Devdutt Pattanaik's "Sita - A Retelling of the Ramayana"

The chariot stopped far from the city in the middle of the forest. Sita alighted, eager to walk amongst the trees. The charioteer, Lakshman, remained seated. Sensing he had something to say, Sita paused. Lakshman finally spoke, eyes to the ground, your husband, my elder brother, Ram, king of Ayodhya, wants you to know that the streets are full of gossip. Your reputation is in question. The rules are clear on this: a king's wife should be above all doubt. The scion of the Raghu clan therefore has ordered you to stay away from his person and his palace and his city. You are free to go wherever else you please. But you may not reveal to anyone you were once Ram's queen.

Sita watched Lakshman's nostrils flare. She felt his embarrassment and his rage. She wanted to reach out and reassure him, but she restrained herself.

You feel your Ram has abandoned his Sita, dont you? she asked gently. But he has not. He cannot.

He is God; he abandons no one.

And I am Goddess; I cannot be abandoned by anyone.

A mystified Lakshman returned to Ayodhya, while Sita smiled in the forest and unbound her hair.

It will require immense amount of resistance for someone like me who is crazy over mythology to not grab a book with such a blurb. The above text is from Devdutt Pattanaik's Sita - A Retelling of the Ramayana.

Many months before the book released, Devdutt disclosed in interviews that he was working on a retelling of the Ramayana (named Sita) which was based on the similar lines of his retelling of Mahabharata (named Jaya). I had pre-ordered the book on Flipkart (for 33% discount) two months before the release but instead bought it from Delhi airport (at M.R.P.) one day before Flipkart was going to deliver it. Waiting is such a waste of time when it comes to certain things. Isn't it?

This is the second book review on my blog. You can read the first one here. By now, you must have realized that I do not write book reviews regularly and there is hardly any professionalism involved in my writing. This is only for one reason. I do not read many books.

Also, of the few books that I read, there are fewer that I genuinely feel like discussing about. Only when a book succeeds in giving me goosebumps multiple times (or at least once), do I think of writing its review. And "Sita" is one such book.

Anyway, let's move from my story to that of Ram's Sita or Sita's Ram.

When I started reading the book, it was typically Devdutt talking, beginning with a prologue and setting a mood where one of the characters enters into a situation where he is made to narrate the entire tale. In Jaya, it was Vaisampayana and in Sita, it is none other than Hanuman.

The book begins with the story of Sita's birth in the kingdom of Janak. Tales of other characters of the epic like Shanta (Ram's sister), Parshuram and others appear at relevant points adding data and interest to the main tale. However, Sita is quite a bit different from other retellings of Ramayana because here the epicenter is not Ram but Sita.

The life of Sita has been captured in different phases - the lessons in vedas and upanishads with the sages in the court of Janaka, the forests of adjoining cities where Ram and Lakshman were trained by Vishwamitra, the discussions of Sita with her mom-in-laws and sis-in-laws after she gets married to Ram, Sita's life in forest during Ram's exile, her plight in the palace of Ravana marked by her hopes that her husband will come to her rescue, her stay in Ayodhya after she returned from exile and the exile that later came for her as a result of the rumors among the citizens.

For details, kindly read the book. This post is to tell you why you should read it.

In the first place, why I feel this book is different from any other retelling of Ramayana is that Pattanaik has certainly not written this book from a commercial point of view. By this I do not mean that it hasn't been marketed well or is not reader-friendly. It definitely is. Why I say this is that making money through this book was certainly not his objective.

If you have followed Pattanaik's books and articles before, you will realize how passionate he is about certain ideas and how strongly he believes in making the world aware of them. His ideas about beliefs (subjective reality in his words), becoming empathetic, expanding the mind and his notion of Dharma have always made me more inquisitive about the wisdom in our epics making me read and re-read them. When you read Sita, you realize that he is not just trying to generate cash by retelling an epic in his narrative style; he is actually trying to bring forth his ideas and wisdom through the medium of this epic. The conversations between the different characters in the epic are so well crafted and insightful that while they narrate the story of the epic, they also provoke you to think like never before. After almost every paragraph you will be motivated to pause and think, then think a little more and then introspect heavily on your own life, behavior and personality.

And Devdutt does not do it in the conventional manner by focusing the tale on Ram, rather his epicenter is Sita. Indian audience, who has for long seen the devoted Sita as a victim of patriarchy will be amazed to see how she was the Goddess in her own right, a confident and self-dependent woman who even when abandoned by her husband and his subjects led her life with self-respect. One realizes that on abandoning Sita, Ram faces a more difficult time in the palace than Sita faces in the forest.

Note: I challenge you to read the chapter on Sita's second exile where just before leaving for the forest she explains the palace staff on how to take care of her Ram when she's gone. If you have a blood-pumping organ in your body, you'll be overwhelmed and not getting lachrymal would just be impossible.

Sita is worth a serious read and is one such book that uncovers more and more layers on consecutive readings. Devdutt has done something on the lines of what he has done before, yet he has done it so differently that except for the publisher and the text fonts and size, everything else is unique about this book.

A Rockstar named Jordan!

Memories are bad. They are not just bad bad, but actually BAD bad. They occupy your mind, your time-table, your entire thought process. They don't let you do what you want to. They don't let you be who you want to. They drag you to your past irrespective of your present. They torment the calm waters of your mind whenever they drop into it.

One such memory that constantly torments my mind is of a rockstar named Jordan, and his inconsequential love story. At the onset of winters, the weather comes with a suspicious smell in the air. While it brings the month of festivities in many parts of India, it surely brings nostalgia in many minds, especially mine. But for the last two years, it has been very intense. It has been ever since the release of the movie Rockstar. To make matters worse, there is usually a visit to Delhi planned for me near this time of the year that floods my mind with the names of Delhi metro stations and the male/female voices warning us against "dandaneeya apraadhs" every 10 seconds. All this has something to do with the movie Rockstar and my memory of it. It was mostly in these metro trains, near this time of the year, near the release of this movie, when I used to play the Rockstar playlist and listen to it repeatedly. The 'icing on the cake' is that most part of the movie Rockstar is itself shot in Delhi and the metro voice recorded system almost appears to be teasing me with names like Pitampura. (Remember Aditi Rao playing a reporter and yelling - Pitampura ka ye wahi makaan hai jahan se Jordan ko dhakke maar kar nikaal diya gaya tha!)

The songs playlist that I had in my phone, showed the most played to least played Rockstar songs in this order:

• Phir se ud chala
• Saadda Haq
• Aur Ho
• Hawaa Hawaa
• Sheher Mein
• Tum Ho
• Kun Faaya Kun
• Nadaan Parinde
• Tum Ko
• Katiya Karun (i do not even remember the complete lyrics of this song!)

And hence the entire situation - with Rockstar reminding me of Delhi metro and Delhi metro reminding me of Rockstar.

However...

...this post is not to discuss how my memory relates the transportation system of Delhi to an Imtiaz Ali production; it is to mourn on the sad love-story of Jordan and the death of Heer Kaul, now that the second anniversary of the movie is on 11th November.

Janardhan Jakhar (Ranbir Kapoor), who was a whimsical youth of the Delhi University, dreamed of becoming a rockstar, whose music would sway the world beneath his fans' feet. He believed that it could be achieved only by wearing clothes with startling level of color mismatch and yelling "O ya ya ya' in the college campus. He believed that only this could make him a rockstar - the one who could boldly show the middle finger to the audience when they were there to cheer him up. He was, of course, wrong. He did not know that to become a rockstar what is required the most is immense pain (I don't say this. This guy does). A pain that sucks so much from you that there is nothing left in you but the remains of a rockstar.

And it was his confidant, Khatana, who told him that. He made him realize that dude, you are on the wrong path! If you really want to become a rockstar, there is no need to practice or stylize yourself, just suffer some pain and you will be one. But what kind of pain - Janardhan wondered! He had a near perfect life, with both parents alive, no loans, no HIV, no other disease, no police case - nothing! The only thing that was close to discomfort in his life was his lascivious elder sister-in-law. Where could he invite pain from? What could he do to become a rockstar? He wondered.

Came the time when there was a college fest in which Vijay Mallya's favourite Heer Kaul (Narghis Fakhri) was supposed to dance (which genre of dance it was I don't know, and I don't even want to!). Janardhan and his friends went to watch the dance, for all the wrong reasons. Janardhan ended up overhearing two of his mates' conversation, one of whom considered Heer to be a perfect heart-breaking machine, since she was the hottest girl in the campus and already betrothed to someone. (I don't think he actually had the second reason in mind. Pervert. No?)

Our Janardhan was now with a plan - propose to the perfect heart-breaking machine, get refused, suffer pain, and become a rockstar.

If at all it was that easy!

And so he went to Heer and bluntly told her that he loved her. Heer, who saw him for the first time, was flabbergasted at this random display of childish emotions in a public arena. She simply told him to bugger off, which he thought was a reference to a burger and a reason for him to feast over samosas and fight over pudina chutneys. But Khatana bhaiya made him realize that it was not what he meant. That's not how Janardhan could become a rockstar.

Now that he had been stupid enough to confess his non-existential love to Heer, he felt awkward every time he crossed paths with her in the college campus. Heer felt that she had been quite rude to the person who was otherwise good at heart and tried to be nice to him. She had a strange way of doing it though - she revealed to him that she wasn't as 'neat and clean' as Janardhan supposed her to be and that she had a hidden desire to do all the things that are considered taboo for the 'neat and clean' girls of today - which by the way included only drinking alcohol and watching movies like Junglee Jawani in the notorious cinema halls of old Delhi. Please note: sleeping out with guys was not a taboo for her which means either it 'actually' wasn't or that she just simply forgot to mention it. Combined with that, the non-Indian roots of Heer (read Narghis now) didn't allow her to pronounce Janardhan so she renamed him Jordan.

Jordan became Heer's companion in all her fantasies, eventually beginning to like her. But it was too late for anything. She was about to get married in Kashmir and later get settled in Prague,  and Jordan realized that probably there wouldn't be a future for the both of them beyond that. He hugged her off, she got married and he came back to his hometown Delhi to begin his life afresh and concentrate on his music career once again.

He did not realize that a crack had appeared in his heart already and it was going to get bigger with time. He was on his journey to become a rockstar now.

When he returned, his family showed resentment on his sudden disappearance on getting to know that he had been away in Kashmir they threw him out of the house. (Did it even make sense? I don't know.) But the otherwise happy life of Jordan now had painful moments and at the same time a few of his songs hit off well making him a hit among the masses. He figured out that there was a chance for him to go to Prague if he could sign a contract with his producer and in the hope of meeting Heer once more, he signed it. (Who wouldn't?)

He landed in Prague and on meeting Heer, who was now the part of an elite family, he discovered that she had not been keeping well. But it's a Bollywood movie, and the female leads often recuperate faster on seeing the protagonist. Just that, she became too well that the wellness landed her into infidelity.

One night, when Jordan tried to break into Heer's mansion, the security alarm system activated and the entire story got revealed. Jordan was made to return to India after much embarrassment while Heer was sent back to her parents after her husband figured out that she considered someone else as the 'rockstar' of her life. (Only if you know what I mean)

In India, Jordan was approached by Heer's sister who told her that Heer is suffering from a disease which stopped the production of blood cells in her body. Our self-obsessed Jordan thought it was because she was away from him.

Disowned by the family, maligned in the eyes of public and with his lover suffering from a life-threatening disease was good enough pain to bring him closer to rockstar status.

He became one, and the media was so interested in his personal life (I know there is nothing new about that) that they dug heavily into who was the new woman around Jordan. In one of such events, an irritated Jordan ended up relieving his irritation in form of an intimate moment with Heer. What he didn't realize was that his rockstar status had much more to see.

Just before one of the most important shows of his life, he got the news that Heer was pregnant and since she was already suffering from a fatal disease, she landed in comma. Her death was close and so was Jordan's stardom, for he was about to feel the worst pain in life. Coming out of the hospital he lost cool at a reporter who asked too personal questions from him. He was tamed by the policemen and taken away from the eyes of public. While leaving, he got to do what he always wanted to. (See the picture to the right. A picture is worth 1000 words.)

He knew he was a rockstar now.

While Jordan sang the climax of his song on stage, Heer breathed her last. While his stardom reached newer heights, his heart broke into unlimited pieces. Jordan finally became a rockstar. He realized that the acceptance by millions could not make for rejection by family. He realized that the stardom he got was futile if there was no one to share it with. He realized that an HIV could not harm as much as a heart break. The stardom was there but Heer was gone. She was there but in thoughts. And in the picture below.

Mahabharat on Star Plus

Sincere thanks to Star Plus for understanding my limitations and fulfilling my dream. Had Star Plus been a woman, I would have married her.  The new Mahabharat is going to start from 16th September and along with many other things, this can resurrect my relation with the idiot box. Reason: Idiot box won't be idiot anymore.

Around a year back or so, while watching Devon ke Dev Mahadev, I had hoped to see a new Mahabharat, with nicer special effects and Saurabh Jain as Krishna, as it had been years since B.R. Chopra's legendary production and the charisma of Nitish's smile. Invariably, both the wishes have been fulfilled! Of course, comparisons will be made, and challenges will be monumental for the newer Mahabharat as well as its actors. Sanjay Khan and Ekta Kapoor have tried in their own ways to play with this epic but the epic played with them instead. But I hope this one breaks through as the biggest T.V. hit of this decade. Special effects look larger than life; and the creative consultant is none other than Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik. Let's keep fingers crossed for the aptness of casting and script. With so much going around in our country, a Mahabharat was required anyway! So men, women, kids, devas, asuras, yakshas, gandharvas, rakshasas and all those who are reading this, please tune in to Star Plus on 16th September at 8:30 p.m.

It's time for my late-night archery practice. So leaving with a few promos of the new Mahabharat.

P.S.: Star Plus did not pay me for this post.

Ramayan: Ultimate Lesson in Positive Attitude

While I write this, I have a fractured foot and a tired mind. Conventionally considered negative. It is in such negative times when the need for the positive is more. This time I try to seek it not from an end of the battery but from the epic Ramayan. (I know it was a bad one to start a post with. I'm sorry.)

Remember the tale of Ramayan - the one narrated by Valmiki, Tulsidas and also Ramanand Sagar? It is the tale of a king who is probably the most widely worshiped form of God in India. Ram. Ekvachani Ram (the person who always keeps his word) , Eka-bani Ram (the archer who always strikes his target with the first arrow) and Eka-patnivrata Ram (the husband solely dedicated to a single wife); the son of Dashrath, husband of Sita, brother of Bharat and Lakshman, the lord of Hanuman, the slayer of Ravana, the seventh avatar of Vishnu and Ram knows what else!

This post is not intended to praise him. Many others do that much better than I do. The post is just to bring out one incident of Ram's life that I feel is a classic example of Positive Attitude. The incident happened just before Ram left for a 14-year exile with his wife, Sita and his brother, Lakshman.

Note: I have no intentions of becoming a threat to Robin Sharma through this post.

The scene goes like this:

Ram's step-mother Kaikeyi received 2 promises from Ram's father when she had successfully averted a lethal attack on her husband in a war. Years later, on the eve of Ram's coronation, Kaikeyi used the 2 promises when she got insecure of her son Bharat's future. She believed that after inheriting the throne Ram would wipe out his younger brothers to secure his right to the throne. The conditions for Dashrath to fulfill were:

• Ram would renounce the right to the throne and give it to Kaikeyi's son Bharata
• Ram would lead his life in the forest as a hermit for 14 years. 

While the first promise was to ensure a safe future for Bharata, the second promise was in expectation that keeping Ram away from the subject's eyes would reduce the probability of any resistance coming from the masses.

The conditions came as a shock for Dashrath who alternated his son Ram's name with his breaths. To renounce the throne when Ram was the eldest and the most deserving of all and on top of that living the hardships of a forest-life - how could a father order his beloved son so? But he had to keep the legacy of the clan too - Raghukul reeti sada chali aayi, praan jaye par bachan na jaayi (The legacy of Raghu Clan has always been upheld; one can sacrifice his life but never take back his word).

Dashrath's dilemma made him sick and he was sulking within the boundaries of his room when his son Ram entered and asked what the matter was. Even on continuous persistence, he was unable to reveal what was killing him inside. Then Ram requested Kaikeyi to tell him what his father was unable to tell and he promised that he would do whatever it took to mend the situation. She finally told Ram the entire deal.

Dashrath who was so grief-struck that he couldn't utter a word broke into tears. Kaikeyi, who disclosed the conditions to Ram with a heart of stone wondered what would follow. What would Ram do? Would Ram rise against his father and step-mother for throne? Would Ram turn the entire nation that worships him against his parents? What? What would he say now?

Ram smiled and said, "Is it? Is it only this much? I thought that some serious calamity had downed upon us that both of you were being so serious. Bharata's inheriting the throne of Ayodhya would be the happiest event for me to witness. The sense of Dharma and jurisdiction of my younger brother is unparalleled and I am sure he will be the greatest ruler in the history of Ayodhya. And as far as the second condition is concerned, I guess some good karma of my past life have taken effect that I am going to get 14 more years of my life to live in forest with the saints and sages and learn more about vedas and the world. Your love for me has given me such great happiness mother that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I shall follow the two conditions with no delay." Kaikeyi was stunned! She could never imagine that Ram would let go off the power of the throne and pleasures of the palaces so easily.

Imagine for once! The eldest son of the king, favourite of the people, most powerful of all warriors and clearly most capable prince, is suddenly deprived of everything he has on the eve of his coronation. Not only that, he has to spend 14 years after this not in the palace but in the forest as a hermit. And he accepts it whole-heartedly! Even in the most difficult hardships that his step-mother lays for him, he finds happiness and the opportunity to grow and become even better. Isn't it quite contrary to what we do in today's world when the smallest of things go wrong around us? We feel cheated, indignant and victimized in spite of being aware of our limitations and mistakes, and always hunt for someone who can be blamed.

Can we too try to think of our difficulties in Ram's way? Can we too see the poverty of our nation as an area of tremendous growth, improvement and opportunities? Can we too see the rising number of crimes as the indicators of a dire need to educate the masses more effectively? Can we too see the time of getting ill and bed-ridden as the opportunity to read more books? Can we too see the release of Chennai Express as a time when we need to seriously rethink about the quality of Bollywood movies?

Too heavy a post. Right? I feel that too. But a point worth considering. Isn't it? So let's start seeing the things around us in a positive light, the way Ram did, and figure out whether it makes us feel better or not. I hope it will. If it does, please leave a comment below. Not that you can not send a mail to me personally or call me to tell how you transformed your life and that of others but I am looking forward to increasing the comments on my blog too. The post mentions Lord Ram. I cannot lie.

 Leaving you with a picture of the classic optimist.

Yudhisthir - I do because I must.

Warning: This is a long post.

The other day, a friend of mine told me how her mother responded when she discussed with her that Mahabharata ends with Yudhishthir achieving Swarga. (It was a surprise for my friend too unless I revealed it to her). The response of her mother was typical - What for? Gambling away his wife and kingdom?

This response that came as a question crossed my ears, stirred my mind and made me seek answers, recalling all that Yudhishthir did throughout his life; from attempting to balance the brotherhood of Kauravs and Pandavs during childhood to transforming the forest of Khandavaprastha to the heavenly city of Indraprastha, from controlling the reigns of an almost devastated Hastinapur to finally climbing the Himalayas leaving everything behind. After reading the epic and leaning about its characters, we usually come to the common conclusion that Yudhishthir was a mighty, truthful, righteous, kind king who gambled away his wife. Sure enough, it's a pity that Alanis Morissette forgot to include our Dharmaraj in "Ironic".

Yudhishir is that character of Mahabharata whose complexity lies in the utter simplicity and predictability of his conduct. Even the thought that somebody could be so compliant with his dharma that not a word left his mouth without righteous self-brainstorming seems fantastically impractical. Yet, that is what we know Yudhishthir for. The one who lived his life in adherence to the rule-books of the society, always saying and doing what the learned preached (except when he gambled away his wife). His brothers who, at times, disagreed with him, also followed him religiously in every step of his life. Collectively, the five Pandavs were considered to be the upholders of Dharma in the Dwapar Yug.

Then what went wrong? Why did he suffer so much throughout his life when he was trying to live his life the ideal way setting examples in righteousness for future generations? And why even after all this righteousness we still recall him as the king who gambled away his wife?

Throughout the epic, Yudhishthir has been referred to as an epitome of Dharma since he was born to Kunti by Dharma deva. His behaviour was expected to be a man of rectitude in all situations, whatever the cost maybe. At various points, when different characters are in dilemmas, he comes into the frame, quotes some scriptures and gets away after convincing people to do the right thing. That's a different thing what they did and what they didn't!

Some situations where the wisdom of Yudhishthir was noticed by all:

1. At the school of the Pandavas and the palace of Hastinapur, Yudhishthir was always the young boy who was more mature than any of his brothers (and at times his elders too). His being the eldest grandson of Vichitraveerya had almost enrooted in the minds of Bheeshma, Kripa and Vidhur that he should be the rightful heir.
2. When Dhritarashtra was faced with the dilemma of choosing his heir and was suggested by Vidhur to take the decision based on the prince's capabilities and not his parents, he proved his mettle by the sagacious decision-making that was approved by all the wise in the court.
3. Only the rat escapes the forest fire - The riddle by Vidhur to warn Pandavas about the house of lac was solved only by Yudhishthir and only after this the Pandavas could save themselves and their mother.
4. When Kunti ordered Arjun to share what he had won with his five brothers, the entire family went into the dharma-sankat of sharing the wife or obeying the mother. It was at this point when Yudhishthir quoted from the scriptures stories of the past where women had married multiple brothers in a family while upholding the traditions of the society. This ensured that the word of the mother was not broken and that Draupadi's chastity would not be questioned even if she married five brothers.
5. When Dhritarashtra offered him the barren half of Hastinapur (Khandavaprastha), he accepted it with free will, much to the chagrin of his younger brothers, but for the peace of the family at large. Even though he deserved the full kingdom, he did not yearn for anything more than what was offered.
6. After reuniting the small kingdoms of the Indian mainland, Yudhishthir's rajsuya yagya was conducted that established him as an independent monarch (or emperor, whichever word suits you more). 
7. After the gambling episode, while in exile the four younger Pandavas and their wife were infuriated and craving for revenge, it was only Yudhishthir who realized that the calamity had fallen upon them due to his own love for gambling and that he will not go for a massively destructing war just in order to avenge their humiliation. When the younger Pandavas suggested that after thirteen days they were technically allowed to go back to their kingdom according to the scriptures, Yudhishthir affirmed that he would not interpret the scriptures to his convenience. He would keep his word that he accepted at the time of gambling, howsoever long the suffering may be.
8. During the exile, when the gandharavas captured Duryodhan, Yudhishthir sent Bheema and Arjun to rescue him, keeping all the humiliation aside and considering Duryodhan to be their brother, whose protection he felt was the duty of the Pandavas.
9. When the four over-confident Pandavas did not answer Yaksha's questions and died as a result, only Yudhishthir displayed complete patience and wisdom by answering his questions. When asked to resurrect one of his brothers, he chose Nakul and not the powerful Arjun, in order to be fair to Nakul's mother, Madri. Yaksha (Dharma in disguise), finally resurrected the four Pandavas. The family was thus saved once again only for the wisdom of Yudhishthir.
10. After the exile, Yudhishthir came to terms that if Duryodhan kept his word and returned Indraprastha, no blood would flow. He would not wage a war only to avenge his humiliation. He kept the welfare of the family and people above the throne any day. It was only after Duryodhan's dogmatism left no option, that he went for the battle in Kurukshetra.
11. To the last day of the war, Yudhishthir was considerate towards the Kauravs and continued to propose that if Duryodhan kept his word even at the last moment, he would stop the war.
12. Yudhishthir followed the part of righterousness throughout his life which took him to the top of the Himalayas to the door of Swarga before he was confronted by the devas.

In spite of this, we do remember him as the king who gambled away his wife. After knowing the characteristics of Yudhishthir so well, let's consider the gambling episode again.

An ever-obedient son of the family is invited to a game of gamble by his elders, which by the Kshatriya code of that time could not be reverted by any king. Doesn't require much thinking as to what he had to do. During the game of gamble, the first rule was broken by Duryodhan to let Shakuni roll the dice, which should have been rolled by him. Yudhishthir had tried to oppose but on seeing the will of the elders did not leave the game in between to save the blind king from disgrace. What followed was a series of stakes in which he continued to lose everything from his personal possessions to his kingdom to his brothers and then himself. Throughout this game, though his personal fondness for gambling was there, he was also obliged to continue the game as there was no order from the blind king to stop it. It was disgraceful for a player to withdraw from the game on his own will while he was losing. And he could not have won under any circumstances as Shakuni's dice was loaded. Was Yudhishthir left with options?

After losing himself in the stake, Yudhishthir followed what his master Duryodhan ordered him to - stake Draupadi. And he did it. And we know what followed. Don't we?

This clearly indicates what happened was totally against Yudhishthir's will but he didn't raise voice as the code of conduct did not allow him to do so, being the Dharmaraaj that he was. Where did the fault actually lie then? Was it in his stick adherence to the code or in the code of conduct itself? Even when all the rules of the conduct were being followed, Draupadi was not saved from humiliation? So does the blame for this entirely fall on only this king who gambled away his wife? Is no one responsible for what happened after that? Was Yudhishthir the creator of the code or only an obsessed follower? Gurcharan das quoted, "Life is a dice game, with rules known to be deceptive; where the least experienced least adequate player is nevertheless pushed to the point of staking everything he has, with the certainty of losing." I somehow believe that it was absolutely true in Yudhishthir's case.

Throughout the epic, Yudhishthir had been trying to follow the path of the idealistic Ram by sticking to code. But while Ram had brothers who were willing to serve him whole-heartedly, Yudhishthir was faced with a set of cousins who had done everything in their capacity to harm him. Where Ram's actions reflect a strict adherence to the code that generates from the deep love in his heart, Yudhishthir's strict adherence is a result of his belief - I do because I must. He clinged to the correctness of the acts, not the consequences. He never let the suffering of his heart reflect in his actions.

However, after the thirteen-year exile, Yudhishthir transformed to a great extent. He realized that the line of total non-violence had been crossed and if the need be, weapons had to be wielded. The point of this would, still, not be his personal interests but the establishment of Dharma, by ensuring that a prince like Duryodhan who never kept his word never becomes the king.

Yudhishthir, who gambled away his life, did transform. What we want to remember him for is our choice.

The Great Indian Epic - Blog

Dear Readers (this refers to the empathetic few who take out time and suffer the pain to read me)

As you must have realized, I haven't posted on this blog much in the past few days. Some of you have been thinking that I have found the love of my life and I am busy spending time with her; some of you thought that I was ill and some of you even thought that I was busy with work. (blah!)

With deep concern towards your feelings and curiosity, I wish to inform you that nothing of that sort happened. I had just shifted my online time to something little different from blogging. That is blogging. After this blog on blogspot, I have also started a new blog on wordpress. It won't surprise you, if you know me even a little, that this blog is entirely dedicated to The Great Indian Epic - Mahabharata and the tales associated with it. The purpose is to gather the wider tales and dimensions of this Epic in a single place that is free for all to access. For more details, please visit the blog here.

This doesn't mean that I will not post any articles here. I will continue to post my random thoughts and useless ideas on this blog, hoping to waste your idle time as much as I can. Even the analysis and observations from the mythology would be continued here. The NEW blog is only a compilation of the stories and tales and its articles will be linked to the posts here off and on. But it will also be complete in its own way if you totally want to follow only that blog.

You can follow it by entering your e-mail address and receive the posts directly into your inbox. Share the link shamelessly with your friends and foes and last but not the least, comment wherever you find appropriate. To save your fingers the excessive strain of scrolling back, I share the link to The Great Indian Epic blog once more.

Happy Reading!
Kushal

MBA Revisited - The BCG Matrix of Kauravs and Pandavs

I have spent 2 precious years of my otherwise random life in a B-school. If I assume that I will live for 70 years in total, these 2 years form a good 2.857% of my lifetime. Then how is this 2.857% different from the remaining twenty-three “2 years” of my life? Well, they are. And in a great way. 

Passing out of a B-school has many advantages. We get an additional qualification, an enormous set of friends and people assume we know a lot. And we, at the same time, never feel like falsifying them. In fact, we go two steps ahead and bolster their belief by saying terms like “paradigm shift” and “brand equity”, and at times, both together in a sentence. Have you seen mere mortals talk like that? I am sure, not.

An MBA degree also means something more. It means that we have the right to say anything, state anything. All we have to do in order to get noticed is to write a research paper based on it, and if fortunate enough, develop our own (management) tools. These tools mater a lot – apart from fetching good scores, these validate our existence in the cruel professional jungle where there is the survival of the nerd(est).

Note: You might call me one by the end of the article.

The History of Management Science has seen many such tools, and one of the most predominantly discussed tools is the BCG Matrix devised by the Boston Consulting Group. It is based on the product life-cycle theory (…and here I am) and helps to determine what priorities should be given to the product portfolio of a business unit for sustained success.

I wonder, had Management Science existed back in Dwapar Yug, would Duryodhan have been able to use it to his advantage? Agreed, he never listened to anything sensible but this is no Bheeshm or Drona talking, this is Boston Consulting Group. But BCG did not exist then and neither did the BCG Matrix. Still, I wondered that if we could formulate the BCG Matrix for the respective Kaurav and Pandav armies, would there be some interesting revelation?

BCG Matrix, as I discussed above, helps to determine the priorities that should be given to the product portfolio of a business unit for a sustained success and it is based on the product-life cycle theory. I will give a very brief introduction here. For more on BCG matrix, please visit this link. 

Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories of portfolio for a company:

BCG Matrix

1. Stars (High Growth and High Market Share): Stars are business units that have a large market share in a fast growing industry. They may generate huge cash but since investments are huge too, the net cash flow is not quite boastful.
2. Cash Cows (Low Growth and High Market Share): Cash Cows generate good amount of cash (surprisingly, no milk) due to high market share but since the market is mature, the investment required should be less.
3. Question Marks (High Growth and Low Market Share): These are the SBUs with a high rate of market growth but somehow low market share. These require heavy investments to convert into stars or else they get converted into dogs.
4. Dogs (Low Growth and Low Market Share): In short, good for nothing. The earlier you get rid of them, the better it is for you.

One can say, Cash Cows are the most desirable as they give great returns with minimal investments (though they might not last very long). Then come the Stars that bring good returns and promise a positive future but require huge investments. The Question Marks need to be worked upon else one invests heavily and receives nothing in return. Dogs need to be get ridden of. 

From this you can conclude that Stars and Question Marks (High Growth) require high investments. They are similar to our warriors who required huge investments in terms of emotions or resources to sustain them on their respective sides. High Market Share is an advantage of that SBU, similar to the Martial Prowess of the warriors. 

Hence, the Kaurav / Pandav BCG Matrix can have the following dimensions:

X Axis: Martial Power

Y Axis: Resource or Emotion Investment

Of course, the Kaurav and Pandav armies were not on the path of manufacturing and marketing technically. If anything, it was a path of sheer destruction. But the battlefield of Kurukshetra is in many ways like the modern-day corporate battlefields called markets, where weapons represent products and great warriors represent Strategic Business Units (SBUs). Sounds like heavy stuff? Well then this is the power of a B-school.

Kaurav Army

The major warriors from Kaurav side were (in descending order of prowess):

• Bheeshm: Bheeshm would surely be classified as a cash cow. This has nothing to do with his white clothes, white chariot-flag or even the white beard. This is serious stuff. He is one character of the epic that I respect the most. So no jokes. He is a cash cow because he is the only warrior who was a reliable impeccable commander, was martially invincible and would die only when he would want. So much came with almost no emotional or resourceful investment from Duryodhan’s side. Certainly, a Cash Cow. Sure, he pledged not to harm the Pandavs but the harm he did to their army was no petty stuff. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Drona: He was a Brahmin by birth hence fond of cows but perhaps not fond of becoming one. Was almost equally invincible like Bheeshm but there were huge investments in keeping the teacher into the kingdom. He threatened to leave the Kauravs a couple of times but to the efforts of the elderly. In fact, Duryodhan did not relish the pleasure of Indraprashta during the Pandav exile as it was administered by Dronacharya. Duryodhan and his brothers had to continually boost his ego and keep his son Ashwatthama pleased thereby calling for huge investments. If properly channelized, he could prove to be a disaster to the Pandavs (and he did). Drona is a Star. (High Martial Power – High Investment).
• Kripacharya: He too was a Brahman, maybe had his share of fee for teaching and was supremely powerful. Not much has been said about capriciousness of his mind, but considering he had grown up in Hastinapur and had been with Kauravs throughout, there was lesser chance he would have left them. Cash Cow. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Ashwatthama: Almost as talented as the father, and as evil as Amrish Puri and Gulshan Grover combined, Ashwatthama needed to be pleased constantly by Duryodhan to sustain in the Kaurav camp. Also, his change of mind would affect Drona’s involvement too, Duryodhan left no stone unturned in keeping Ashwatthama to his side. Star. (High Martial Power – High Investment).
• Karna: Keeping Karna on the Kaurav side required one-time investment of Anga and continuous investment of emotions. Castigated by the Kuru elite and faculty heads constantly, the son of the Sun kept on striving constantly to make a mark for himself. Pacifying him required huge emotional investment from Duryodhan. (In fact, Karna's presence in the Kaurav camp displeased many from the older lot - Bheeshma, Kripa and Drona as they saw him as an ambitious son of a mere charioteer.) And all this investment was in expectation of a return, his loyalty and his archery skills. Karna was loyal towards Duryodhan but his weapons were not. Hence, it was false loyalty. Moreover, the burden of curse-couple almost confirmed his failure in advance. He did tackle Ghatotkach, but did nothing as compared to what was expected of him. Karna would be a Question Mark. (Low Martial Power – High Investment).
• Duryodhan: In his own army, Duryodhan was one hell of an interesting element. In past he had showered away huge riches of the Kurus to impress his subjects. Though he was a pro at mace-wielding, it was not of much use on the battlefield as compared to how Bheema used it. Though he yearned for the war the most, he contributed to it the least. Question Mark. (Low Martial Power – High Investment).
• Dushasan: There would be no reason why one would even think keeping Dushasan was an effort. The skills he brought to the battlefield went as unnoticed as went the Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer Umrao Jaan. Dushasan classifies as a Dog. (Did you have a doubt, anyway?). (Low Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Shalya: The extra-ordinary hospitality infrastructure deployed to keep this warrior-charioteer on the Kaurav side required huge investments. And for what? For the martial powers required to kill Uttar and charioteer skills to assist Karna, and we know how ‘well’ he did that. Shalya was a disaster deal. Question Mark. (Low Martial Power - High Investment).
• Jaydrath: This licentious brother-in-law of the Kauravs proved to be of some worth. All thanks to the boons that enabled him to cause Abhimanyu’s death. But certainly, he was nothing in comparison to the Kuru elderly. Investment was certainly huge. Didn’t you read he was the brother-in-law and that too of a licentious kind? Question Mark. (Low Martial Power – High Investment)

Bheeshm	Cash Cow
Drona	Star
Kripacharya	Cash Cow
Ashwatthama	Star
Karna	Question Mark
Duryodhan	Question Mark
Dushasan	Dog
Shalya	Question Mark
Jaydrath	Question Mark

The Kaurav BCG Matrix

Note: Just like you, I too was upset when Jaydrath did not qualify as a Dog.

Pandav Army

The major warriors from Pandav side were (in descending order of prowess):

• Arjun: This is perhaps the name that was the most used in those eighteen days, before and after. In terms of martial prowess, Arjun was the master-key for the Pandavs, a catastrophic nightmare for the Kauravs. Never losing his target, loaded with potent weapons and the fury to destroy all that came his way, graced by Hanuman on the chariot-flag and Krishna as the charioteer, Arjun’s martial power almost approached to infinity. And since the war was his, there was no investment question in picture. Arjun was a Cash Cow. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Bheem: He was to mace, what Arjun was to bow. He was to Kauravs, what CIA is to terrorists. The 1000 elephant-powered Bheem was the Hulk of the Pandav avengers. He killed the 100 sons of Gandhari in the war single-handed and smashed thousands of soldiers and other warriors to death with a blow of his mace. This indignant Pandav was the most desperate to fight and avenge. I guess, investments in his case were tremendous as he probably ate away half the food of his army himself but he was to be the support till the end. Bheem was a Star. (High Martial Power - High Investment).
• Yudhishthir: His martial skills were never extra-ordinary, except for the spear, and so he was not so much of a worry for the Kauravs. In fact, special efforts were put in to safeguard him on the battlefield for he was the king of the Pandav side. But he was the string that held every warrior on the Pandav side together which makes him the most important of all other warriors. Yudhishtir was a Cow too. Oh, I mean Cash Cow (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Abhimanyu: This little 16-year old child who could not complete his Chakravyuh syllabus (exit portion) before entering into the war was otherwise almost equally matched in his archery skills to his father. He fought with complete will and played a crucial role in causing so much terror among the Kauravs that they were compelled to hack him 7-on-1. Abhimanyu too was a Cash Cow. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Nakul / Sahadev (of course they can’t be enlisted separately): Except for Sahadev killing Shakuni, the twin sons of the Ashwini twins had no special achievements mentioned in their post-war resume. But that they survived by the end of the war does mean something. Does it not? Maybe they had some invisible factor that makes them a Cash Cow too. (High Martial 'whatever' Power – Low Investment).
• Ghatotkach: If he was anything, one will say he was an unexpected bonus. He participated in the war on his own will, killed millions when alive, made Karan sacrifice his Indra-shakti and again killed millions while dying. He is the largest Cash Cow BCG matrix would ever witness. I doubt if he will even fit in the matrix! (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Drupad: Though Mr. Panchala were fighting to avenge his insult, his daughter's insult and for umpteen other reasons best known to him, he did not leave any noticeable impact in the war. But his Panchala army was a great strength for the Pandav side which in total makes him a Cash Cow. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Drishtadyumna: As compared to 4 commander-in-chiefs of Kauravs, Pandavs had only one. And it was this gentleman who was born out of fire to kill the Kaurav super-star. Not only was he sufficiently capable as a warrior he was also an astute general. He too participated in this quest for avenge with exhausting will. Cash Cow again. (High Martial Power – Low Investment).
• Krishna: And here comes the one who pledged not to use his martial prowess at all but whose involvement affected the course of the war from beginning to the end. The charioteer of Arjun enlightened him at the beginning of the war goading him to action, devised the way to defeat Bhishm, tackle Dronacharya, discover and kill Jayadrath, slay Karna and shatter Duryodhan. On many occasions, he intervened and saved Pandavs and their army with his divine protection. This charioteer and consultant of Arjun, is certainly a Cash Cow. (High Martial Power – Low Investment). 

Krishna is worshiped as a cowherd and classified as a Cash Cow in the BCG Matrix. Is BCG Matrix a divine invention or what?

Arjun	Cash Cow
Bheem	Star
Yudhishthir	Cash Cow
Abhimanyu	Cash Cow
Nakul / Sahadev	Cash Cow
Ghatotkach	Cash Cow
Dhrupad	Cash Cow
Drishtadyumna	Cash Cow
Krishna	Cash Cow

The Pandav BCG Matrix

Interesting Revelations:

• The Kaurav Warrior Portfolio is highly scattered over the BCG Matrix with very few reliable Cash Cows. On the contrary, the Pandav Warrior Portfolio has a dense Cash Cow quarter. Warriors on the Pandav side were clearly more aligned towards the organizational vision / mission / goal / objective ...... whatever!!
• The Question Marks need to be identified and transformed into Stars to ensure high growth and high returns later. The Kaurav Warrior Portfolio had four Question Marks that did not get transformed into Stars, let alone the Cash Cows. Huge investment with low return is of course a failed proposition for any business. Pandavs made no such mistake.
• Kauravs did nothing to get rid of the Dog in their portfolio. In fact, a Star had to jump out from another matrix to wipe it out. 

And we all know what the result of this war was. One might wonder, what if BCG had existed before the war, would the results have been any different?!

Disclaimer: In case you are a B-School student, please do not take inspiration from this blog for filling your answer-sheets. You might fail miserably, very much like the Kauravs.