#review #freenix
Title: Krishna or Karna
Krishna or Karna: Awareness or Ignorance: Equanimity or Egotism
Our awareness and ignorance are intertwined in every action that we perform. We have a free will and yet find ourselves shackled to our thoughts. We know our strengths and yet delude ourselves to weaknesses. We adulate virtuousness and yet tread towards depravity. Man is nothing but a mere puppet of his own illusion.
Mahabharata one of the greatest epics in the world tells us a story that has multifold interpretations. One of the key learning in them would be to exercise the right control over our thoughts. While the story is chiefly about right and wrong, dharma and adharma, it also portrays its characters with a lot of emotional depth intriguing us to understand the circumstances that lead to the unfolding of certain events in the story. Out of all the central figures, two characters draw significant similarities between their lives; Krishna and Karna. A comparison of their early lives reveals how 2 great men with strikingly similar experiences chose different ways to react to a multitude of obstacles they encounter. One guided by his intellect and a sense of purpose while the other purely by his vengeance. Eventually, it is the intellect that always triumphs over anything on a battlefield.
Krishna, son of Yasodha, considered as the epitome of virtue supported righteousness in the Kurukshetra war. His decisions, despite its deceitfulness and flaws, were always directed towards a much larger and noble cause. His glorification was a result of an unrelenting endeavor to uphold dharma above all.
Karna, son of Radha while being a man of unparalleled prowess met disgrace in the hands of fate for his staunch support to the antagonist in the story. With all his exemplary virtue, he was still a man of disrepute not just for his social status but also for his actions that sought inordinate retribution. He failed to canalise his skill towards a meaningful purpose.
All of us inherently have a Krishna and a Karna within us. While it is entirely our prerogative to make a choice, the consequences of such choices remain something beyond our faculties. Every circumstance is an opportunity to summon either of these warriors within us, and if we were to look at some of the instances that lead us to these compulsions, it would mostly be those that had the least significance as a subject in our lives. An argument over frivolous concerns, revulsion, and prejudicial opinion toward someone without any corroboration, envious thoughts, covetousness, and insecurity are all a resultant drive of a mind that is unsettled deep inside.
Karna in Mahabharata was a hero who gave in to his overwhelming emotions. He lost his humility envying Arjuna, then, lost his dignity submitting to a misleading Duryodhana. He further disgraced himself by being a part of Draupadi’s vastraharan. He justified his every vile action as his vengeance towards an atrocious society. Karna supported his repugnant action with a rationale of his own till the end. Ergo, it is said that Karna symbolises men who do not have control over their senses. They defend their wrongdoings and remain disillusioned by their egotism.
Krishna on the other hand had equally faced a tumultuous past. His childhood was marked by many dreadful events. He dealt all the impediments with great fortitude and maintained equanimity throughout his life. He could complain of a troublesome past; however, he chose to rise on those occasions. He prioritised a bigger cause over his own personal vendetta. This is what differentiates a great mind from the average ones.
Title: Krishna or Karna
Krishna or Karna: Awareness or Ignorance: Equanimity or Egotism
Our awareness and ignorance are intertwined in every action that we perform. We have a free will and yet find ourselves shackled to our thoughts. We know our strengths and yet delude ourselves to weaknesses. We adulate virtuousness and yet tread towards depravity. Man is nothing but a mere puppet of his own illusion.
Mahabharata one of the greatest epics in the world tells us a story that has multifold interpretations. One of the key learning in them would be to exercise the right control over our thoughts. While the story is chiefly about right and wrong, dharma and adharma, it also portrays its characters with a lot of emotional depth intriguing us to understand the circumstances that lead to the unfolding of certain events in the story. Out of all the central figures, two characters draw significant similarities between their lives; Krishna and Karna. A comparison of their early lives reveals how 2 great men with strikingly similar experiences chose different ways to react to a multitude of obstacles they encounter. One guided by his intellect and a sense of purpose while the other purely by his vengeance. Eventually, it is the intellect that always triumphs over anything on a battlefield.
Krishna, son of Yasodha, considered as the epitome of virtue supported righteousness in the Kurukshetra war. His decisions, despite its deceitfulness and flaws, were always directed towards a much larger and noble cause. His glorification was a result of an unrelenting endeavor to uphold dharma above all.
Karna, son of Radha while being a man of unparalleled prowess met disgrace in the hands of fate for his staunch support to the antagonist in the story. With all his exemplary virtue, he was still a man of disrepute not just for his social status but also for his actions that sought inordinate retribution. He failed to canalise his skill towards a meaningful purpose.
All of us inherently have a Krishna and a Karna within us. While it is entirely our prerogative to make a choice, the consequences of such choices remain something beyond our faculties. Every circumstance is an opportunity to summon either of these warriors within us, and if we were to look at some of the instances that lead us to these compulsions, it would mostly be those that had the least significance as a subject in our lives. An argument over frivolous concerns, revulsion, and prejudicial opinion toward someone without any corroboration, envious thoughts, covetousness, and insecurity are all a resultant drive of a mind that is unsettled deep inside.
Karna in Mahabharata was a hero who gave in to his overwhelming emotions. He lost his humility envying Arjuna, then, lost his dignity submitting to a misleading Duryodhana. He further disgraced himself by being a part of Draupadi’s vastraharan. He justified his every vile action as his vengeance towards an atrocious society. Karna supported his repugnant action with a rationale of his own till the end. Ergo, it is said that Karna symbolises men who do not have control over their senses. They defend their wrongdoings and remain disillusioned by their egotism.
Krishna on the other hand had equally faced a tumultuous past. His childhood was marked by many dreadful events. He dealt all the impediments with great fortitude and maintained equanimity throughout his life. He could complain of a troublesome past; however, he chose to rise on those occasions. He prioritised a bigger cause over his own personal vendetta. This is what differentiates a great mind from the average ones.
#review #freenix
A Day in the life of Sujatha
Part 1
As the slanting rays of the sun fell across her face forcing itself through the old wooden window, Sujatha woke up to a new day quite unwillingly. Her eyelids still not wanting to depart each other, it looked more like a choice made to avoid facing the painful realities. She gently nudged, Bidyut, her 4-year-old son to wake up who had burrowed himself in his blanket beside her. She sat for a moment letting the thoughts of her incomplete project work run through her mind to give her the jolt she needed to start her day. As the blaring alarm rang quarter past 6, Sujatha sprang to her feet and forced herself straight into the kitchen where Lata, her mother had already begun chopping drumsticks for their morning breakfast of idli with sambar.
Sujatha brewed coffee for Vijayan, her father, waiting impatiently for it, seated on an old chair at the veranda, and reading a newspaper.
Sujatha was raised in a conservative family, which followed traditional values. It required her to adopt the 'ways of the women' in the family, by subduing her true self that sought freedom to express her innermost desires. At an early age of 14, her father had taught her how ‘good women’ behave, and how cooking delicious food helps one find a successful groom in the community.
She walked towards the veranda with a coffee in her hand -
‘Appa, coffee,’ she addressed her father with a smile.
‘Keep it on the table. You were late last night!’
‘Yeah, I had to complete my pending work assignments. I still have a lot more to do.’
He lowered his newspaper and stared at her through his glasses –
‘Whatever you have, you should be home by 8 pm. Women should not be late like this. Don’t you know it is unsafe? You have a 4-year-old son! Don’t forget that. ’
‘But Appa, my manager had dropped me home last night. I didn’t come on my own,’ replied Sujatha in a soft tone of voice without willing to incur her father’s wrath.
‘You could take a bus instead!’ was his immediate remark. ’ Anyway, your scooter is back from the workshop for you to take tomorrow!’
Sujatha nodded her assent and went inside. While walking towards her room, she overheard a faint conversation of Vijayan asking his wife if their daughter had uploaded her details on a divorcee matrimonial website, as recommended by him.
‘She didn’t. She needs time to settle down,’ replied a worried Lata.
‘What does she think she would do with a child? Why can’t she listen to us?’ asked Vijayan with an annoyed look. ‘It was not necessary to ask him for a divorce. We could have helped him meet a good doctor to fix his problems.’
Not willing to let her father’s ignorance bog her down, she went to her son Bidyut, who was yet to wake up.
‘Ajju, wakeup mone, mamma needs to go soon today. Get ready; go brush your teeth.’
Bidyut woke up from his deep sleep and pleaded his mother to allow him some time.
‘No! Enough! You are going right now.’ Sujatha exclaimed moving hurriedly to finish all her morning chores. She cooked lunch for her son, and then moved towards getting herself ready for the day.
While she stood in front of the mirror to groom her hair, a deep sense of despair struck her. Her cheerful face reminded her of the high school days when the boys would flock around her in an attempt to get a slice of her attention. She would pay no heed to such attempts as her inclination had always been towards men who averted her. The boys who had no time for a beautiful girl like Sujatha were the ones who aroused subtle curiosity in her. But then, she wouldn’t have known that she would eventually marry such a man and have a remorseful life.
A Day in the life of Sujatha
Part 1
As the slanting rays of the sun fell across her face forcing itself through the old wooden window, Sujatha woke up to a new day quite unwillingly. Her eyelids still not wanting to depart each other, it looked more like a choice made to avoid facing the painful realities. She gently nudged, Bidyut, her 4-year-old son to wake up who had burrowed himself in his blanket beside her. She sat for a moment letting the thoughts of her incomplete project work run through her mind to give her the jolt she needed to start her day. As the blaring alarm rang quarter past 6, Sujatha sprang to her feet and forced herself straight into the kitchen where Lata, her mother had already begun chopping drumsticks for their morning breakfast of idli with sambar.
Sujatha brewed coffee for Vijayan, her father, waiting impatiently for it, seated on an old chair at the veranda, and reading a newspaper.
Sujatha was raised in a conservative family, which followed traditional values. It required her to adopt the 'ways of the women' in the family, by subduing her true self that sought freedom to express her innermost desires. At an early age of 14, her father had taught her how ‘good women’ behave, and how cooking delicious food helps one find a successful groom in the community.
She walked towards the veranda with a coffee in her hand -
‘Appa, coffee,’ she addressed her father with a smile.
‘Keep it on the table. You were late last night!’
‘Yeah, I had to complete my pending work assignments. I still have a lot more to do.’
He lowered his newspaper and stared at her through his glasses –
‘Whatever you have, you should be home by 8 pm. Women should not be late like this. Don’t you know it is unsafe? You have a 4-year-old son! Don’t forget that. ’
‘But Appa, my manager had dropped me home last night. I didn’t come on my own,’ replied Sujatha in a soft tone of voice without willing to incur her father’s wrath.
‘You could take a bus instead!’ was his immediate remark. ’ Anyway, your scooter is back from the workshop for you to take tomorrow!’
Sujatha nodded her assent and went inside. While walking towards her room, she overheard a faint conversation of Vijayan asking his wife if their daughter had uploaded her details on a divorcee matrimonial website, as recommended by him.
‘She didn’t. She needs time to settle down,’ replied a worried Lata.
‘What does she think she would do with a child? Why can’t she listen to us?’ asked Vijayan with an annoyed look. ‘It was not necessary to ask him for a divorce. We could have helped him meet a good doctor to fix his problems.’
Not willing to let her father’s ignorance bog her down, she went to her son Bidyut, who was yet to wake up.
‘Ajju, wakeup mone, mamma needs to go soon today. Get ready; go brush your teeth.’
Bidyut woke up from his deep sleep and pleaded his mother to allow him some time.
‘No! Enough! You are going right now.’ Sujatha exclaimed moving hurriedly to finish all her morning chores. She cooked lunch for her son, and then moved towards getting herself ready for the day.
While she stood in front of the mirror to groom her hair, a deep sense of despair struck her. Her cheerful face reminded her of the high school days when the boys would flock around her in an attempt to get a slice of her attention. She would pay no heed to such attempts as her inclination had always been towards men who averted her. The boys who had no time for a beautiful girl like Sujatha were the ones who aroused subtle curiosity in her. But then, she wouldn’t have known that she would eventually marry such a man and have a remorseful life.
#review #freenix
Part 2
A Day in the life of Sujatha
Sujatha reached her office parking lot and ran towards her floor to login. Once inside, she started her work assignment that had to be completed on priority.
Dhruv, her team leader who had dropped her home last night ‘coincidentally’ seemed to have arrived sooner.
Dhruv had been working with Sujatha for a couple of years. A mildly reserved and hardworking person Dhruv had very little interests in his life and one of them happened to be admiring Sujatha. He had a liking towards her from the day she joined the organisation as a senior associate. This gradually took the shape of a very intense infatuation, partly due to the fantasies he has had with her in his mind. However, he kept his feelings to himself knowing she was a married woman. He would often make excuses to have a prolonged conversation with Sujatha inside and outside the office.
‘Hey Sujatha, can we go for a coffee break? Cafeteria is open now’ asked Dhruv meekly
‘No Dhruv, I have a lot of work piled up and need to complete this by the end of the day’
A visibly hurt Dhruv mustered some courage and said, ‘Come on! 10 minutes in the cafeteria would not impact your work so much.’
Dhruv had known of the recent divorce petition filed by Sujatha through Maria, her close friend who she used to confide in. Upon learning it, he had gone to her with a flower and few words of consolation wanting to look thoughtful and caring; however, Sujatha had not been very pleased with his approach. She wanted this information to be private and had cursed Maria for having shared it with him.
Dhruv stood there awaiting a response from her
Sujatha paused herself for a moment, and then with a confused expression said ‘Let’s go.’
Part 2
A Day in the life of Sujatha
Sujatha reached her office parking lot and ran towards her floor to login. Once inside, she started her work assignment that had to be completed on priority.
Dhruv, her team leader who had dropped her home last night ‘coincidentally’ seemed to have arrived sooner.
Dhruv had been working with Sujatha for a couple of years. A mildly reserved and hardworking person Dhruv had very little interests in his life and one of them happened to be admiring Sujatha. He had a liking towards her from the day she joined the organisation as a senior associate. This gradually took the shape of a very intense infatuation, partly due to the fantasies he has had with her in his mind. However, he kept his feelings to himself knowing she was a married woman. He would often make excuses to have a prolonged conversation with Sujatha inside and outside the office.
‘Hey Sujatha, can we go for a coffee break? Cafeteria is open now’ asked Dhruv meekly
‘No Dhruv, I have a lot of work piled up and need to complete this by the end of the day’
A visibly hurt Dhruv mustered some courage and said, ‘Come on! 10 minutes in the cafeteria would not impact your work so much.’
Dhruv had known of the recent divorce petition filed by Sujatha through Maria, her close friend who she used to confide in. Upon learning it, he had gone to her with a flower and few words of consolation wanting to look thoughtful and caring; however, Sujatha had not been very pleased with his approach. She wanted this information to be private and had cursed Maria for having shared it with him.
Dhruv stood there awaiting a response from her
Sujatha paused herself for a moment, and then with a confused expression said ‘Let’s go.’
#review #shortstory #Freenix
Title: Conium Maculatum
Eternally wrapped in the solace of time, you seized my soul and pushed me to the mirror maze of life. These infinitesimal moments of empty togetherness brings me a feeling of desolation and agony. Oh Life! Why do I seek thy shelter when I know you aren’t my home? Let me go to my true home; that is where I find my harmony.
Delbert Shokem held back for a moment and took a deep breath. His hollow brown eyes gazed at the words he scribbled in distress. His brows shrunk as he felt a lump in his throat when he tried to summon his calmness amid a chaotic mind charging at him like a raging bull trying to gore a matador.
The man reassuring himself that his words would be read fairly someday by the children of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, he trampled his anguish and resumed writing. Against all fears, doubts, and apprehension, he wrote -
It’s agonising to see my resolution go in vain. They are rigid; my students. Their obstinate determination to neglect the pattern brings an insurmountable rage and angst in me. All I want is to guide them. But they think I have severe apophenia. They want me confined by these walls out of fear. I am no phantom. The real ones lurk outside. I am a free man they can't confine.
Delbert stopped writing and placed his untiring pen down, leaning back on his chair. He looked around with his retired eyes and saw a bed in the corner of the room waiting for him with its arms wide open. Aside from the old bed and the wooden chair, the room had a table with a paper and a pen on it, a lamp, an analogue clock without numbers for the numerophobic man, and a pot of water in the dimly lit patient room of the Mental-health Institute & Neuroscience Department.
Being seated on his chair, Delbert looked upwards, facing the roof as he closed his eyes to drift deep down his thoughts for a moment. A slow smile worked its way across his face, gradually turning into a laugh, and then, a maniacal laugh heard through the corridors of the hospital.
Professor Delbert was a renowned ethnobotany researcher, known to be a prudent man with an intriguing countenance. His stubbly grey beard, shaggy hair, chiseled visage, and perspicacious personality had earned him a stellar reputation among his peers. His alluring brown eyes mesmerised anyone who attempted to look into those depths of the Marianna trench for the untold secrets hidden within them. While he remained a well respected science faculty, his critics occasionally complained of the professor digressing from the subjects being discussed to bizarre concepts that made no sense. It remained a trivial concern until one day when he let those secrets out to his students.
It was a sunny afternoon in April when Professor Delbert was with his class explaining about a poisonous plant that had the properties to cause severe manic depression and death in human beings. In the middle of the session, he found his thoughts drifting towards a disturbing, dark alley.
He abruptly stopped his lecture and stood completely silent for a while. An air of melancholy clouded his mind as his countenance changed to that of a man who had witnessed the doomsday befell upon humanity right in front of his eyes.
‘What do you truly seek?' inquired the professor with a loud tone as he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward towards the students expressing his inquisitiveness.
The instantaneous change in the professor’s manner of speech and countenance alarmed the students of the Castaspel Institute of Technology & Think Academy.
‘Please don't be intimidated, students,' pleaded the professor. 'I've been speaking to some university members about invisible patterns all around us and requesting them to be a part of my enlightening process. For reasons unclear to me, they seem to expostulate. They find it juvenile to believe that there is any conspiracy being hatched by this universe against humankind. This is what I would be discussing with you all.
Title: Conium Maculatum
Eternally wrapped in the solace of time, you seized my soul and pushed me to the mirror maze of life. These infinitesimal moments of empty togetherness brings me a feeling of desolation and agony. Oh Life! Why do I seek thy shelter when I know you aren’t my home? Let me go to my true home; that is where I find my harmony.
Delbert Shokem held back for a moment and took a deep breath. His hollow brown eyes gazed at the words he scribbled in distress. His brows shrunk as he felt a lump in his throat when he tried to summon his calmness amid a chaotic mind charging at him like a raging bull trying to gore a matador.
The man reassuring himself that his words would be read fairly someday by the children of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, he trampled his anguish and resumed writing. Against all fears, doubts, and apprehension, he wrote -
It’s agonising to see my resolution go in vain. They are rigid; my students. Their obstinate determination to neglect the pattern brings an insurmountable rage and angst in me. All I want is to guide them. But they think I have severe apophenia. They want me confined by these walls out of fear. I am no phantom. The real ones lurk outside. I am a free man they can't confine.
Delbert stopped writing and placed his untiring pen down, leaning back on his chair. He looked around with his retired eyes and saw a bed in the corner of the room waiting for him with its arms wide open. Aside from the old bed and the wooden chair, the room had a table with a paper and a pen on it, a lamp, an analogue clock without numbers for the numerophobic man, and a pot of water in the dimly lit patient room of the Mental-health Institute & Neuroscience Department.
Being seated on his chair, Delbert looked upwards, facing the roof as he closed his eyes to drift deep down his thoughts for a moment. A slow smile worked its way across his face, gradually turning into a laugh, and then, a maniacal laugh heard through the corridors of the hospital.
Professor Delbert was a renowned ethnobotany researcher, known to be a prudent man with an intriguing countenance. His stubbly grey beard, shaggy hair, chiseled visage, and perspicacious personality had earned him a stellar reputation among his peers. His alluring brown eyes mesmerised anyone who attempted to look into those depths of the Marianna trench for the untold secrets hidden within them. While he remained a well respected science faculty, his critics occasionally complained of the professor digressing from the subjects being discussed to bizarre concepts that made no sense. It remained a trivial concern until one day when he let those secrets out to his students.
It was a sunny afternoon in April when Professor Delbert was with his class explaining about a poisonous plant that had the properties to cause severe manic depression and death in human beings. In the middle of the session, he found his thoughts drifting towards a disturbing, dark alley.
He abruptly stopped his lecture and stood completely silent for a while. An air of melancholy clouded his mind as his countenance changed to that of a man who had witnessed the doomsday befell upon humanity right in front of his eyes.
‘What do you truly seek?' inquired the professor with a loud tone as he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward towards the students expressing his inquisitiveness.
The instantaneous change in the professor’s manner of speech and countenance alarmed the students of the Castaspel Institute of Technology & Think Academy.
‘Please don't be intimidated, students,' pleaded the professor. 'I've been speaking to some university members about invisible patterns all around us and requesting them to be a part of my enlightening process. For reasons unclear to me, they seem to expostulate. They find it juvenile to believe that there is any conspiracy being hatched by this universe against humankind. This is what I would be discussing with you all.