it’s high time I should pen down something about this.
Freedom of Speech, as they say, is only a thing of the books now. Few days before, for putting up an honest and by no means hurting Facebook status, a girl was arrested in Mumbai. A clinic has been ransacked, reportedly by a 2,000-strong mob, for no reason other than that it belonged to an uncle of a girl. Well, I guess the Police these days seem to be more eager on arresting people based on Facebook statuses. Rapes, Murders, Robbery, Riots, Vandalism and other crimes have all ended, then!
And who is forgetting our great media? “Such idiots who do not respect a great man like Bala Saheb and make joke on his death should be treated the same..” said the news.
Personally, of whatever I know of him, I like his intelligence and charisma. He did what he thought was right, and his voice had the power to fuel the actions of an entire army. But does that mean he was a good human being? I still won’t step on the answer. Look up HERE and decide for yourself.
Here’s this quote that flared my thoughts.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
- Martin Niemoller
Now, should we raise our voice? Or should we keep mum?
In any case, he is deemed to be a God now. Say, after a few centuries, when people describe Bala Saheb, how much drama would’ve been infused into that story! Our great great great.. great grand children would be reading, “2 lakh people gather for the last rites of the great leader who shaped this gigantic metropolitan as a father does to his child..”
There would be framed photos of Bala Saheb everywhere in local Maharashtra and there would be numerous temples of him. His stories of heroism and spirited living would make up great evenings in the temples and gatherings alike. The rate at which we Indians believe in stories, this is going to be a blockbuster then.
Or not? Do Indians deserve better? Only if they change!
i totally agree with you...thought provoking post
ReplyDeleteLoved it. Great. We need writers like you.
ReplyDeletethanks Anjan and Matheikal for encouragement.. :)
ReplyDeletesorry buddy for being late on catching up this post... well you are right about the freedom of speech part..remember what happens in india is everything happens here acording 2 laws for every crime...(only in IPC sections and clauses)what is sad is rarely do the criminals get punished.... We portray India globally as incredible india(pun intended)India is indeed incredible!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell put, exactly along my lines of thought. I had this debate many times in life when people raise fingers on Ramayana and Mahabharata. And I always give the same answer, poetry is never analyzed word by word. Exaggeration is a necessary element of a poetry. Gandhijee has almost become a God, Gautam Buddha is already a God and for sure Balasaheb would be a God few centuries hence.
ReplyDeleteComing to the freedom of speech, it's a debatable issue in India. The problem with us that we misuse our rights and don't understand that rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. Not that I support what happened with those girls, but I am showing an overall picture. Say for example, today itself there are people who say Pakistan Government is not to be blamed for Kashmir attack (in the name of Freedom of Speech) and why forget our media? They rant unnecessarily and when they are asked to be responsible, they talk of freedom of speech.