Breaking Stereotypes - Shikhandi And Other Tales They Don't Tell You!

There could not have been a better time to write this post than now, when feminism is gaining traction in our country and we are talking about breaking stereotypes. We are trying to rise above caste-discrimination, questioning long held beliefs that have made us exclude certain sections of society for long.

There could not have been a better time for Devdutt Pattanaik to write his new book either. I am talking about "Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don't Tell You!" which is DP's latest release, that mentions different tales from Indian Mythology that are around queerness or discovering queerness. This time DP doesn't pick a character or an epic for a retelling, but he targets an entire section of mythology that has been conveniently ignored over generations, reasons debatable.

The book begins with simple definitions of queerness, patriarchy, feminism and even mythology, that are pertinent to DP's writings. He believes in rolling the pitch every time he is about to bowl you over with his writings. While I think queerness is the epicenter of this book, the reason behind writing this book is more about breaking stereotypes of all kinds. Since there couldn't have been a better aspect to start from than queerness as it is lesser known, mostly misinterpreted, highly doubted and largely ignored, DP hits the core when he picks queerness for the same. The best of all, he doesn't just justify it as one would initially expect, he rather celebrates it and recognizes its presence over the ages. The book also mentions various examples of Greek and Biblical mythology that are either tangents to or are direct references to queerness, stories that you are less likely to be aware of unless you are a mythologist or an ardent reader of mythology. 

As always, this post is not to discuss the stories mentioned in the book and spoil the fun of reading. DP narrates them in a far better manner, maintaining the interest and realizing the sensitivity of the matter at the same time. I write his post to express why you may read, or not read this book in the first place.

Why you may not read this book:

• You haven't read any book by DP and mythology is not your thing. If that's the case, you might not feel motivated to pick "Shikhandi And .....". But honestly, understanding this book will still not be a challenge in case you pick it. But reading one or two of DP's books before reading this will help you understand where he comes from. (If you understand the author's mind even slightly, you enjoy the book heavily). I recommend Jaya, Sita or maybe even Business Sutra. And then reading this book will be icing on the cake.
• You're too wise. You've realized that it's only you who matters and no one else does. You've realized what your wisdom is THE wisdom and you don't want to learn any further. (I don't know why would you even read this post in the first place).
• You love to stay within your stereotypes. Enough said!

Why you may read this book:

• The more you have read, the more incomplete you have felt. You have realized that you know far lesser about things than you actually should. You want to explore more.
• You are an avid reader of mythology, or an ardent fan of DP, or maybe both. You can't afford not reading it.
• You have read this post and you have understood it well.

At the end, I will leave you with the beginning statement from the book something that will stir your mind, grab your attention and make you think. DP does it well all the time, sometimes in the blurb, like this, or sometimes in the introductory one-liners, like the one below, and he kicks it again with this one:

Beware of a land where celibate men decide what is good sex.

On the first reading I felt he meant it only in this context. On reading it the next time I find this can apply to every aspect of our society - education, business, politics and what not! Please feel free to leave your comments.

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.

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.