The Wait

It was almost 9 in the morning. Shambhu lal was still lying down on his mat. The foggy cold morning was cajoling him to sleep for some more time. But he had to go. He had to succeed today at least. There was no more room for failure . He quickly got ready and went to his destination. Alas! There was a huge line of around 20-25 people waiting before a closed shutter, hoping for the best. Shambhu had been seeing such lengthy queues for the past couple of days and returned back to his home disappointed like the Jarasandha retreating after each failed attack on Lord Krishna in the Dwapara yuga. But Jarasandha aka Shambhu couldn't return empty handed today. He had to believe that that would be 'his' day.He quickly took his position as the last man in the queue. He had to lose the 'last man in the queue' title in a jiffy as there were more and more people joining at the tail.

Shambhu started scanning the people in the queue. There were people of almost all ages, from adolescent to elderly with the middle-aged like Shambhu forming the majority. They were unfazed by the cold weather and were braving the cold by wearing mufflers and sweaters. Shambhu was surprised after finding few women in the queue in spite of the poor weather. There was a hue of sorrow painted on all the faces with a few venting out their anger and frustration with their neighbors in the queue. Shambhu was also having similar feelings and questions. But he knew that that was not the time to get angry. He wanted to move forward in the queue. As per him, he was too far back which would mean that the probability of him not getting his quota was more.

He had many acquaintances standing before him. He could easily seek their help to get for him too. But with the limits and other new rules, everyone would be thinking only for himself/herself. It had been almost an hour and a half. There was no trace of the gentleman aka 'the saviour for these people' in his guarded vehicle. He was getting restless, so were the others. Though it was cold,  Shambhu was feeling thirsty. His hands had started shivering. His knees were getting weak. His vision was becoming blurry. But he stood his ground in the queue. He couldn't give up. He was sincerely hoping that after going through all these, he should get his due and not a board telling to come later. He was praying that not even his enemy should have such a fate.

Just then 'he' appeared out of his vehicle with his bag. There was a loud cheer from the people followed by some chaos. The guard who had come along, somehow managed to restore some order . Once the guy who went behind the shutter, signalled a 'Go', people in the queue started entering one after the another. The more the time it took, the more tensed were the people still in the queue. It was Shambhu's turn. With the sudden rush of adrenaline, Shambhu forgot the pains in his body and ran inside.  After getting his full quota, Shambhu came out clutching it tightly close to his heart. Why wouldn't he? He had been having a nightmarish 3 days. He was not able to sleep or eat well . He then opened his hand to take another look at his hard earned.

Photo Courtesy

 There it was ! In a newer design and style. Shambhu was fondly remembering the days when the people could easily walk in and get theirs at any time. The days, when people like him would sink themselves in the oceans of nectar and enjoying the world as if there were no tomorrow. The days when this magic thing at hand could make the sky their costly roof and the rocky ground their comfy bed .He blessed the guy loudly who came with the stocks . He did a quick check around him before opening his quota. He then gulped it in a single sip. Gone were the chills and pain in his body along with the senses. He then turned back at the guy who opened the shutters of the liquor shop a while back and started yelling "Thanks! Oh Saviour!!" and he fell down unconscious thanks to the liquor hacking his CPU alias brain that just went inside.

The people who were still in the queue to get the liquor didn't pay any attention to Shambhu's theatrics.No one bothered to give a hand to him. They knew once the effect of alcohol subsides, he would come back to senses.After all, who would want to lose their hard earned place in the queue to get the liquor before the stocks run out.

                                                                        

The Believable lies

"Chechi! What are your plans tomorrow?", asked Sulochana.

"Nothing!", replied my mother.

"Oh! I am going to my brother's home and we all will be staying in a hut in the middle of our fields tomorrow night".

"Family get together aano?", asked my Mom.

"Yey!No! Super Moon alle? That's why" came the reply.

My mom was puzzled.

Sulochana continued," It is predicted by NASA that on super Moon day which happens once in 1000 years, due to more gravity from moon, there will be quakes and tsunamis. There are so many posts in Facebook related to this. Didn't you see, chechi?".

"Don't I have any other work?", thought my Mom.

"Anyways if there are quakes, stay away from the electric posts in your field", my mom replied in a sarcastic tone.

There are many such Sulochanas among us nowadays who are easily foxed by the hoaxes and rumours flying all around us in every form. Apart from worrying about the naivety of people who believe such hoaxes, credit must be given to people who could think off such hoaxes, make them believable and trick us, though we know that lies travel twice as fast as the truth like raging wildfires.

The Great Dronacharya in the battle of Kurukshetra, per records happen to be the first major victim of a popular hoax on his son's death orchestrated by the Lord himself. Drona didn't try to verify the news himself but rather depended on other's words.

If it was the immortal Ashwadhama who was rumoured dead in Kurukshetra, many celebrities in the present age are being mercilessly killed by hoaxers in social media.Unlike the Mahabharata days, with the world news accessible through the smartphones with us, people still believe the forwards in social media and not even try to verify the authenticity of the information. This latest fad among the hoaxers in social media spreading false news that a celebrity is no more, is a disturbing trend. 

There are some other less disturbing hoaxes which we see regularly. Most of these would start like "As per NASA release" followed by a warning of Pralaya or other natural phenomena. Not so far ahead is the day when we get and believe rumors like " As per NASA, the sun will rise in the West tomorrow and this rare phenomenon occurs once in zillion years". Even if such a hoax comes up, it would be made very believable so that everyone may be tempted to believe it except for the person in topic, the God on seven chariots.

Rather than falling a prey to such tricks and hoaxes, it is time to remove the rust on our sixth sense and use them to differentiate the truth from the others. After all, the Great Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar has already conveyed the message which I want to reiterate here .

"Epporul yaaryaar Vaaiketpinum Apporul

Meipporul Kaanpatharivu"

Meaning:-

Whatever may be the source of any information, knowledge is to extract and assimilate the truth in it.

Grandma Tales

Childhood is the best phase in one's life. Our minds are free from preoccupations, mental stress and other worries.  Each and everyday we are fed with interesting stories by our grand parents during bed time. Most of the stories will be fantasies with added spice to make us believe that they are genuine. Leisure hours will take us back to that old grandma period and the stories we could hear from them.

Siva Purana says that Lord Ganesa was very much normal when he was born. A handsome, lovable child was he that everybody adored him. But circumstances made him a scapegoat. Failure to obey his father, Lord Siva, caused his head being chopped off by Siva. To appease Goddess Parvathy, Siva had to give rebirth to Ganesa for which he needed the head of any living  creature whom he  came across first, lying with its head directed towards North. At last it was an elephant's head that was to decorate Ganesa. But the story,    my grandma told was something very different from this,

Lord Siva and Parvathy, during their honeymoon days, came across a herd of elephants in the thick forests, enjoying the nature and in their playful mood. Parvathy was fascinated to see that and longed that she and Siva could also roam round the forest like them and enjoy. Hence Siva and Parvathy took the form of male and female elephants and there born the child Ganesa.

At another hour of such playful life, both Siva and Parvathy took the form of Vanaras {monkeys} . That time, Parvathy did not wish to have a vanara child. So the embryo in her womb was transferred to that of Anjana, wife of Vaayu {the god of wind} and Hanuman was born. In that era itself, there were cases of embryo transfer from one womb to another which lead to the modern concept of Hired mothers {Vaadagai thai}.

Further interesting is the birth of Vaali and  Sugreeva. Both were sons of Aruna. It was a total Solar Eclipse day and that the Sun God had no work on that day. So he gave his charioteer Arunan a day's off. Arunan, to have some fun on his holiday, went to the durbar of Devendran where he was prevented from entering the durbar as only women were permitted to enter the durbar on that day. Out of curiosity, Arunan cross dressed himself as a beautiful lady called Aruna and entered the durbar. Noticing a beautiful new face in the durbar, Devendran wished to meet her privately  and hence the birth of Vaali.

Arunan returned to work as usual the next day. His master, the Sun God, asked how he spent his off day and Arunan had to narrate his stories. Sun God was astonished to hear the same and he himself wanted to see Arunan's beautiful lady get up, whence he himself fell in love with him and Sugreeva was born.

Umpteen questions can be asked about the possibilities of such happenings. But a childish mind, an innocent one, naturally  believed all these.

To conclude, let me  quote a few golden lines.

" If it be wrong and upon me proved
     I never wrote and nobody ever read ".