Commencement Speech to Business Administration students

 (Delivered in Sep & Dec 2021)

Thanks to all of you for inviting me to speak to a new crop of BBA students who are embarking on a journey of learning and discovery. As I see all the enthusiastic and energetic faces here, I am reminded of the time when i was sat where you are presently. That was an era where your only source of information was the morning newspapers, a time where speaking to friends meant you actually had to meet them in person, where researching about something meant going to the library or locating someone who actually knew about it, booking a ticket to Nagpur where I studied meant standing in the queue at Vijayawada Railway station for two hours and informing my parents that I reached safely involved writing a letter and posting it. We read about computers and Information Revolution in the newspapers but home computing was no where, forget Vijayawada which was a sleepy town, not even in Bangalore was Personal computer anything personal. Humans don't realise history when it’s happening. You were all born 10 to 11 years after I started my college in 1992. And you could have been born on a different planet. Such has been the change in those 10 years and the 10 years after. Amazon is older than you, Google is older than you, you were still in your nappies when Facebook started and by the time you were 10 you broke a few laptops or mobile phones, you were speaking to your uncle or brother or sister over face time whilst they were 10000 kilometres away. Siri, Alexa and Google have helped you find more things more quickly and in all probability a majority of you have never seen the inside of a library…

Change is all around us and is the only constant in our lives. It always challenges and threatens the existing world order. Be it the Potters wheel in early human history, or the printing press of middle ages or internet led fourth industrial revolution. Lets take the Printing press - invented in 1440 by Gutenberg a German goldsmith. Within 40 years 20 million and within 100 years of the invention 200 million books were published. To give you some context, Columbus landed in what he thought was India, but was actually Americas, in 1492 and Vasco Da Gama rediscovered the sea route to India in 1498. Scientific discoveries and inventions spread like wildfire as a consequence of this explosion in printing and dissemination of knowledge. We can almost draw a line of cause and effect from the invention of the printing press to the Industrial revolution. Industrial revolution meant mass production of goods. Mass Production of goods meant two things - 1) demand for raw material needed for manufacturing 2) more people or markets where the finished goods can be sold. This led to Europeans fanning out and colonising the world for raw materials and markets. Ironically and for various reasons Germany where the printing press was invented came late to the imperialist party and the ensuing tensions directly resulted in the First World War. On a separate track the industrial revolution led to urbanisation and workers living in squalid and dirty slums. These conditions led Karl Marx to write his Communist Manifesto and the two tracks collided in the First World War with the communist revolution in Russia. This led to the second War and then the Cold war. Which in turn triggered a technological race between the super powers. The Internet is a direct output of this conflict having originated from DARPA. The Economist magazine has called DARPA- the American agency, which stands for (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)  as an organisation "that shaped the modern world," and pointed out that "Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine sits alongside weather satellites, GPS, drones, stealth technology, voice interfaces, the personal computer and the internet on the list of innovations for which DARPA can claim at least partial credit. 

And you my friends are in the thick of these changes. What’s the term used to call your generation? - Post millennial, Gen Next, Gen Z. If you even for a second thought that what else could change you couldn't be more mistaken. The driver less car as a concept is out of the labs and in the real world. Imagine a world where cars can communicate with other cars around it to get real time data of the environment, where they can actively detect and react to road signs and traffic lights. Go a step further what if these cars fly and you have a Uber Fly. This is not a flight of fantasy or a Mayabazaar movie. If there is the technology humans will find a way to put it to use. And the technology is already there. The possibilities are limitless. Just over the last few months we have seen 3 private entrepreneurs send people to space. Who knows one of you might be the first person to setup a colony on Mars. We live in truly exciting times. It is natural to be wary of change but we can all ride this change to a better tomorrow.

But with so much information out there how do we separate fact from fiction? This has been an age old issue but has been exacerbated with the world becoming so tightly interconnected. It is okay to not know about everything. Critical thinking is not about knowing all the facts, it is about deciding which facts to use for solving a problem or making a decision. In fact when you all become Managers one day you will realise that there is never complete and correct information. The real world is complex and messy. It is not a graph in the class room where there are two parameters and you can plot or predict their values for any unknown. When you look at big data sets you have to consider outliers, wrong values. You have to remember that correlation is not causation. Look at what are the assumptions under pinning the data. Is the sampling only true under particular conditions. If you wait for the perfect data set to make a decision you could be waiting forever or lose valuable time which makes or breaks a project or product. There is no single course or degree which will prepare you for the kind of thinking needed to make decisions under such conditions. We can only keep practising to get better and improve our thinking. At this point I highly recommend you to watch Julia Galef’s TED talk on “Why you think you are right, even if you are wrong?” Julia is a young American philosopher who started the Centre for Applied Rationality. I will repeat the example that she quotes - Lets say you are soldier. Whats your duty? It is to follow orders and do as you are told. It is for you to take the orders as they are and align your views to it and then act on it to make them come true. But armies just don't have soldiers. They also have scouts. A scout is someone who goes ahead of everyone else to gather information about enemy’s position, strengths, weaknesses and movements. He or she is there to absorb and observe the reality of what they are seeing. They don’t bend the reality to suit their needs or beliefs. Julia says we should all develop a scout mindset. ie see facts as they are, not coloured by our preexisting beliefs. We have to accept them even if they are unpleasant and not to our liking.We need to be open, curious and grounded. It is okay to accept that we are wrong when new evidence or facts come to light. There is no pride in sticking to a wrong belief just to satisfy our ego. 

Human mind comes with many unconscious biases. By being aware of what they are we can try and minimise their effects. Lets look at some examples.

eg you are shopping for a pair of shoes and see something priced at Rs.10,000. You think dear o dear this is expensive! But if the label had Rs.15,000 which was struck out and after a discount is Rs.10,000, you think ah that's a great price. We see this all the time. This is called Anchoring bias - it causes us to rely heavily on the first piece of information we get. All subsequent data is viewed with that in mind leading to sometimes incorrect conclusions. 

Moving on - Am I more likely to be caught up and killed in a terrorist attack or am I more likely to die due to a lightning strike. Any guesses? Most people say they are worried about terrorism. But its four times more likely that you would die of a lightning strike than any attack. This is called an Availability bias. Because there is a lot of news and information about something we ignore all the other pieces of data.

How many of you have done something because your friends or everyone else is doing it? Almost all of us have done that at some point. I recently bought a cryptocurrency because everyone I knew was doing it. This is called a bandwagon effect. I did not do any other research and needless to say I did not come out very well because of this. As soon as i bought the crypto China restricted crypto trading and I lost more than 50% of what i invested.

Anyone watching or playing football or cricket here? Do you ever have an argument with your friends that the referee or umpire’s decisions were biased/partial when they go against your team? When the same happens against the opponent you think the umpire was fair. Noticed that? That is called blind spot bias. 

Now lets speak of something interesting. Any of you follow any TV news channels? Why? What do you like in it?...Confirmation bias! This causes huge problems. For one we cherry pick data that we like. Your existing beliefs are clouding your decision making. And our beliefs are not always right.

There are many more of these cognitive biases that inhabit the human mind. Evolutionary biologists and psychologists have explained the reason for these biases in terms of evolution. A common example is stereotyping. On the plains of Africa when early man developed it made sense to think of everything that was round and cylindrical and hanging on the tree as a snake. You are better off thinking of it as a snake rather than a rope. Otherwise you wont survive. That concept of generalising or in fancy words stereotyping is what makes us think of people based on set notions - in America for example the police might think that's a black man with a hoodie and so he must be a criminal.

As they say recognising something is a problem is half the battle won. There is no magic pill that you can swallow that will help you conquer the biases. We can only review our decisions honestly and critique ourselves. The best exercise for critical thinking is to write. When we write we are taking time to form our ideas and think them over. You can start to write about any topic. Look at the topic from different angles, play the devils advocate. Dwell over which facts are important to the argument and which can be discarded. But how to get better at writing and articulating our views? Read! What was the last book each of you read?.......Read as much as you can. It can be your favourite novelist or columnist. But try to incorporate some non-fiction into your reading. It doesn't have to be about business just because you are doing a business degree. It could be history, sociology or science even. And read different kinds of authors and views. And you don't have to read just English books. Please read Telugu or books in your mother tongue as well. మన మాతృ భాష రోజు రోజుకీ అంతరించి పోతోంది. తెలుగు పుస్తకాలు కొనండి, చదవండి. Keep an open mind, listen to music, play music, do something totally different from your day job. This will help you keep yourself fresh, give you new insights and is good for your well being. Schools and colleges tend to make us into similar shaped bricks with all of us thinking alike and having same views and biases. Try to resist that and become like clay which is flexible and can take different shapes based on changing circumstances.

With all this there is no guarantee that we will get our decisions right. Inevitably we will make mistakes. We will lose. We will fail. It will look like a big defeat. As if the whole world is conspiring against you to make you lose. Our family, schools, colleges and the society worship success but they don’t teach us how to cope with failure. There is no shame in failure. Silicon valley is a graveyard of entrepreneurs trying to make it big. For every Amazon or Google there will be a 1000 who have tried and failed. But it is okay to fail. In fact there it is seen as a badge of honour. Failure teaches you more lessons than success. In India, we hear very sad stories of people resorting to extreme steps when they fail be it in exams or in their jobs or in their personal lives. We have to lay the blame on this on our parents, educational systems and society. And remember we are all part of the problem. We worship success but actually we have to celebrate or at least understand failure. There is nothing in the world which is more important than your well being and your family’s well being. Sharira madhyam khalu Dharma sadhanam annaru peddalu. You can only do your duty and achieve your goals if you have a sound mind and body. So take care of yourselves in good times and bad times. And there will be bad times. But bear in mind the song from the serial Amrutham. Has anyone seen it here on YouTube? Sirivennela Sitaramasastry penned the lyrics for it. It goes “hello anjaneyulu, aayasa padi poku chalu. manam idedi chamchadu bhavasagaralu..” Ours are only always a spoonful of sorrows. Whatever failure you face remember it could have been far worse. At least we are not suffering like people in Afghanistan or any other war torn countries. We need a sense of perspective when faced with failure. Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking you to wallow in self pity. Work hard for your dreams, pick yourself up after a failure, learn the lessons from it and move on. But keep moving..

నొప్పిలేని నిమిషమేది జననమైన మరణమైన జీవితాన అడుగు అడుగున

నీరసించి నిలిచిపోతె నిమిషమైన నీది కాదు బ్రతుకు అంటె నిత్య ఘర్షణ

దేహముంది ప్రాణముంది నెత్తురుంది సత్తువుంది ఇంతకన్న సైన్యముండునా

ఆశ నీకు అస్త్రమౌను శ్వాస నీకు శస్త్రమౌను దీక్షకన్న సారెదెవరురా

నిరంతరం ప్రయత్నమున్నదా నిరాశకే నిరాశ పుట్టదా

నిన్ను మించి శక్తి ఏది నీకె నువ్వు బాసటయ్యితే

And that brings me to the “Secret of work”. I remember this essay by Swami Vivekananda used to be a lesson in our Intermediate English text book. Whether you run your own business or work as a manager in the future, print a copy of this essay and keep reading it every now and then. Vivekananda quotes Bhagavad Gita and exhorts us to work incessantly/continuously. All work will have consequences good or bad. A person of character is like a tortoise which goes into its shell and doesn't come out unless it wants to. You can try to force it but it wont. Similarly a person of principles will not deviate from their ideals irrespective of the difficulties they face. Vivekananda goes further and says that we should work incessantly but not think about the fruits of the work too much. Remember the dialogue in 3 idiots “you work for excellence and then success will come running behind you”. But if instead when you are working you are bogged down by the results. Will i get a job with the fattest salary. Will I win the rat race. Then your work doesn't give you joy and you will get into a lot of misery when the desired results don't materialise. Did you see the US Open tennis finals recently? Have you seen Novak Djokovic lose. One of the greatest players of all times he got tensed as he was chasing history. When we get ahead of ourselves and think of the results all the time its going to hurt our work and our happiness. Of course all this is easier said than done. But we can all in bits and pieces remind ourselves to enjoy our work and stay a little detached from the results itself. Remember perfection is a direction not a destination. Whatever stage in our careers and lives we are, there is still that extra step we can always take.

I congratulate you all on commencing a new phase in your lives. Make the most of the time in your BBA course. And I don't mean just by reading Managerial Economics or Project Management or looking at balance sheets. The time you spend with your friends and the lessons you learn outside the classes are equally, if not more important. I am sure you will all look back on these years with fond memory long after you have passed out. I will end this by saying unfetter your brain, be open to new ideas, be curious, don't be afraid of failure, work incessantly, enjoy music, spend time in nature, speak Telugu, be happy. Uttistatha, Jagrutha. Arise and Awake. The world belongs to you.

Ramayanam - Shri Vempati Kutumbarao

(Below is my humble attempt to capture the introduction to Ramayanam by Shri Vempati Kutumbarao. All errors in understanding and translation are mine. The full video in Samskrit is below)

Who doesn't know Ramayanam? Not just in India, but in all corners of the world you will find people who know Ramayanam. Maharshi Valmiki himself has written in it's first chapter, Balakanda, "As long as Ganga and Godavari flow, and Vindhyas and Himalayas stand so long shall Ramayanam be in people's mind". As is appropriate for the Yuga it will be discussed, absorbed and guide people. Valmiki, the author himself, declared this as a desire and as a prophecy. Each of us also desire that the work we do lasts forever but alas that's not the case. But Valmiki was no ordinary man, he is a Maharshi who was always in penance.

Many historians have tried to date the book using many different methods. And all of them agree that it was written at least 3000 years ago. Ramayanam is not Apaurusheyam, it is Paurusheyam written by Valmiki. There is no doubt about that. Paurusheyam means written by a human. There are three important things of note when you consider Ramayanam in the realm of Samskritam literature. Firstly it is Itihaasa. There is the Vedic literature - 18 Puranas, 4 Vedas, 6 Vedangas and 4 Upavedas. Following those there are only two works which have been called as historical works. They are Ramayanam and Mahabharatam. All the previously mentioned collection of literature describe completely all our Dharmas, Adharmas, lifestyle, values, spiritual quest and reasoning. Secondly it is written by a Sage, just as Mahabharatam was also written by a sage Vyasa Bhagawan. Thirdly Ramayanam is the AdiKavya ie the first poem. Valmiki is not only a Rishi but also the first poet. Vyasa on the other hand is not called a poet nor Mahabharata a poem. Ramayanam has the unique distinction of being a poem and being a historical account! What is Itihaasa? "Iti + ha + aasa" means "So certainly it was". A book tells history when it narrates whatever happened and however it happened. Many people ask if Ramayanam is true, whether it happened really etc. What do we say to them? When it states on the tin that it is Itihaasa, what else is there to say? Rama was there, Ayodhya is there, he was its King, his wife was Sita and he slayed Ravana to rescue her.

If I start speaking about Ramayanam's beauty, depth and expanse we can continue doing so for months together. So much material is indeed there. Let's speak of the characters brought to life by Valmiki. They have become immortal. Not just major characters even minor ones. I am not speaking of Lord Rama or Mother Sita. Take Guha whose mention you miss if you blink. Can you forget him? Can you ignore Sabari? Viradha? Soorpanakha? Vaali? Can we forget Sumantra who is not mentioned again after Ayodhya Kaanda until the coronation at the end. Speaking of the speciality of Ramayanam we will forget about ourselves. Mahabharatam has numerous episodes, discourses etc. It is all encompassing and the only word that comes to mind to describe it is "encyclopedia"! Ramayanam is not like that. Valmiki stays close to the main plot line and doesn't deviate far from it. Only within the plot and where needed does he take brief detours. But in terms of poetry it has extraordinary beauty. The language used is the most simple, elegant and colloquial. Amongst all Indian literature it is the most easily accessible. The language flows, like the meandering Ganga, and does not pose any difficulty for interpretation or understanding. Even without knowing Samskritam just reading, to attain Punya, for 10 to 15 weeks is enough to understand it. A poetic work does not have to be abstruse for it to be beautiful. Ramayanam is a perfect example and hence it is immortal.

Samskritam has Alankaras, figures of speech, just like any other language. Take a guess, how many? 3, 5, 10, 25, 50? It has more than one hundred! How do you even start speaking about the beauty of Samskritam! With all this there are some rules or guidelines about what constitutes a poetic composition. The principles of the ideal structure of a poem all come to us from Valmiki's Ramayanam. Even today Samskrit poetry oscillates within those guardrails. Next is plot construction. How does one take a small story and expand on it to create an epic? Just on this topic there are atleast 60 to 100 books that have meticulously and scientifically researched the plot construction of Ramayanam. It is to be noted that all the tools that are required for a poem like figures of speech, metaphors, plot construction, metre etc were first explored and used by Valmiki as part of his mission to tell the story of Rama. Of all the verses composed by Valmiki the first one can be said to be Apaurusheya ie it was in his mind without his express volition. This is Shloka and of all Samkritam literature more than 95% are composed as Shlokas. The name of the metre, ie Shloka, has become synonymous with verse.

मा निषाद ! प्रतिष्ठां त्वम् गमः शाश्वतिः समाः

यत् क्रौञ्चनां मिथुनादेकंsवधि काममोहितं ||

Maa Nishada Pratistham Tvamagamahsāsvati Samaa

Yat Kraunchamithunaadekam Avadhi Kaamamohitam ||

After this on Lord Brahma's advice he composed Ramayana in 24000 Shlokas of the same metre.

Journey to Self - Tamarind tree and the Tax collector

 Continued from the previous post here.

            Into this scene walked my dad's Doddamma (Aunt). She took him under her wings and brought him to Uppada. This was his hunting ground of adventures and mischief. This was the place he fondly remembered ever after. He went to the government school here, a modest shed with mud walls and two rooms. From the windows of his classroom he could see the warm waves of the Bay of Bengal lapping the shores. Scarcely had the home bell rung, the boys would race out of the room, heave their books in the sand and jump into the ocean. Here they chased each other, counted seconds and minutes under the water and built channels, burrows, bridges, moats and forts in the sand. This was their real school, their imagination unconstrained and unfettered by the four walls of the classroom or the covers of the textbooks. This was not the exuberance of youth but the gay abandon of childhood. Your only existential concern is the stars twinkling in the sky as that would inevitably mean the Aunt's voice rising above the roaring waves as her hand twisted and turned your ears. You are half walking half jumping and wincing in pain. Your friends mimic you as they walk in a grand parade to see you off.

           The walk back to the house was lit by the million stars in the heavens and the moon playing hide and seek behind the tall palm trees. The sounds of the sea receded as they walked through the fishing quarters, crossed over to the farmlands and wound their way onto the brahmin street. The house had an imposing facade with a large Arugu (veranda). His maternal grand father sat here and received guests and peasants who came to see him. He was old and of ill health but they still came to him. He would read their documents, help them with their paperwork and advise them on matters of land and disputes in the courts. The grip on the ear had relaxed by now but it was time for a bath at the well before being let into the house. Using a pulley he drew water from the well and they were freezing cold. Protesting was of no avail. Egged by the smells of hot food coming from the kitchen he got through the cold, changed and rushed to eat.

           The kitchen was a big room with hardly any furniture. It was in the rear of the house and opened onto the backyard. During the day the doors were hardly ever closed. Once the stars took over the shift from their peripatetic cousin a veil of blackness engulfed everything.The kitchen like the rest of the house was poorly lit by a solitary hurricane lantern. The scent of soot and kerosene was both overbearing and comforting. The doors were shut tight to keep the slithery visitors out. Dinner was simple and quick but delicious. Hot rice and avakaya (mango pickle) served with copious quantities of ghee. This was followed by Chaaru a concoction of hot peppers and tamarind water brought to boil and tempered with seasoning. This simple but potent dish is made in almost every house and is guaranteed to open the sinuses and fix any colds or indigestion. Once the meal was over dad sat outside the kitchen in the inner courtyard. While his aunt had her dinner and tidied up he had to recite times tables up to 20 forward and backward. She had not been formally schooled but the aunt was adept with her numbers. This was then followed by verses from Vemana Satakam. These stayed with him all through his life and he was forever thankful to his aunt for that. But at that time this was a chore he dreaded. Any mistake in pronunciation or lapse of memory would see a steady stream of invective directed at him. Colourful language was another of her strengths.

        In any case he was keen on racing through to the end so that he could go and cuddle with his grand father. That was the time for extraordinary stories - fanciful, adventurous and scary. His grand dad was once returning late from another village where he had gone to attend an errand. As he was crossing the tamarind tree outside the village, he saw a lady in a white saree and burning red eyes. He barked at her enquiring why she was out at that time of the night. She traversed the 20m or so separating them in a split second and gave him a resounding slap across the face. This sent him reeling to the ground. She sat on his chest and warned him never to come that way after night fall. Half dead with fear he managed to somehow collect himself, thanked his stars and beat a hasty retreat from there without even a glance to look back. The tamarind tree still stood at the same place. Dad and his friends avoided it from that day onward. Another time it was dacoits who tied up the grand dad for a whole night before realising they had the wrong man. It was the village land lord they were after. 

        Such tales both true and made up fueled the young boys imagination. He conjured up strange lands in his dreams. They lay either beyond the distant hills or on the other side of the ocean. One day he was a pirate on the sea battling with a large whale which swallowed his boat whole. Inside the whale was a different kingdom. It had its own sky and stars. Once you were in, there was no way out. The doors to the other world were shut. Not a single person inhabited this world.He was an intruder lost in space and time. No one knew where he was and had no way of informing them. He thought of what his aunt was doing at that moment. Does she know he was gone never to come back? His mind drifted to the delicious food he was missing.The aroma of a crunchy Dibba-Rotti baked on hot coals wafted through the empty innards of his new existence. A grey gloomy world embalmed him. Without any warning this protective cover was yanked off him and a towering figure loomed instead. And just as the morning Sun bathes the firmament in light, with one swift motion lifting the black veil that had descended the previous night, the scales fell from his eyes as he darted from his bed to complete his morning ablutions.

        Dibba-rotti, still with ashes embedded, was delectable. Having wolfed two portions he was braced to tackle another day. His grand dad was already on the Arugu talking to a farmer. He was sifting through a crumpled sheaf of crumbling papers. They were trying to locate the records of the farmer's land. Karanams have had a chequered history. They were a key component of the revenue collection system under the reign of kings from the long past.They ran the annual jamabandhi to assess holdings - check what was cultivated and what cess was due to the Monarch. Vijayanagara kings had divided the country into Manadalams, Nadus and Seemas. Farmers were taxed according to the quantity of seeds sown. When East India Company took over the Coromandel coast they divided it into districts with the Collector heading the administration and Revenue collection. Collectors survive to date with their roles and responsibilities expanding from the just revenue. Around 1800 the Coastal region was divided into 5 districts - Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, Godavari, Krishna and Nellore.At the village level Karanams were still responsible for keeping accounts and records. But whilst under the kings collection was less coercive the British were strict and tough in meeting their revenue targets.Earlier when the crops failed due to an idiosyncratic monsoon or drought or when extenuating circumstances meant the peasant could not afford to pay, the king and the Karanam would delay, postpone or even waive it. But the British broke the back of the small farmers by forcing the tax even in lean years. They were so far removed from the subjects they were governing. The shareholders of the Company back in London demanded a Return on their Investment. This had the disastrous consequences of the rise of money lenders, distress sale of land and small farmers being squeezed out of their ancestral lands. They became tenant farmers on their own farms. This time came to be symbolised by the evil troika of Munasabu, Karanam and money lender who leached and preyed on the vulnerable. Karanams still played an important role in keeping records but it was undeniable that unscrupulous elements were hand in glove with the village land lord. Much later in 1985 N.T.Rama Rao government abolished the hereditary post of Karanams. This was to throw my uncle into abject poverty as he was solely dependent on that to make his ends meet. In an interesting turn of events which came much too late for my uncle the government in 2019 announced that the Karanam system would be revived. After all it had tangible benefits and you cannot throw the baby with the bathwater. Hardly any of this was occupying my dad's mind as he stepped out of the house on that spanking new day. He had a rendezvous planned at the village temple and he was getting late.

-- To be continued.

Narada Mahamuni's advise on Raja Dharma

Translated from Sri Pilaka Ganapathi Sastry's Sri Mahabharatam, a Telugu translation of Krishna Dwaipayana muni's Jayam in Sanskrit.

Needless to say I am solely responsible for any mistakes and mis-translations.

Sabha Parvam - Prathama Khandam (The Court - Chapter 1)

Arrival of Narada Mahamuni

A radiant ball of light appeared one day in the skies of Indraprastha. The people of the city wondering at that incredible sight assumed it was the Sun God descending to earth and debated the reason for it. Resembling the rays of light on a high peak the radiance entered the great court of Dharmaputra , which competed with the splendour of Indra's court. It was then that everyone realised it to be Narada Mahamuni.

The Brahmarshi bade farewell to the celestial beings and divine sages who were following him listening to his discourses on Dharma. He entered Dharmaraja's court along with sages Parvatha, Parijatha, Raivatha and Samukha. Having realised this from a distance Yudhisthira accompanied by his brothers received him with great devotion and respect. He gave all the sages a befitting seat and respected them with love and devotion.

Narada muni's Raja Dharmopadesa (discourse on the duties of a king)

Narada muni was elated at the unmatched devotion and reception. He enquired the well being of Dharmaraja and granted him the following Raja Dharmopadesa.

"O king! Your ancestors of the Kourava dynasty have earned the fame of always traversing the path of Dharma. Are you following in the righteous path of those great souls? Experts in the worldly ways are unanimous in declaring that Dharma, Artha and Kama are the Maha Purusharthas (human pursuits). Are you savouring those without any prejudice and at the right time and right way? You already know that it is paramount to have unwavering  commitment to Dharma for this!

I don't have to tell you specially that early morning is the best time for looking after the affairs of the government.  I hope you are considering and deciding on the various issues with utmost care during that peaceful time. Are you appointing the people with the right skills and ability for the different posts of government. Are you using the services of people born in the families of minsters who have served your forefathers and who are experts in law and jurisprudence? Maintain great secrecy in your deliberations and decision making. This is critical to win over enemies. You are treating this with utmost importance right?

Your priest is revered as brave, discern-er of right and wrong, consummate scholar and has an unflinching mind. Are the people appointed to perform yagnas doing their duties with care? Only those who are experts in the various forms of warfare and are strong and brave qualify to be military commanders. Are you appointing such loyal soldiers to those posts? Hope some talented and able ministers are not taking partial and unfair decisions after bribing your relatives with wealth. Even great men are blinded by arrogance and pride when they get a lot of money. Hence you have to keep a very close watch on such corruption.

O King of Kings! Are astronomers using their scientific insights to predict natural calamities occurring on land and sky? Honouring people who can mitigate these disasters will ensure that your people will not come in harms way. You should respect and reward such great souls. Apart from all this kings should take the appropriate medicines in a timely way to keep physical and mental illnesses at bay. In pursuance of this you should follow the dictum of Ashtanga Ayurveda scholars and take care of your diet and fasting. Are such expert physicians in your service? In the affairs of the treasury and implementation of king's writ only trusted officials should be appointed. They should be impartial, righteous and treat all citizens fairly. Are you appointing such people for the various posts of government?

Recognise the best, mediocre and worst of your employees. Understand their abilities and then assign the correct responsibilities. Grade them and pay accordingly. The sorrow of employees who haven't received their salary on time is dangerous even to Indra. If you reward and respect officials of good lineage they will protect you on the battlefield and from dangers even at the risk of their own lives. You should take care of the families of soldiers who sacrifice their lives for you in war. Are you following these precepts of good governance?

The greedy, thieves, bombastic speakers and enemy sympathisers are ineligible for royal duties. Such people should never be appointed to these posts. Are you protecting your subjects from the depravities of bandits? Hope your soldiers are not traitors who take bribes from robbers and protect them!

Do you realise that tanks and ponds are critical for good agricultural production?Are all the tanks brimming with water?Are you providing loans in the form of the grains and seeds to poor farmers and merchants? There is no more apt Dharma than providing for the lame, blind, dumb and handicapped people. Are you following that precept and acting towards them as a loving parent would?Even a staunch enemy should be sheltered when they seek protection from you. Are you adhering to this rules of engagement?

The deeds of loyal subjects who sacrifice their everything for the kingdom should be recounted and praised in public. Only a grateful ruler shall receive the fulsome praise of his subjects. A fourth, third or half of your total income should be used as expenditure. Never break this policy. Only appoint trusted employees in your arms depot, horse and elephant stables, treasury and granaries. Teachers, elderly, relatives, needy and good people should always be protected from the pangs of poverty. Are you following all these precepts? Surrounded by staff, relations, wise and valorous subjects are you attending to the affairs of the state, winning the plaudits of one and all?

A king should always be in the know of the affairs of other states by using a vast network of spies. Keep a close eye on the affairs of your inner circle and others. People in the world make both ends meet through farming, commerce and animal husbandry. If these are disrupted darkness descends destroying lives. Hence a ruler should protect these occupations with all his skill.Companionship and progeny are the gift of marriage. Good behaviour and Dharma are the wealth of education. Sharing is the essence of having wealth. Keeping the sacrificial fire burning is the goal of learning Vedas. Do you recognise all these and act accordingly?

Dharmaraja! One should with utmost care collect and store wealth and grains in the treasury and granary of the fort. Armed and brave soldiers should be appointed to guard these. Machinery that uses straw, water and fire should be built and used for protecting the fort. I assume such impenetrable forts full of treasures and food dot your kingdom of Khandavaprastha. A ruler should first win over the six enemies of the mind (Arishadvarga): Kama (desire), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed), Moha (attachment), Mada (pride), Matsarya(envy). Only after that should he put to sword those who are: drunk with power, enslaved by senses and blinded by pride. Before waging war (Danda) against enemy kings their strength, wealth and courage should be mitigated by employing Sama (negotiation/reconciliation), Dana (gift/compensation), Bheda (divide). Are you following these principles of statecraft with utmost skill? Rulers should steer clear of the following fourteen defects: non-belief, untruth, accidents, tardiness, discussion with financial illiterates, anger, despondency, laziness, inability to identify the learned, seeing gains as losses, inability to follow through on plans, lack of secrecy, abandoning good efforts, excessive sensual pleasures. Giving into these has been the downfall of many a ruler. Are you mastering these with single minded determination?"

On receiving this divine words of advice, Yudhishtira saluted Narada with utmost devotion and replied thus : "Celestial sage! Having sacrificed unjust means and reposing the teachings of great men, to the best of my abilities I am ruling over this kingdom as per your precepts".

Journey to Self - Peeling the onion

         Continued from the previous post here.

        Such were my thoughts as I got down at Samalkota. The helpful porter at the station gave me the information regarding the bus that would take me to Uppada. That's how five hours after I started from Vijayawada I alighted the bus. Uppada is a remote fishing hamlet by the sea. The salt in the air was a fresh and welcome change from the muggy interiors of the bus.

           It wasn't much of a bus station where I got down. There was a small shop, the kind that dots the country side of India. On one corner of the shop a man was brewing tea and smoke was rising from the hot pan on which was a crispy Dosa ordered by one of the patrons. In another corner were four strings tied to the wall from one end to the other. On these strings hung magazines and newspapers in Telugu. The faces of the Telugu heroes and heroines stared at me from the covers of the magazines. Perilously close to these stars a rope made of choir, hung from the roof, with burning embers at its end. A man picked his tea, walked to the rope and lit the cigarette in his mouth with its embers.He took a deep puff and stared into the actors eyes. The man, the haze, and his matinee idols - the scene was surreal. This small kiosk - a cafe, library and smoking joint all rolled into one was the centre of social networking in the village. Farm workers, drivers and conductors of the passing busses, students and idlers  converged in this place and gossiped. Did the plant the saplings in Subbayya's farm? Did you hear about the cobra with two heads found in the temple bushes? It seems Yesayya did not return from the sea for a week said one. He must be testing his wits against a big fish said another. He must have drowned said another.

          The conductor of the bus that brought me here was negotiating with a farmer. The farmer was taking his vegetables to Kakinada. There were twenty sacks of Brinjals, Gourds, Gongura and other vegetables. He opened a couple of sacks and selected a choice few and deposited them in the conductor's bag. There were no doubts as to what was cooking at the conductor's house that evening. One of the helps in the shop briskly climbed the ladder of the bus and got onto the top. The farmer hauled the sacks on his back and climbed the ladder half way. In no time this relay race saw the sacks from the side of the road transferred to the roof of the bus. What was a daily mundane affair to these real life actors, playing their roles to the T, was a mesmerising scene for me. The temple was the centre of life in a village say the history books. But for me this kiosk - where ideas flowed, transactions made, actors idolised, politicians worshipped and castigated, news of the cyclone blared over the radio, deaths mourned and births rejoiced - was the new nerve centre. Presiding over this great information interchange was the man behind the till, the proprietor. If anyone knew Sri Dangeti Kanakam it would be him.

         Uppada is the birthplace of my paternal grand mother. She was the younger of two sisters and her father was a local Karanam. Karanams are a community of brahmins whose traditional role in the village was to collect taxes and to keep a record of the land holdings. The word Kara, in Sanskrit, means tax. Karanams are typically found in Andhra and Odisha. It is said that in the tenth century, Ananthavarman Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty - the nephew of Kulothunga Chola-I and the ruler of  Kalinga - after rebuilding the Jagannath temple in Puri appointed some brahmins to look after the temple finances. The role of Karanams has its origins in that event.

        In this instance it was not the Karanam but my grand mother's elder sister that had brought me here. She walked straight out of Wodehouse's pages, a woman of character, Aunt Agatha transported from the stately mansions that dot the English country side to this tiny village on the sea in South Eastern India. My dad's stories of his formidable aunt and the long lasting lessons of discipline and frugality that she taught him, filled many a hot Sunday afternoon of my own childhood. She was widowed as a child and returned to her father's home while still a teenager. But she did not let that put her down. She kept the hearth burning for her dad and managed his farms. Legend has it that the bark of her orders could be heard a mile away. It was at this time that she visited her younger sister and my grand mother. The differences in the characters of the sisters couldn't have been more stark. My granny was a docile woman, forever toiling away in the kitchen. Weighed down by a flock of kids and unsupported by her domineering husband she drowned herself in her existential sorrows. But an eight year old boy would have hardly understood this. As she lay down after a hard days slog, my dad wrapped around her legs to get some comfort - a comfort that only a mum could give.

-- To be continued.

Journey to Self

             The road was bumpy and narrow. Fields stretched into the distance on both sides. Women were working in the paddy fields with water covering their ankles. White birds, probably herons, picked insects and seeds. Strange large figures stood in the middle of the fields at regular intervals. Their heads were big and round. At a bend of the road, when the bus stopped to give way for an oncoming vehicle, you can catch a proper glimpse of those figures. The heads are consistently and uniformly round as they were actually pots painted white with big eyes and a mouth. The disproportionately long arms were stuffed with straw. The legs are short stubs compared to the arms and a pair of trousers, badly torn, adorned them. These scare crows, if they didn't scare the birds off, would have surely scared a ten year old boy, walking alone in the evening, just as the Sun settled down behind the hills in the distance.

            The bus was packed with people. Around ten children had gotten in at the previous stop. It could hardly be called a stop. There was a clearing through the fields at the other end of which was what looked like a hamlet, dusty and with a few houses. Spotting the thick smoke and dust kicked by the bus the kids picked their bags and ran through the clearing, towards the road, flailing their arms. The bus came to a stuttering halt and the children filed in. Their infectious enthusiasm brought a smile to the most hardened of passengers and what an assortment of travellers they were. The old man in front of me rolled a round of tobacco leaves, chewed on one end and lit the other. The sweet and heavy smell of tobacco filled the crammed bus. His face carried the scars of toiling in the hot Sun. The seasons were etched on his forehead. As he puffed on the cigar his cheeks would be drawn in making him look even more frail. The children in the back seat were trying to catch the smoke he exhaled. It was as if they were trying to carve an image with the smoke. May be they were making a mental image - forming a memory. I read somewhere that you live by making memories. When someone says they like something they mean that they like their memory of that. I like Jalebi because it reminds me of those dark childhood evenings when I waited in anticipation at the bus stop. It was the first of the month - pay day. After many busses had come and gone my mother would emerge from a crowded bus and without fail she had a packet of Jalebi in her hand and we would rush to her. Do I like Jalebi or do I like that dark evening or the dusty bus stop or the sight of my mum stepping out like a super woman rescuing the sweetmeats from the jostling mass of flesh, blood and sweat in the bus?

           The bus screeched to a halt interrupting the flow of time. The conductor announced the stop as Uppada and hurried the passengers to alight. The minute people got off their seats, bags and hand kerchiefs appeared on them. Men trying to get on the bus, heaved themselves into air and thrust their belongings through the windows and on to the seats. It was a Darwinian scuffle to get a seat and reminded me of the wildebeests jumping into the river. A moment of hesitation or self doubt and the seat is gone, snapped by the crocodile.

           Uppada is a tiny village near Kakinada in East Godavari district. I had taken the Pinakini express from Vijayawada, early in the morning, at 5:45 AM. After four hours of seeing the lush green fields and trees, zip away from me in the opposite direction, I got down at Samalkota a small town on the famed Madras-Howrah rail line. The train passed through the Krishna-Godavari delta, the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh and probably the most fertile belt of India. We crossed the Godavari at Rajahmundry, the train making an almighty noise while on the mega bridge that spans the river. The river often referred to as Dakshina Ganga, originates further west in Maharashtra in the holy city of Nasika Tryambakeshwar. It meanders through the land locked districts of Northern Telangana, cuts through the picturesque hills known as Papi Kondalu and emerges at Dhowleswaram, wide and majestic, full to the brim. Before Sir Arthur Cotton built a barrage to tame the raging river, its flood plains covered the whole delta till it emptied itself, after branching out into tentacles, in the Bay of Bengal. Perhaps emptied is the wrong word to use. The rumble in the ocean further down south sends, swirling dark and heavy clouds that enter India from God's own country Kerala. These travel all the way north into the Gangetic plains sending torrents of water battering down the parched land that had been baked into cakes of mud. Trickles become streams, streams turn to tributaries, tributaries pay their taxes into rivers and rivers become raging rivers. Over the millennia the cycle of monsoon has repeated - stronger at times, weak other times, delayed by a couple of weeks now and bang on target then.

          Kingdoms flourished on the banks of these rivers, battles were fought, people built small houses, kings commissioned gigantic temples, humanity procreated and conducted their lives, killed and died by the river, by the monsoon. The names changed, the people changed, the clothes changed but the monsoon and the river stayed constant amongst this all. Year after year it brought down a little more of the stones from the mountains, rolling on and on till they deposited as fertile, life giving, alluvial soil. The river formed memories and layered them one over the other. You can never step into the same river twice. Having taken an imprint of a point in time, it moves on. It has recorded the steps of Adi Shankara going north on his colossal trek across the length of the country. It has stored the stampede of the marauding armies of Malik Kafur, charging down the Deccan plateau. If I got down, what will I find - the wisdom of the sages or the barbarities of the learned in the name of religion? May be the river will hold the mirror to me, a special mirror that peers through flesh and blood and shows the essence of self - unadorned, unblemished and uncorrupted. Is that the purpose of travel? A journey to discover oneself.

-- To be continued

Hayavadana

This story is from some kathasagara dated 1000 years back. German nobel winning writer 'Thomas Mann' adapted it in german in early 20th century. Girish Karnad readapted it for his play. I read the basic plot on internet and re-wrote the story for a play. 

Hayavadana (The horse faced)

commentary:  Mein Samay hoon..(pause)  I am time. (pause). ...What is time? Time is nothing, because it does not exist. Time is everything because without it nothing else exists. While philospohers & scientists fight it out on what time is, i live another day to travel along with the story of Hayavadana, the horse faced.

Opening Scene 1:

A horse faced man is praying to Lord Ganesha , to make him whole. Background song (either Gajanana hey rambha or Vakratunda Mahakaya) shall be played. The song ends & the two main protagonists Devadatta & Kapila enter.

Devadatta: My dear friend Kapila, have you seen this strange sight. A person with the body of a man , but the head of a horse!! Let us find out more about him.

Kapila: Devadatta, I have no time for these idle intellectual pursuits of yours. I am more interested in physical power. I make a living doing hard labour & winning wrestling matches. Of what use are subjects & knowledge which don’t concern your daily life & don’t help you earn a living.

Devadatta: Oh! Come on Kapila it wont take a second.

Devadatta (turning to the horse man) : O! Hayavadana , what is this strange appearance ? How come you have the body of a man, but the head of a horse? Are you a man or a horse?

Hayavadana: Sire ! What can I tell you of my woes. I am the result of a woman's consummation with the divine stallion PanchaKalyani. Have we all not heard & seen a male's virility being compared to that of a horse. My poor mother, prayed to have a child through a man sturdy as a horse. But alas, looks like the Gods don’t understand metaphors. For heavens sake don’t they teach alankara, figures of speech to Gods. And have the Gods no other job than satisfying the teenage requests of nubile girls.

Devadatta: Oh yes! We saw it in Kunti's case & now with your mom! Lo! Your mother's request went & behold the divine horse PanchaKalyani came to impregnate her.

Kapila: The kind & merciful God, who didn’t have time to help the poor old man living next door, found a lot of time to have a little fun on the side. And what a state of drunken confusion he must have been in, to make the unborn child with a horse face & human body.

Hayavadana: Oh! If only I was there to warn my mother not to visit all those temples & see all those sculptures on the walls, she would'nt have had this fantasy about the horse. Now I only pray to God everyday to make me complete. Ganesha Make me whole,Make me whole. (shud get the sansrit sentence for make me whole).

Devadatta:  Hayavadana, what an irony!! whom r u praying for completeness?Ganesha!! An elephant's head on a human body, a broken tusk and a cracked belly-whichever way you look at him he seems the embodiment of imperfection, of incompleteness. But , how indeed can one fathom the mystery that this very Vakratunda-Mahakaya, with his crooked face and distorted body, is the Lord and Master of Success and Perfection? Could it be that this intends to signify by the very appearance that completeness is something that no poor mortal can comprehend?

 Hayavadana exits stage.

Kapila: Are you done with your philosophies, we have to leave now.

[ A young girl passes by, both Kapila & Devedatta notices this girl ]

Kapila: Hey Deva. did you notice that young girl?

Devadatta: Yes indeed! Kapila, what is the use of philosophy or for that matter living when a man has'nt loved. There is this beautiful woman called Padmini in the next village. All my life before setting my eyes on her was a total waste. She is as delicate as a padma, in the water, as beautiful as a rose, playful as a hiran, in the forest. I will cut my head & offer it to Goddess Kali , if only I can marry this girl. Alas, I have never spoken to a girl before!!

Kapila: Oh!my friend. Beware what you pledge to the Gods. They have a long memory. Anyway I cannot bear to see my best friend in such a state of love-sickness. Tell me where she lives & I will propose to her on your behalf & fix your wedding.

Devadatta: Kapila, I will forever be indebted to you.

They exit stage.

Scene 2

Padmini & Kapila

Padmini is on stage. Possibly singing a song. (to be decided.) Towards middle of song Kapila enters stage. She doesn’t notice him yet. He is enchanted by her. Song ends & she sees him.

Padmini: (blushes). Sir, who are you? Excuse me for not noticing you earlier.

Kapila: Dear lady, It was my mistake to intrude upon you. Your voice is beautiful, I couldn’t help but stare. I am Kapila & I have come here to speak to you.

Padmini: (blushes further) (thinking to herself) Oh! he is such a decent , well built & handsome man.

Kapila: My friend, the great Devadatta, poet, scholar & philosopher is madly in love with you. I cant imagine of a more eligible husband for you. Do you consent to this match?

Padmini: Oh!Pandit Devadatta, the man who has won all the intellectual debates in this country. They say he conquered the indriyas(list) & arishadvargas(list). It is my honor to be his wife.

Padmini exits stage.

Kapila☹to himself) : She is so beautiful & childlike. How I wish it was me who was marrying her. (rebukes himself). No what am I thinking , she is the wife of my closest pal.

possibly commentary or music to indicate the marriage [ music of Maangyalyam Thanthunaanena ... ]

Scene 3

Padmini , Devadatta & Kapila

Padmini: (complaining to Devadatta) (kapila is in the background) It has been 6 months since we married & you havent taken me to the Ujjain mela yet. You r always busy with your books & discussions. If only Kapila was not around, I would have gone crazy by now!!

Devadatta: (reacts with a sharp pain, looks at Kapila in jealousy for a second then becomes his normal self)Oh! lotus eyed beauty! I am sorry. Let both of us, the both of us, go to Ujjain tomorrow itself!

Padmini: Oh! You r sho shweet!! (turning to Kapila). Kapila! pack your bags. All three of us are going to Ujjain tomorrow!! Oh! I am so much looking forward to this yatra.

Devadatta burns silently.

all exit stage

Scene 4

Padmini , Devadatta & Kapila enroute to ujjain

Devadatta: Let us rest here. I am tired with so much walking.

Padmini: Oh!come on Deva. Don’t act like an old man. We just started walking. See how Kapila is moving so much ahead of us. Kapila wait,wait!!

Kapila: what is it ,my friend, Devadatta?

Padmini: Deva wants to rest for a while. Let us go & explore that garden.

Devadatta (seething with anger & pain): Bhagwan! What am I seeing?Am I imagining things or is it true? My loyal friend Kapila & faithful wife Padmini.

No! How can i be so untrusting? The world thinks that i have conquered kama,krodha,lobha,moha,mada,matsarya. But here i am, so envious & suspicious.Is my reputation just a sham to decieve people.

No it cant be. I wasnt like this before. The day i started coveting Padmini, i started falling into an abyss.

No Padmini is as chaste as Sita who passed the test of fire.How can i suspect her?

 Ah!No, she is like Tara , the wife of Sugreeva, who lived with his brother Vaali & then again after Vaali's death lived with Sugreeva. Many a war has been the result of a woman's insatiable desire.

while speaking to himself as above he reaches an abandoned Kali temple.

Devadatta: Temple of Goddess Kali!! Oh! my pledge. Didn’t I pledge to give my head to Kali if I marry Padmini!Alas I forgot. Are my problems because of this. Is the Goddess really so vengeful. No it cant be, the almighty is always merciful & doesn’t care about the minor errors of its subjects. No Kali must be avengeful. See the skulls around her neck & her blood dripping tongue. Are these not the trophies of her punishments. Oh! I am going crazy. Mata I surrender to you!! (prostrates & beheads himself).

commentary: After a while, Padmini & Kapila were worried on not finding Devadatta.  Kapila set out to find him.

Kapila arrives

Kapila: Oh! Devadatta. What has happened? What have u done to yourself?. (some cries. then a change of mood & thinking. stop thinking abt Ddatta & think abt self).

What should I do now? The society will think that I murdered my friend to get his beautiful wife. But why should I fear when I have done no crime? Don’t be a fool Kapila. What proof do you have to prove your innocence? society is unforgiving & quick to ascribe motives. It cares more for a scandal than for the integrity of a few souls. How many gossip mongerers will have a field day to weave stories out of my problems. They are not interested in justice & fair play. They will condemn me to death.

If death is what I am going to get, why not escape with Padmini to some far off land. After all did'nt I covet her once upon a time. Gods had conspired against me to steal her away. Now the same Gods have given me an opportunity. As they say, strike the hammer when its hot.

No!how can I do this. What happened to my soul. I can escape from the society & the world, but can I escape from myself. Every person knows when he does something wrong & it is to that Anthrathma that every man is anwserable to. The Maharshis have given this Anthrathma an other name. i,e God. You can betray these Gods of stone but you cannot betray your inner God. I have only one way out of this. I too must die. (prostrates & beheads himself).

commentary: After a while Padmini, started searching for Devadatta & Kapila. 

Padmini: (aghast). Oh! what has befallen on me? Devadatta, my caring husband, & Kapila, my beloved companion, dead , with their heads severed apart. Why has fate played such a cruel joke on me? With a single stroke(or was it two- poor attempt at PJ)my life has turned upside down. Of what use is my young life to me now? (possibly sings) (tries to behead herself).

Kali: Dear child , why do u commit suicide? Life is beautiful. Live it Kingsize!! Oh probably I should say Queen size. I think you don’t believe in cross dressing.(PJ!)

Padmini: How do I live? Both my husband & friend have sacrificed themselves for your sake.

Kali: Padmini, why do you blame the Gods for the deeds of the humans. Both DD & Kapila are dead not because of me , but because of their own insecurities & fears. Mankind tarnishes the image of Gods by claiming to act on their behalf. FYI we have our own problems to grapple with. We have to deal with the internal politics of Indra, Yama & the Trimurthies. We have to stop Indra from chasing skirts, Shiva from dancing wildly, Brahma from sleeping too long & Vishnu from fighting with Laskmi all the while. We also have to grapple with millions of swamis & babas whom u humans try to promote to Godhood. We cannot simply give away our seats to them. To put simply we have no time for you. The brahmand has a set of physical rules which were there always & will always be there. They are not permutable. Everyone is just subservient to these rules. Your prayers to Gods (who r they?who am I?) to bend these rules, to perform miracles are of no use.

Padmini: Mata, if u say that I have nothing else to do but die.

Kali: Oh!these women!! Now,now all that I said till now is for the record. Off-the-record , on the sly, actually I can do something for you. what do you want?

Padmini: Mata , pls bring them back to life.

Kali: Ok! If you so wish. Fix their heads back on their bodies & they will live again. & she vanishes

Padmini: Thank u. Thank u so much.

(she hurriedly puts the heads back but for the wrong bodies).

Devadatta & Kapila get up with heads exchanged now.

Padmini is delighted at first till she realises what she did.

from now wherever it says DD it means DD head+Kapila body.

Kapila means Kapila head+DD body.

Devadatta: Oh!What happened?Padmini, i am so glad to see u. Hey whats this. I feel so strong & energetic. And who has changed my clothes.

Kapila: Hey those r my clothes!(Realises...). Oh!our heads & bodies are interchanged.What a mircale?Dare u touch Padmini.She is my wife. I have the body of DD.

Devadatta: Shut up Kapila.Dont blabber. I am DD. I have the head of DD && its me who is the husband of Padmini.

Padmini: Oh! My Goodness. What did i do?Who is my husband amongst the two? Should I choose the DDs head or DDs body?

Davadatta: Head is the ruler of the body.It controls what the body does & is hence more important. So i am the hubby.

Kapila: Nonsense. Body is more important. If not for the hands, legs, stomach & other organs the head is but a dead matter. So i am the hubby.

Devadatta: Cogito ergo sum. I think therefore i am. If my mind doesnt think nothing in the world exists. If i remove all the panchendriya, the senses then what is existence. This temple exists for me because i see that it is there. Anything in the world exists only as long as u perceive it.

Kapila: You r overemphasizing the importance of senses , thereby exposing your own selfishness. The sun rises in the east, whether you see it or not , whether you feel it or not. You imagine the universe to be human centric. But the universe existed before humans came & shall continue to exist long after they r gone.And as long as a human breathes in this world the body is important. If not for the body of your father (& mother) you wouldnt be standing today.

Devadatta: If your fathers mind did not instruct his body to do what he did, you wouldnt have been here today either.

Padmini: Pls dont fight. According to one mythological story Draupadi prayed to have a just,strong,skillful,handsome & pleasing husband. The Gods in their own mighty wisdom gave her Pandavas one with each of the above qualities. Probably i must have a prayed for an intelligent & strong husband. Why dont you both accept me as your wife?

Kapila: No, this dispute can only be resolved by a learned scholar. I know a Mahasadhvi, lets go to her and ask for her advise.

Commentary: Friendship shattered, family torn apart , the three went in search of a soultion to the problem of the transposed heads.

Scholar: yes this is a strange problem indeed. Who is the complete & whole Devadatta? The one with DD's head or his body? What is whole? Can we mere mortals understand the "poorna" (whole)?

Om. Purnah-madah. Purnah-midam

Purnat purna-mudach-ya-tay

Purnas-ya purna-madayah

Purna-meva-vashees-ya-tay

That is Whole, This is Whole ,

From the Whole the Whole becomes manifest.

From the Whole, when the Whole is negated,

What remains is again the Whole

This is what Isa Upanishad says.

But there has to be way out of this deadlock. Knowledge imparted by education is the only thing that separates man from beast. And the abode of Sarada is in the head. So the person with DD's head is the husband of Padmini.

Scene 5

commentary: The issue having been so resolved, Kapila with his new DD's body withdrew to the forests now that he lost Padmini. DD, with his new found & energetic body lived with Padmini enjoying conjugal bliss. Padmini also enjoyed now with an intelligent husband who was strong & energetic as well.  They lived happily ever after. Ever after!!One moment, let us peek into DD's & Padmini's life to see how there happiness is continuing... After all, they said, spread happiness!! 

Devadatta: Paddu, i participated in a wrestling match today.i was quite good at it. My mind kept saying that i should shun violence but my body won this time!!

Padmini: Its ok to succumb to instincts some times. After all violence & self defence are the basic instincts in the state of nature. I always tell you to exercise your body. As they say 'A sound mind in a sound body is a must for happy life. But you r always stuck with your literary pursuits & r neglecting your health.

commentary: As fate has it, or should i say as mind has it, DD neglected his body in favour of his mind. Over a period of time he lost the well toned body of Kapila & instead got the weak & creaky body of DD. On the other hand Kapila in the forest was at times writing poetry under the influence of DD's body. But most of the times he worked hard as his mind instructed him to & made DDs weak body into a healthy one. Alas Padmini, who now had a baby, again came back to square one - An intelligent husband with a weak body who didnt have much time for his wife. She started to think of the playful Kapila & decided to pay a visit.

Kapila: Padmini!! I cannot believe this. Am i dreaming? How r u?

Padmini: Hello Kapila, i wanted to see you.

At this moment DD charges onto the stage.

Devadatta: You deceitful man. Are you planning to mislead my wife with your vileful tricks?Paddu, have u no shame to come here even after knowing his true intentions.

Padmini: I was only visiting an old friend.

Kapila: You havent changed. Have u?You r still the same old doubter. See what u have done to my body.

Devadatta: I will not let u live for another minute.

They charge at each other & cut each others heads.

Padmini is stunned falls on the ground & moans.

Hayavadana enters stage on his fours & neighing.

Padmini: Are u not Hayavadana , that my husband told me about? Werent you praying to be whole. Alas when u said whole, the Gods didnt understand whether it is a whole man or whole horse. Why shud we imagine that God looks like a human being & should have made you a man. May be God is a horse. Why do human beings think that they are the pinnacle of nature & it is a God in their own form who has made it? We are told everyday that a child's where,what,who,how questions are the basis of all knowledge & progress. But do we ask these questions about God? We just believe what we are told. But is there really a God?If so what is his/her/its purpose? And importantly what is my purpose. Am i just some character in a play that God is hosting to entertain his guests on a Diwali night. May be the whole universe is just a parasite in the intestine of an alien. But then where is this alien? Does he stay in some other universe?How can i be sure that is the outermost universe? Universe?Who told that this is a universe ? May be it is a multiverse.  What is the beginning? What is the end ? Then what meaning does whole & complete have.

Probably The Hymn of Creation (Nasadiya Sukta of Rg Veda (10-129)) says the truth,

Who verily knows and who can here declare it , whence it was

Born and whence came this creation?

The gods are later than this world‘s production. Who knows?

Then whence it first came into being?

He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all

Or did not form it

Whose eyes control this world in highest heaven, he verily

Knows it or perhaps he knows not.

Does he know or does he even not know?

play title music from discovery of india echoing the above hymn & end.