The Moral Dilemma of Lord Rama

Shardiye Navratri are upon us again this year. A nine day fest of fasting, dancing, melas and poojas at the end of which is Vijaydashmi or Dusshera, the day when effigies of Ravana are burnt to ashes throughout a major part of North India.

Navratri is celebrated by Hindus across the world as nine nights of worship of Shakti or Devi. These Navratri are also relevant to Ramayan because Lord Ram and his army worshipped Goddess Durga for nine days and then attacked Lanka on the tenth day, in a battle to win his wife, Sita back who had been taken hostage by Ravana.

Ravana kidnapped Sita as revenge against Lord Rama and Laxman who had not only cut off his sister Srupnakha's nose but also killed two of his brothers Khara and Dushana.

Everyone who knows Hindu mythology knows what happened next. Rama and Laxman went on a lookout for Sita and made allies along the way and finally brought her back home by defeating Ravana in a battle at Lanka.

Now this is the point that I've always had great trouble digesting. What happened after Sita came back home, the trio successfully completed its 14-year long exile, got back to their kingdom and restored Lord Rama's position as the king of Ayodhya.

Once Sita approached Rama, he refused to accept him as he doubted the purity of her mind, soul and body after living an year in the palace of Ravana. To prove her innocence, Sita jumped into fire out of which she arose unharmed. The world now knew Sita was spotless and belonged thoroughly not to anyone else but Ram. Why did he do it? It was to prove to the world that Sita was pure.

No matter what she'd have done or where she'd have gone, she would always have been the topic of gossip among everyone. People would have muttered in closed quarters of her scandalous (albeit non-existent) affair with Ravan. Rama wanted the world to know of her innocence. It was especially important since she was a king's wife. And not just any king but the mighty king of Suryavansham clan.

Ramayan is as old as 4th century BCE. Even today, family name is above all. Many villages in Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Punjab etc. go as far as to kill their family members who seem to have breached the family honor (doesn't mean it is right though). Imagine how strong this honor would have been, so many centuries before us.

We have learnt to respect our elders, obey our parents and uphold our family name and reputation in society. Even the most rebellious of child draws the line somewhere.

Now let us come back to Lord Rama. Whenever we talk about righteousness, duty and selflessness, Lord Rama's example flashes red beacons. He was the righteous king, an ideal for every ruler/leader. And whenever his name comes up, I am the first one to criticize him for his treatment of his wife.

In fact, only recently had I been debating Rama's goodness over Ravana's projected evil. Who was really good and who had been a bad person? I have also been known to say things like I would rather have Ravana as my husband, who cared more about his family than his kingdom.

But today, as I had been watching a Ramayan enactment at a famous Ramlila mela, I had something of an epiphany. I started drawing lines between us and Them. Us common people and them, the mighty rulers, the heavily worshipped gods.

Bound by family honor and duty towards its people, which king/ruler/leader would have done anything different to what those people did?

Everyone is a puppet at the hands of fate. Everyone plays their part in the bigger scheme of events. Instead of questioning Why they did what they did, this time I questioned What they could have done differently. Was there a way out?

• Kaikai had been as happy as Kaushalya when she came to know of Lord Rama's succession to the throne of Ayodhya. It was only when her jealousy was aroused by Manthara that she asked Dasharatha to fulfill his 2 remaining boons which he had earlier promised to her. Who among us wouldn't do that for ous sons and daughters? Don't we all want our children to be at the top? Won't we, by hook or by crook make it possible if the opportunity persists? I do wish she hadn't listened to a maid though. But I think we only do what we want to do, deep inside, facilitated by external factors.

• Dasharatha, a Suryavamshi king, the first ruler dynasty of humans according to Hindu mythology, was bound by his promise to Kaikai. Not only had he given to boons to Kaikai but he had also taken an oath upon his beloved son Rama to fulfill whatever his wife wishes to ask of him. A man of his word and a king of a tradition most aptly known by the saying, "Raghukul reeti sada chali aayi, praan jaye par wachan na jaye." What choices did he have? To destroy his clan's good name? Look at it this way, if tomorrow we find of Akhilesh Yadav had been caught in a scandal, would we not expect Mulayam Singh Yadav to take strict actions against him? If the father protects his son, would we ever trust his leadership? Would we vote for his party ever again? What choice would Mulayam have- to uphold the trust he has built or loose his goodwill at the cost of his son? How could Dasharatha have broken his promise?

• Now let's come to his son Rama. He was the rightful owner of the throne. He had sky-high expectations to live up to. He was the son of a king who lost his life but did not take his words back. His kingdom had waited 14 years for him to return. How could he have let all of this go in vain? Due to public outcry and demand, he had no other option but to banish his wife from their kingdom after she had lived a couple of years with him in the palace. Parents are the first teachers of children. They set an ideal. They teach kids how life is to be led. A doctor's child aims to become a doctor, they say. Rama's father grieved to death for his son but never called him back till the end. Ram had to follow in his footsteps and he did, despite his love for Sita.

Could there have been a different ending to Ramayan? Perhaps. But these were mere humans, at least I believe so. These were great rulers, incredible warriors and humans with the purest of hearts. So pure that people started worshipping them as Gods.

Was it really their fault they made mistakes? Don't we all? So why the double standard? Why do we judge them so harshly? Is it because we're jealous of their popularity? Isn't it human nature to criticize anything that is superior to us? Maybe we feel that these people weren't so great. Maybe we just like to diss religion. Whatever the reason, we must Always try to step into another person's shoes and walk a mile before questioning their virtue.

Rama really was great. I don't think I could ever be as good a child to my parents as he was to his or as strong a leader as he was to his pack. Rama is Lord Rama for a valid reason. The stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. are for people to learn from others' mistakes and we should pay them more attention before jumping to conclusions.

One Crazy Night with my Best Friend

My best friend and I have had some really epic crazy days in our life. Days new age directors would love to make a movie out of.

However, of all the supremely crazy antics my best friend and I have thrown, this one takes the cake; for the total 'unbelievable' factor that it entails.

On December 25th 2010, my best friend, Sonakshi, along with my family and I made a trip to Jim Corbett National Park. The hotel that we reside there at is an eco-friendly hotel built at the border of the jungle where you can go for nature walks and other such adventure activities.

Being photography enthusiasts, after everyone fell asleep that night, we decided to shoot star-trails. Basically, long exposure night sky shot which results in long trails of the stars. It was out first attempt and we were more or less unprepared for what was to follow.

Around 1 o clock at night, the temperature suddenly dropped really low. It was about -2 degrees Celsius according to my cellphone. We were wearing single jackets since we hadn't contemplated this temperature drop which is normal for winter nights, nor were we aware that we'd have to spend at least an hour on a single image before seeing our results.

Since we didn't have an automatic trigger to stretch exposure time, we taped 2 pebbles on top of our click button to hold it down for exposure time.

It was jet black since the eco-friendly hotel believed in keeping things the way nature intended it. All of a sudden we hear strange gurgling noises. We freak out and jump up on our plastic chairs. What could it be?? We were too afraid to find out in case it was a ghost (bestie's suggestion). At this point, I was on the verge of fainting since I am not made for cold weathers and was miles beyond my comfort zone.
Suddenly we hear a loud cracking sound and Sonakshi made a low yelp swearing under her breath. We didn't know what to do and where to go and we were too afraid to move from our position. From behind us we hear whispers of a man, "what is happening here?" BY God ki Kasam we screamed better than what you hear in those B-grade horror movies. Sonakshi jumped out of the chair and began to run in the dark and when the dark figure caught her by the jacket and made her to halt.

The dark figure now lights up the torch and tells us hurriedly, "I am a watchman here. You girls are in grave danger, don't move a step!" We didn't know whether to sigh in relief or cry in horror. My best friend broke into a nervous laughter and was immediately shushed by the watchman.

He then points his torch on the ground about 8-10 feet away from us and we finally understand what he meant. There's a pack of about a dozen wild boars who've apparently broken the barricade built for wild animals surround the hotel perimeter. So That's where the gurgling sounds were coming from.
The watchman told us these wild boars are so ferocious, even the tigers stay away from them. They can kill a person like it's no one's business. All we want now is to crawl back into our bed and cry hoarse to sleep. MUMMMAAAAYYYYY!!! Where have we got stuck now???

The watchman tells us to keep sitting in our chair in the pitch dark so the boars can't spot us while he'll scare them away with a fire torch which he then went back to his office to fetch. All this while we chant Hanuman Chalisa, or the first 4 lines of it, which is all that we recalled.

We wanted adventure, and there it was, right in front of us, waiting to kill us merrily. Thankfully the watchman was agile and came back quickly with a fire torch. He then ran behind the boars, shooing them out of the hotel premises and banging his lathi heavily on the ground. This proved to be effective and within minutes all the boars had disappeared.

We took this as our cue to pack up & go back to our hotel room. Half way across the lawn where we had been sitting, we hear the banging noise return. We now make a quick run to our hotel but lo and behold! the entire pack of wild boars is running right towards us at the speed of a rolling banshee. We're done now, we think to ourselves. Crying and praying to Lord Almighty to save our ass desperately. Luckily for us, the pack leaders find a better route to run away from the watchman and pass us by by about 3 feet. PHEEEWWWWWW!!! We've been saved!!

We finally run to our hotel room quickly, open our rooms with shivering hands, jump into the bed, say quick grace to God and went to bed without further ado.

That day remains etched in my memory as one of the craziest life experiences I've had in my life. With bestie or otherwise. Oh, and it's decided now, come what may, wildlife photography is Not a career choice for us anymore. :P