Blessed are those.......

The head of the family has an important meeting or function to attend that day.  He is up early, finishes all the daily chores quickly and gets ready to catch the earliest mode of conveyance to reach the venue of the meeting or function. A carefully chosen set of all white dress is kept ready for wearing on the occasion. He is all dressed up and ready to go. Something tugs him from behind.  He turns around to find a pretty little face smiling at him. His grandchild is pulling his dress and looking up at him. The child was playing around in the house and its entire body is dirty. So are the hands. The dirt has now firmly been transferred to his all white dress and makes a striking impact at first sight. There is no way now for him to go out in that dress. He has to either change the dress or answer everyone who sees him as to why the dress is dirty. He is in a quandary.

He shouts at the grandmother or mother of the child. The admonition is all the more severe if the grandmother is nearby. "You are so careless. See, what your grandson (or granddaughter, as the case may be) has done. My dress is all dirty. How can I go out now in this dress?  I have no time to search for an alternate set and change over. You are causing unnecessary problems for me. You are always like this." Shouting is reserved only for the grandmother or mother. The child is not to be scolded. He picks up the child and embraces it unmindful of adding further dirt on his now half-dirty dress. The urgency of the meeting or function is temporarily forgotten and he continues to play with the child for some more time. Other things can wait but not the moments to be spent with the child. 

His departure is delayed further and plans for the day are disrupted.

*****

The door bell rings. Head of the family is busy with some important task. He frowns and hurries to the door to open it. He finds someone elderly and dignified standing at the door. His expression changes immediately.  He prostrates at the feet of the guest and brings him in by holding his hand. The guest is seated now. He calls all the other members of the family. Mere mention of the name of the guest changes their expressions and all of them pay their fullest respects to the guest. He is treated as a messenger of the god they believe in.  When the guest is finally ready to leave, the head of the family says with folded hands, "Our long time wish is fulfilled today. We are extremely thankful for your visit. We are fortunate to have your "Paada-dhooli" (dust on the feet, meaning your visit) in our house. We are indeed blessed today!"

*****

Kavikulaguru Kaalidasa has no hesitation to say that the first one above, with the dirty dress, is indeed the blessed one! The second one is blessed too, but the bounty received by the first one is no less than the other. This is a scene from his celebrated work, Abhignana Shaakuntalam: 

King Dushyanta has gone to the heavens to support and assist the King of Gods, Indra, in fighting his enemies. After the victory in the war with a substantial contribution by King Dushyanta, Indra has instructed his charioteer Maatali to take Dushyanta in Indra's personal chariot back to his kingdom on earth. On the path of the journey, they pass through Sage Maareecha's ashram. They stop to pay respects to the revered couple. While entering the ashram, King Dushyanta sights a young boy fearlessly playing with a lion cub. 

They boy forcefully opens the mouth of the cub and tells the cub, "Yawn and open your mouth widely. I want to count the number of teeth in your mouth". His mother's friends forbid him from forcing the cub. They exclaim that the name "Sarvadamana", meaning tamer of everyone, is justified for the boy. They offer him an alternate toy, a peacock. He is not interested in it and does not let go the lion cub. (King Dushyanta does not know that the boy Sarvadamana is his own son and Shakuntala is the mother. He does not also know that they boy will, in due course, become famous as Bharata chakravarthy and our land will be known as "Bharata", getting its name due to him). Dushyanta exclaims:

आलक्ष्य दन्तमुकुलान् अनिमित्त हासैः  अव्यक्त वर्ण रमणीय वचः प्रवृत्तीन् |

    अङ्काश्रय प्रणयिनस्तनयान् वहन्तॊ धन्यास्तदङ्ग रजसा मलिनी भवन्ति ||  

Aaalakshya dantamukulaaan animitta haasai

             Avyakta varna ramaneeya vachahpravrutteen,

Ankashrayapranayinah tanayaaan vahanto 

             Dhanyaastadanga rajasa malinee bhavanti

"Children smile for no reason.  When they so smile, their pearl like teeth peer through the mouth. When they talk, the words may not make meaning and yet we understand them. When you hold them, the dress gets spoiled due to the dust present all over their body. But the ones who have such muddied (dirtied) dress are the real blessed ones!" 

*****

There is a big difference between the blessings brought in by the two (the child and the elderly guest) in the two instances discussed above. In the second instance, the elderly guest has dust only on his feet as he walks erect. The head of the family receiving him, therefore, says that they are blessed by his "Paada-dhooli".  But the first one is even better. His grandchild is playing on the ground and its whole body is covered with dust. Hence Kaalidasa uses the term "Anga-rajas" as against "Paada-rajas". This is the subtle difference the Mahaakavi makes in his interpretation.

There is another important dimension between the blessings brought in by the two discussed above. The elder one has attained the position and the capacity to offer blessings due to leading a long, dignified and pious life devoted to serving others. The child does not bless us nor understands even the meaning of "blessing". But it is in itself a package of blessing sent from above!  It is truly blessing personified. This is not just a blessing; it is a symbol of continuity of life, its eternal charm and unending pleasures. 

Kuckoo and the Frog

Another mango season is here.  This is the season of "The king of fruits", as those fond of mangoes call it.  Many varieties of the fruit will flood the market in a few days. Advancement in transportation has made it possible for almost all varieties of the fruit to reach all corners of the country and the world.

Another election season is also here.  We are in the midst of one of the most fiercely contested elections of our generation.  The then familiar sound decibel levels of our younger days have made way for the modern cyber fights.  Internet, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc. have been used both imaginatively as well as brutally to further the prospects of the user's favorite candidates.  This is also one of the longest election process we have ever seen.  We were used to see a new government in place before the indelible mark put on the finger on the voting day moved out of our nails.  Those who voted in the very first phase of this election may not be able to see the mark on their fingers when their votes are counted and the new government takes its stance!

As the mango season and election have converged again, comparison with a similar situation four decades ago appears quite in order.  This is all the more apt in an environment where even the rare breed of civilized leaders are losing their cool and inventing lower and lower levels of words, phrases and jargons to castigate their rivals.

Forty years ago, mango and election season had similarly converged.  I had come home for the New Year festival Ugadi, from a distant place where I had started by work-life.  There was the usual noise of the loudspeakers outside the house, doing their job as part of the election campaign. In a corner of the house my younger sister was rehearsing a verse repeatedly for her forthcoming examination.  That election scene as well as the verse she was mugging up are relevant today.

The two candidates representing the major political parties in that election, belonged to the same dominant community in the region.  They both had many things in common, except age.  There was another interesting twist to the contest; the younger candidate was a disciple of the elder statesman and was an active canvasser for his success in the earlier elections.  Politics had now drawn them apart and the realities of life manifested sharply.  The elder stalwart did not retire to make way for the disciple since there was no retirement age for politicians.  The younger aspirant could not wait any longer and had to migrate to the other party to seek his fortunes.  The other party was looking for a promising candidate and he was the logical choice for them.  Thus the circumstances pitted the veteran guru against the young follower. Though the fight was close and strong, there was no bitterness between the two.  On the day of filing nominations, the junior went to the senior to seek his blessings.  The elder statesman blessed him and said that victory is his if either of them win.  "If I win it is my victory; if you win, it is my victory too!", he said smilingly. The campaign did not have any bitterness at the personal level.

A healthy campaign was followed by brisk voting.  The younger one emerged victorious.  The Guru had probably smelt the result. He was not present at the counting center when the results were declared.  The supporters of the winner had arranged for a public meeting to celebrate the victory of their leader.   But the winner urged his followers to cancel the celebrations. Instead of proceeding to the venue of the meeting, he went directly from the counting center to the house of the defeated guru and prostrated before him.  The guru congratulated him and urged his student to go ahead with the meeting as it was his duty to thank all those who worked for his victory. "There are no victors or vanquished after a democratic election", he declared and said the baton has passed on as per the wish of the people. The public meeting went on thereafter, but was a low key affair.

Now back to the verse my sister was busy mugging up.  It was about the Kuckoo and the Frog:

पक्वं चूतफलं भुक्त्वा गर्वं नायाति कोकिलः|  पीत्वा कर्दम पानीयं भेकः रट रटायते ||       

Pakvam chootaphalam bhuktvaa garvam naayati kokilaha, 

Peetvaa kardama paneeyam bhekaha ratarataayate!     

The Kuckoo bird feasts on the sweet juice of ripe mangoes and yet does not shout with pride or vanity. It only exudes with a sweet voice.  The frog drinks muddy and dirty water and yet continuously makes deafening croaking sound (called ribbit), as if it has achieved something great!

This election is not about Mangoes or Kuckoo birds.  It is only, unfortunately, reminding us of the frogs and their never ending ribbit.