The Legend of Sanjay

This post is about Sanjay. Not Sanjay Dutt. Not Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Not Sanjay Manjrekar either. This post is about (the) Sanjay of Mahabharat, the charioteer/advisor/servant/commentator of Dhritarashtra. In history, Sanjays have never received their due credit. They can expect to get credit only in fiction, like Sanjay Lal Sharma cycled his way to glory for Model High School and finally received his share of credit. But real-life Sanjays? Never! Sanjay of Mahabharat is also one of those unfortunate real-life Sanjays.

Our Sanjay has never been as ‘elaborately’ discussed as the other characters for a variety of reasons:

1. He was not a Kaurav, Pandav, Yadav or Kuru.
2. He was not even a deva, asura, yaksha, rakshas, gandharva or naga. He was a simple human being.
3. When he was born, there was no storm, no rain and no prophecy. His is a rare example in the epic of a completely normal birth.

My interest in writing about him, however, is fueled by the following:

1. He is the first live commentator world has ever seen. He narrated the happenings of multiple matches on one vast ground at once without any help of rolling cameras, repeat telecasts and score-board. He is much older than Geoffrey Boycott, much more effective than Ravi Shastri and much more metaphorical than Navjot Singh Sidhu.
2. He was lucky (/worthy) enough to get the opportunity of seeing the cosmic form of Krishna.
3. Even not being a Kshatriya by birth, he followed their ideals in a better way than any of them did.

He is one person who came into the (photo) frame of Kuru family when Dhritarasthra’s charioteer Adirath applied for an adoption leave to bring up a child he found in the river, swaddled in supreme garments and bedecked with celestial armour and earrings. Once his leave was approved it was required to replace him with someone equally skilled. Bheeshma, Kripacharya and Vidhur conducted a recruitment process and after a round of interviews found Sanjay worthy enough for the post. He had displayed astute understanding of his duties and responsibilities; he also very well realized the grave importance of his decision-making as the king’s charioteer.

Soon enough, Sanjay became the confidant of the blind king, knowing more than anybody what was going on in his mind. He took the king for occasional outings, political meetings and social gatherings driving his chariots effortlessly on the muddy pathways of Hastinapur and adjoining areas. Every time the king would face a dilemma, Sanjay would help him introspect with valid examples from scriptures, nature and philosophy; never forcing the king for a decision but enabling him to take one at his own will. In this context, he was a lot different from the trio of formal uber-qualified advisors.

When it came to the art of balancing, Sanjay had no close competitors. The nearest would be Jeetendra, who quite well managed to balance multiple wives for over a decade during 80s; but even he would fall a mile short of our hero. Sanjay balanced the interests of his king and the kingdom well. (Hastinapur, as we all know, had for long been unfortunate, having kings whose personal interests polar opposites of her interests!).

• When Dhritarashtra shooed away Vidhur following his bitter truths and suggestions (that were in Dhritarashtra’s own interest but he was ‘blind’ to see through), Sanjay was assigned the task to assuage Vidhur and bring him back to the king.
• During the peace negotiations when the king had to send the most critical message to Pandavs, again, Sanjay was the most favoured choice. The king, and everybody else, believed that only Sanjay could articulate to the Pandavs in the politest manner the ruthless message of not giving back Indraprastha.
• When the war finally dawned, Sanjay agreed to view it on behalf of the king and accepted the post of the commentator for what would be the longest match in the history of test-cricket, the one on a much larger ground, with much deadlier stakes, much higher spirits and much brutal examples of rule-breaking (including ball tampering, with due respect to the Sun god). Sanjay continued the commentary till the end, without taking sides, telling nothing but the Truth. Maybe, it was this dedication of his towards his duty that God found him worthy of witnessing His conversation with Arjun and His cosmic form.

After the war, when years later Dhritarashtra retired to the forest with Gandhari, Vidhur and Kunti, Sanjay accompanied his king and served him till he too finally died in that forest fire that engulfed the senior Kurus. Though Dhritarashtra was nothing like Ram, Sanjay’s dedication towards his master was no less than Hanuman’s.

Sanjay is not just another character, but a lesson for every human being (including a lesson in commentary for the likes of Arun Lal) – Sanjay is a lesson in dedication towards duty, a lesson in the ability to communicate truth, howsoever bitter, with polite effectiveness. He is a lesson in balancing organization goals and departmental goals, interests of the kingdom and that of the king. He is a lesson in doing the right thing and sticking to it even in a world where everything else is going wrong.

Identify your Karma: A Peek into The Shiva Trilogy

Around 2.5 years back when I saw the book 'The Immortals of Meluha' for the first time in a book store in Delhi I didn't have the slightest idea that I would ever find it worth my time. From the first glance of the cover, it appeared like a science fiction whose protagonist was, probably, Bob Marley (showing his back) and talked about some superficial kingdom of Meluha. Later, when I got occasional reviews about the book from its readers, I still didn't bother to read it considering my lack of interest in fiction.

Thanks to the Shiva-based books of Devdutt Pattanaik and the Life-OK super-hit Devon Ke Dev Mahadev that my devotion in Shiva was deepened far more so as to grab fictional novels this time, the much talked-about books of The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.

My belief in the saying, 'Never judge a book by its cover' strengthened after reading this trilogy and I curse my prejudice towards the book-cover that kept me away from it for so long. The series has been declared a super-hit (or best-seller, whatever one would like to call it), Karan Johar has already announced a movie on the trilogy and the believers of Shiva are growing exponentially all over, and so is their devotion in him. Today, as I write this blog, the trilogy has already touched a sales figure of Rs. 17 crore and any attempt to predict future figures is as good as predicting the rise in number of mobile phones in the hands of Average (above and below average included too) Indians.

The trilogy is a delicate blend of mythology, historical facts and fiction and its protagonist is Shiva - not Shiva The GOD who is traditionally worshiped all over India, but Shiva - a barbarian from Tibet who by the virtue of his karma rises to achieve GOD-like status. Amish's trilogy is rooted in the belief that the deities we worship are not mythical gods but actually ordinary people with extra-ordinary achievements and untainted karma.

In short, the story is about a tribal named Shiva from Tibet who migrates to the (almost) Utopian kingdom of Meluha as a refugee to save his tribe from the constant conflicts with neighbouring enemies. A series of events ends up making the people of Meluha and the entire Indian Mainland believe that he is Lord Neelkanth (literal meaning - one with a blue throat); one who will be their saviour from the Evil, as their popular legend stated. The humble Shiva, though embarrassed by the apotheosizing, out of empathy takes it as his duty to help the people and save them from their misery. The trilogy is essentially about Shiva’s journey of figuring out the root cause of people’s plight and fighting for it, during which there are astounding revelations, enlightening lessons and unimaginable sacrifices and an ultimate realization of his true Karma.

One can say:

Karmayog hi Dharma hai, Dharmayog hi Karma.

The most interesting feature of this trilogy is the author’s attempt to provide scientific justifications for all the events that were traditionally considered magical (...and are presently considered mythical). Readers, with hair-splitting instincts fail to make much sense of mythology, focusing more on facts and less on lessons. Then they come up with strange questions – how could a little boy have an elephant head (like Ganesh) or how could a women give birth to a hundred children (like Gandhari). But this trilogy attempts to answer many of such mythical facts with scientific justifications, if not for the mainstream Indian Mythological stories, then at least for the sections that are limited to the trilogy.

Amish’s penchant for mythology is clearly visible in every plot and his narration is gripping enough to make you miss a couple of meals while you are engrossed in reading the book. The philosophical conversations between Shiva and his friends, the Vasudevs, can be read again and again and again, opening doors for enlightenment through repeated introspection. The war-strategy scenes and hematic action plots run at a pace slow enough to understand the intricacies, yet fast enough to keep your mind racing.

The author left his 14-year long career in Finance to devote his time to praying and writing about Lord Shiva. Just like the Shiva in the trilogy, he too has finally figured out his true karma. You and I still might need to figure it out. The trilogy can probably help us know, HOW.

The Universe bows to Lord Shiva. I bow to Lord Shiva.

The Principle

It was 2 a.m. and she could still not sleep. She rolled in her bed, restless and perspiring. A fraction of her mind was worried about her three-year old child, another fraction irritated of her husband’s constant snoring. She had some water directly from the bottle beside her, each sip filling her with momentary bliss. In a few minutes, she was back into her bed of thoughts, less thirsty but equally restless.

She could not ignore this. She had known him for four years now. She was always affectionate towards him and had been there in his time of need. But yet, he was the one who had kept her awake for two nights now by doing something that she could not forgive, she could never forget.

In her eight years of teaching experience in St. Laurn’s School, she came across hundreds of new pretty, funny and handsome faces. Teacher-colleagues, office-staff, students and their parents; all had become an integral part of her life. A meticulous English teacher with a penchant for writing, she had always loved her job that gave her enough time to share her knowledge and simultaneously write for her heart’s content. Her life had seesawed between the professional setup and personal duty and she had balanced it well all along. Never had she imagined that something by someone could shatter that peaceful balance in an instant, and more, that ‘someone’ would be a student.

That spring, exams had just got over and school was off for students. Every day, she came to school; checked a pile of papers and returned. On some days, she even carried papers to her home and upon checking them, brought them back the next day. The excessive work coupled with monotony had started getting on her nerves and she yearned for a break.

Hardly did she know that a break had been waiting for her already!

It happened when she was going through the answer sheet of one of the students of ninth grade that her insomniac buds were triggered. The student had been a regular entry in her good books for his discipline. In a class of forty ardent students this boy had made a place for himself, just like he had made one in her mind. But she knew it would never be the same again. “Why did it have to be like this?” she wondered.

Did he do it willingly? How could a student as good as him resort to that level? Was he even aware how deep a shock it was for his teacher to see that? - The questions bothered her every moment. “What should I do?”she thought, striving every second to find an answer.

Enough! She could not let it haunt her anymore. She was after all a teacher who had always delivered professionally. What she expected from her students was respect, commitment and seriousness. Not this! She decided not to let it go easily this time. She would not let her affection for students cloud her judgment ever.

With a strong heart, she picked her red pen and drew a big circle around the first page of the answer sheet.

Somewhere inside the circle, there was a letter that started like this:

Dear Principle

St. Laurn's School

_________________

______________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

_________

________

An Epic Race: Race 2

I am surprised. I am awed. I am impressed. I consider myself blessed; blessed to be born in the era of mind blowing epic-writers time has ever seen. There was sage Valmiki in Treta Yug and sage Ved Vyas in Dwapar Yug. My yug i.e. Kali Yug has the sage duo – the men in white: Abbas-Mustan.

Every artist has this one work of art that he is always remembered for. Whatever maybe the extent of his competitors’ imagination and effort, his work stands class apart lighting the path of unlimited wisdom for the generations to follow. They have done it. Yes! The sage duo has done it. They have done it finally in their second attempt. They have done it through Race 2.

For those unlucky few who have never cared to bother about the sage-duo; Abbas-Mustan made the super-hit movie how-to-win-by-losing (Baazigar), how-to-woo-your-ex-bf-cum-present-employee for ladies a.k.a Aitraaz, how-to-fool-your-audience a.k.a. Naqaab and many more. Over the years they have made everything deemed impossible possible through their imagination. Flying cars and lying confidants, ravishing female CEOs and pre-imagination of lies by the supposed victims, nothing has escaped their imagination. In fact, they have even dared to show Saif Ali Khan as the protagonist of action-thrillers. Twice.

Race 2 is not like any ordinary action movie with a story that revolves around superb planners dying to mint money with cunning. Of course, it has all this but in a way never seen before which makes it nothing but a magnum opus. Have you ever spoken a lie to somebody keeping in mind what if he/she figures out the truth? Have you thought of possible excuses you will make to that ‘somebody’ if you get caught? Have you worked out strategies to back yourself up on every possible consequence of that somebody’s reaction? And if there are any people involved in this lie, have you made each one leak-proof (to the truth, of course)? Do you know each person’s weaknesses to their exact degrees to manipulate them later? And by the way, have you ever thought of lying to ‘somebody’ first and then yourself arranged for truth to be told to that ‘somebody’ which is nothing but a part of your grand ulterior strategy? If your answer to any of these is “No” then the duo - Abbas Mustan deserve your kowtow!

The movie talks about rapacious billionaires, babes, inspectors and blondes strategizing and exploiting secrets, desires and lusts of other billionaires, babes, inspectors and blondes in order to make more money, property, women and priceless possessions of religious significance. (You found the sentence complex? Well, watch the movie!!) Saif first cheats John’s business partner to help John win his casinos and thus earning John’s trust lays down a plan to destroy him. Anil Kapoor and his dumbly-desperate / desperately-dumb secretary Amisha Patel help Saif in this plan. John, who is a billionaire but idiot enough to miss watching Race (original), of course does not know that only Saif wins in all Race movies and that Anil sides with Nawaab in the end. He, with the backing of his step—sister, Deepika, his heartthrob, Jacqueline and his 'trusted' friend Anil, is confident to double-cross him. What he is unaware of is that Deepika has still not been able to overcome her Cocktail feelings for the Nawaab and will ultimately prove fatal in this plan, not unlike Anil. The movie is essentially about the events that follow in which GDPs of random countries within the European Union keep fluctuating.

This is what Aditya Pancholi looks like.

The movie has some surprising elements: twists, human-touch-sensor playing cards, parachute enabled cars and underworld dons who look like Aditya Pancholi. This man is the ultimate winner of Race 2. After risking some 15 billion Euros and a series of events he gets everything back with some interest. Huge interest, one should say. If you are a man and have watched the movie you will understand what it is. This climax is what makes Race 2 an epic. How?

Imagine, after the game of dice in the Mahabharata, Draupadi realizes that her husband is bankrupt and so leaves him to accompany Duryodhan; with a broad accomplished smile on her face. It doesn’t happen in the Mahabharata. It happens in Race 2.

Share it amongst yourselves!

“Share it amongst yourselves!” – A mother orders her five sons; with least realization, that this order would change the course of history of an entire nation. Along with history, this would also change the perception and mindset of people (especially men) towards women over generations and for centuries to come. This order, which came from a woman, made a princess a single wife of five warrior brothers. The mother, obviously, is Kunti, the Rakhi Gulzar of Mahabharata, and the five brothers are her five sons (post her marriage to the Kuru King – Pandu). The woman being commoditized by this order is the dark yet radiant beauty, Draupadi, the daughter of the King of Panchal, Dhrupad.

It so happened, that King Dhrupad had organized a swayamvar for his daughter Draupadi and had invited warriors from all over the country to participate (priests were allowed too, though nobody expected them to win in front of the famed warriors of the nation). In this contest, the one who would pierce the eye of the model of a fish rotating on the ceiling by looking into its reflection in the water below would win the Draupadi as his wife. Every man in the arena desired, yet only few could lift the bow, even few could string it but only one could actually hit the target. This “one” was none other than the famed archer, Arjun, the third son of Kunti and the favourite student of Drona. During this period, the Pandav princes were wandering through forests, disguised as priests. They sustained on alms that they gathered during the day.

The epic Mahabharata, which is 99.75% full of serious episodes and heart wrenching descriptions, has very less scope for humour. But poor Pandavs, of course being unaware of that, playfully told their mother that they were back with the day’s alms, alluding at Draupadi. Our dear Rakhi, almost in a reflex, ordered the five brothers to share it amongst themselves. The rest is history! Draupadi had to marry the five brothers and stay with each one for a year; starting with Yudhishthir, and repeating the cycle every five years. The same Draupadi became the queen of Indraprastha and led a life of luxury for years in the Palace of Indraprastha. The same Draupadi gave birth to five sons of the five Pandavs during this period. The same Draupadi was gambled in a treacherous game of dice and was lost. The same Draupadi was pulled with her hair and dragged to the court in one piece. The same Draupadi was disrobed in the court in front of her five husbands and elders of the family.

Vyas surely wanted to explore many aspects of the human character by putting such an intricate character into the epic. Draupadi’s entry is at the time when the seeds of war are being sown in the politics of Hastinapur. Her entry into the Kuru household serves as timely rain that would help the seeds grow into a giant tree that would shower its fruits in the form of blood on the land of Kurukshetra. If it was not for Krishna, one would always consider the Kurukshetra war only a war for Draupadi’s vengeance and not a war for Dharma.

Birth:

Though some versions say that Draupadi was a “free gift” that emerged from the sacrificial fire, along with her brother, others state that Dhrupad had demanded a daughter too who would marry into the Kuru household and bring it to ashes. (The TV saga queen of modern times, Ekta Kapoor, seems to have taken motivation for her vamps from the King of Panchal!) Whatever may be the true case, Draupadi did marry into the Kuru household and it did turn into ashes. But is she to be blamed for this entirely? I have my doubts.

Swayamvar:

What would one call a father who offers his daughter in marriage to the best archer, just because, he is the best archer? (This is like declaring all the IIT and IIM pass-outs of the country as the most eligible bachelors and jeevansathi.com asking only for your CVs.) It was not that Draupadi was forced to marry any winner against her will. She did reject Karna (because he was a charioteer’s son or because Krishna suggested her to do so is for one to wonder) who was a king and gave chance to a Brahmin (…in disguise, Arjun). But does it still justify Dhrupad’s act of making his daughter the trophy of a contest? (The condition was ultimately set by him, not Draupadi). And does the best archer prove to be the best husband? On reading the epic one would rather say, he proves to be the worst!

Note: Though he was defeated by Arjun, Dhrupad developed an extreme liking for his archery skills and designed a contest that, in his opinion, only Arjun could win.

Sharing:

Is sharing such a big virtue? So big, that a woman can be commoditized for its sake? That she can be compared to alms and distributed among brothers equally?

Kunti did put sharing in high regard. Maybe, for her sharing things was equivalent to sharing people (she had shared with Madari her sterile and celibate husband - Pandu and her boons for conceiving sons). But, did this give her the authority to decide on Draupadi’s part whether she was willing to be shared? Agreed, that she ordered out of ignorance and later expressed her repentance on making that statement, but what stopped her from taking her statement back? Was she the Salman Khan of Wanted who could not go back on her commitment? Or maybe, she did not want Draupadi to have a higher moral ground than her in the family - I have conceived sons from four, you conceive from five at least! Maybe, the saas-bahu ego clashes existed even then.

It is suggested that Kunti had seen the liking for Draupadi in the eyes of the five brothers and she feared that her marriage to only Arjun could create rift between the brothers. To avoid a conflict, she ordered them to share Draupadi. (Look sons, here is a wedding cake, cut it into five pieces). Perhaps, this was one of the reasons why even Yudhishthir did not protest against it as one would expect the epitome of righteousness to. The world would see him following his mother’s orders while he would actually be living his biggest fantasy.

Note: It is said that in her previous life, Draupadi had asked a husband who would be righteous, powerful, the best archer, beautiful / handsome and patient. Shiva offered her five husbands, each with one of the above mentioned qualities since one man could not have all these qualities. These, however, appear more as excuses to justify the ironical situation of Draupadi created by Kunti’s order.

Stake:

As if all that had happened before was less and Draupadi deserved still more. Already wronged by her mother-in-law, it was now her turn to be wronged by her husbands. (MS Word raised an objection when I used husbands instead of husband in this sentence. Perhaps, even Word does not approve of Draupadi’s situation that resulted from Kunti’s statement.)

Duryodhan had invited Yudhishthir to a game of gamble which he could not say no to. Shakuni promised Duryodhan that he would win each and every possession of Yudhishthir as Shakuni could never be defeated in dice. From staking his personal possessions to his chariot, from slaves to mistresses, Yudhishthir finally staked everything he had, including Indraprastha. Hold on, there is still more to come. He then staked his brothers one by one and lost each time. He then staked himself and lost again. And then something happened that would raise a question on Yudhishthir’s integrity and stain his reputation forever. He staked Draupadi. (How right was he in staking Draupadi and how wrong, is a different debate and I should take it sometime later.) 

Duryodhan, who had always envied the successful and loved-by-all Pandavs had also hated Draupadi as she had once called him blind son of a blind father, when he had fallen inside an illusionary water-pond in her palace. It was his day to avenge all the insult and insecurity he had ever gone through because of the Pandavs and their wife. He ordered for Draupadi to be dragged to the court and stripped naked in front of the kings and family. The five husbands, the elders of the family and the noblemen present in the court could do nothing more than gritting their teeth.

Note: In her time of crisis, it was Krishna who came to Draupadi's rescue and covered her with a celestial cloth while Dushasan was disrobing her. 

Was Draupadi actually Yudhishthir’s property that could be gambled away? If yes, did he have any right to put her at stake as he had already lost himself? If no, then how did he have any right to gamble her in the first place? These questions were raised in the court by her and the most venerable sages of that time were dumbfounded when asked to answer this. They still haunt every individual when he reads this epic.

But it does not end here! If for the time being, we assume, Yudhishthir had the right and he actually put Draupadi at stake and lost her (though it was Arjun who won her in the Swayamvar), was what followed after that justified? Just because Draupadi became his slave, did it give Duryodhan the right to offend and humiliate her limitlessly? Did a statement like, “Blind father, blind son!” touch such levels of discourteous behavior that to avenge it Draupadi had to be disrobed in public? If we say yes, then are we not inadvertently celebrating the animal within the men who avenge their unfulfilled love or minor insults through heinous crimes like molestation and rapes? Karna unabashedly blurted in the court that a woman who sleeps with five husbands is a whore and deserves no respect. If this were true, would Karna support Kunti’s similar humiliation too (who was married to Pandu but gave birth two four sons from four different gods?), especially on knowing that she was his mother? Does knowledge of somebody’s personal life (howsoever screwed it is) give one the right to violate the already unfortunate’s fundamental rights? I see it as an episode where Draupadi was wronged not only by her husbands, but also by her in-laws, uncles, the entire Kshatriya community; in fact, the entire society.

Note: Karna does repent his decision later and admits that out of over-confidence of the moment and irritation of getting rejected at Draupadi's swayamvar, he had misbehaved. But the damage had been done, and Draupadi did pay a price for it!

When one reads the story of Draupadi, one is indeed filled with surprise, concern and sympathy for her. Post the public humiliation episode, she spends thirteen years in exile longing for revenge. After the war, Bheem does avenge her humiliation but this comes at a loss her five sons and million others.

One wonders why a woman, who was born a princess, was immaculately beautiful and followed the orders of her elders religiously suffered this terrible fate. Was it her unparalleled sensuality that created troubles for her time and again? Did Vyas want to tell us that the desirable qualities of pulchritude if possessed in excess can also go against us? Did he want to direct our attention towards the deterioration of women's status in the society and that it happens not only because men dominate but also because the older women inadvertently create situations that females of future generations have to pay for (like Kunti creates for Draupadi)? Or did he just want us to realize that even the best of people might suffer the worst things for no fault of theirs? 

Did he want to bring to light the coward reticence of our so-called society that sets huge ideals but does little for the helpless at the hour of need? Had Draupadi not been a shared wife, would her fate have been different? If yes, then does this not mean that the evil Duryodhan inside every criminal only seeks an excuse to validate his howsoever ghastly actions against women? These are again some questions that Mahabharata poses with no clear answers. One can just wonder and introspect. But one thing is pretty well-known and I am sure Asaram would agree with it. At the time of getting disrobed, Draupadi did address Dushasan as her brother-in-law. He still went ahead. And he went ahead unashamedly!