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First Person Singluar

THE BOOK BRIDGE

Aroon Sharma
May 2009

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On the sly though, and on a tightrope walk -- an iconoclast, an atheist, an agnostic -- I am, in three equal measures. I have stock answers to pointed questions, if my three-in-one thoughts, are inherited or acquired. But I do look back more than often. Through the dimly lit alley of upbringing, I can see my patriarchs held onto 'karma' ; the matriarchs to 'dharma', with odd exceptions either side.

Yet, I find Faith metaphysically mesmeric. ! Fables, stemming out of it, fascinate me. Legends, branching and sub-branching, are worth a re-listen. Sieving the chaffe from wheat, I am amused, how faith-based fables evolve faster than fables about wars and women. Co-cousined legends, too, octopussy by the oceanic oratory. More the merrier. More of Almighty; more of fables; more legends.

So ! Everytime a dispute arises over Faith, I see a bright spot. It blinds me to the pros and cons of it. Instead, it takes me to books -- some bequeathed to me ; some bought by me ! Rather than brimstone the fire in study circles and seminars, I sit by the proverbial fireside, let the rocking chair be in a medium momentum as I flip through the pages which list my logic with what was hitherto alien to me !

Last winter, I warmed up to a war of words over Ram Sethu in Ramayana. I was bemused by reaffirmations and rebuttals. Later, I lost interest. I left it as a probable plank for the April-May polls. Ram Sethu never became a part of the poetry on the air, supportive to prosaic speeches in the open air, once again proved that the opinion and exit polls in an era of coalition politics are a sham by psephologists.

I have been to Kanya Kumari; not to Dhanushkodi. It was from here, a way was sought by Rama to Talaimannar in Lanka. It is now Ram Sethu. I know Ramayana heard in parts, read in texts. But I deny that I was a watcher of the TV serial -- 'Ramayana', an acknowledged epic. And the way I mark literature, its a masterpiece par excellence. It has a plot, a sub plot, virtually encompassing characters of everyday life.

Once late film comedian I.S. Johar put across, all films are based on Ramayana mother, stepmother , brother, twins et al. Since then, I see films and chuckle ! As dos and donts of dredging through Ram Sethu for less circuitious navigation through Palk Strait hang fire in courts, I turn to Bharat Ratna, India First Governor General, President of India late

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari's book “RAMAYANA”

Excerpts from his preface are: "Greece the Greece we all admire is gone, but Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' remain and will remain for ever……

…..”So also will Valmiki's Ramayana live in all the tongues of the civilized people whatever may happen to India and its politics……

…..”the Ramayana is not history or biography. It is a part of Hindu mythology. We cannot understand Greek life and Greek civilization without knowing……

……”all about Zeus, Apollo, Hercules and others. So also one cannot understand Hindu 'dharma' unless one knows Rama and Seeta, Bharata, Lakshmana, Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Hanuman……

…...”even an iconoclast like Bernard Shaw has acknowledged the essentiality of myths."

I turn to the second book. Paul Theroux has an eye-opener in ''THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR'' en route Rameswaram, the conductor told him:

…..“an Indo-Ceylon Express formerly went to Dhanushkodi ….but in 1965, a cyclone derailed a train, drowning 40 passengers and covering Danushkodi with sand…..

…..”The town had disappeared so thoroughly that not evebn fishermen lived there any more….( Rameswaram ) has tombs of Cain and Abel. The Christian in Paul Theroux heard it intently.

….”when Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, they went to Ceylon ( Dhanushkodi is the beginning of the seven islands across the Palk Strait known as Adam's bridge )…..

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