What Ashok Banker thinks can pass as the Ramayana

In the grand old days of Treta Yuga when Dashratha and Ravana were kings, the Brahmins used to levitate and had blue light coming out of their finger nails which was, of course, Brahman Light. If the sages in Ashok Banker’s Ramayana remind you of the creation of Wolverine by the evil scientist, you are not alone. Nor are you alone if the Sita’s wondering into the jungle dressed as a man with her female guard and meeting Rama remind you of Shakespeare’s Rosalind or Ravana’s head appearing thru fire to talk to Manthara seem to be picked out from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or Ravana’s taking over Dashratha’s body and being then released by Vashishtha looks to be uncannily similar to JRR Tolkien’s Saruman taking over Theodin’s body and being released later by Gandalf. And all of this in the space of less than 2 books (out of a total of 5), and after omitting how Ram seems to belong more to the Matrix than to the Ramayana and omitting Manthara (and cannibalistic* Kekayi!!)

If this version confuses you considerably, because you too remember a mention of Valmiki’s Ramayana; Kamban’s Ramayana and Tulsidasji’s Ramcharitmanas, in the preface – then we are in the same place. But you see, Banker only promised to retell the Ramayana in such a way, that everything in his Ramayana belonged to either one of the three versions or what he understood of them. While we thought he was mostly going to talk about what belonged to one of the three versions; he clearly decided to talk about what he understood of them.

*only in Banker’s retelling.

Where do you want to go today?

A few months ago, I started two plants from mere cuttings, and I put them into a glass bowl with some absorbent mineral. I wasn’t very hopeful of their chances but it seems a bit of love, with water, occasional feed and a lot, A LOT of attention (because they sit right next to my computer screen, and are usually more interesting than whatever is on the screen) can go a long way. They have these beautiful long white roots and have had a fair few new leaves. The biggest risk that indoor plants face is their roots rotting – my plants are in a glass bowl so while the water doesn’t drain, I can see just how much there is… also the mineral is quite absorbent, so it is rarely that the roots sit in water for a very long time. And looking at them, I can imagine people letting the grass grow under their feet…

I can, at this time, imagine letting the sun rise, the rain fall, the grass grow, the birds chirp, while I sit in my newly tiled, swept up balcony, looking at them dreamily and comfortably. Until I sat down to do this introspection, I was feeling quite comfortable with my uselessness, and just as much at ease with the rest of the world. Now, I feel a bit guilty and should get back to doing something useful; but before I go there, isn’t it fascinating how every set of experience, simply, passes – a few days ago, there was me - exhausted and uncomfortable and ill at ease; and now there is me – comfortable, dreamy and cheerful; and there isn’t much that I did, I just let things pass…

PS: Things will pass, but, where do you want to go today?