Domestic fights and mahabharata

Rajaji’s mahabharata happens to be mine favorite read. My first exposure to the mega story was through b.r. chopra’s efforts and the characters left an indelible impression upon me. Nitish bharadwaj as krishna and mukesh khanna as bhisma definitely stood out in terms of screen presence and acting.

Rajaji’s version was gifted to my mother by a friend of hers and since then I have devoured the book, wholly and selectively, many a times. In its 328 pages lies several unknown and untold stories overlapping the main story; all written in a neat and concise manner. The epic has everything to offer, from morality to lust and victory of good over bad, masala for successful cinema. I wonder if the film industry has adopted the story in parts. No wonder someone is thinking of taking the story to multiplexes – to be released in two parts. I can go endlessly…. about the characters, my favorites, the truelies, etc. But I refrain from doing so for I have a short tale to tell in which rajaji’s mahabharata plays a muted role.

Like every grandmother, my aunt was summoned for IAS duty by my cousin to amerigo. No prizes for guessing – I.A.S. stands for Indian Aaya Service. This was not her first stint. We camped at her house to help her pack things; my dad’s quite an expert in bundling things especially spices and other food items. Just before leaving she instructed me, “just send rajaji’s ramayana and mahabharata through another cousin. I would like to narrate the stories to the kids there” and I promised to do so and did so. The books also followed her and I assumed that the kids would be enjoying the story telling for my aunt is a great story teller, has a fertile brain to add mirch and masalas and expressions and gesticulations lend credibility to the story.

The six-month imprisonment ended and she flew back to India. In the monthly family head-rolling meeting, on enquiry, she revealed that the kids evinced no interest in mahabharta for they were only interested in trucks and other concrete things. “Oh!”, she lamented, “I have left the mahabharata there itself”. I asked, “so what? P may narrate the story”. She gave her infectious smiles and said, “I will tell you the main story now….”. A short and hilarious story followed.

Each family has its own idiosyncrasy, a kind of unwritten code; in mine, motor bikes are not allowed for my grandpa’s brother rebelled against him, bought a bike and sent him a picture posing next to the bike and he eventually perished while trying to jump over railway crossing rope. In D athimber’s family prevails a comic code; mere possession of rajaji’s mahabharata is seen as the reason for domestic quarrel between the spouses. Apparently they had one rajaji’s mahabharata earlier too at their home and like any couple, they fought hard. Then someone advised them to dispose off the book as it had the tendency to provoke fights between spouses. They tried hard, D athimber even tried to pass on the book to his elder brother, but he being aware of the ill-effect refused. And finally the book was handed over to his parents and it now lies amidst cobwebs and dust.

And some peace prevailed or perhaps a mirage until the books sent by me reached them. And my aunt bemoaned, “Oh! I have left the book there. I had promised them that I would bring the book with me…”. And I could sense guilt in her voice.

lal bahadur shastri

As I flipped the pages of times of india, tribute to gandhi repeatedly greeted me everywhere and in one corner of the page I saw tribute to lal bahadur shahtri and I came to know that 2nd october also happens to be the birthday of shastri. Even the politicians were shown visiting raj ghat and not vijay ghat; gandhi literally eclipsed shashtri. But I was glad to watch a documentray on shahstri in dd national.

Why shastri’s tenure as prime minister for about 20 months stands out? Shastri was able to bring about a sense of unity amongst the country men, face and lead successfully through the pakistan war and pave way for green and white revolution.

The syndicate led by kamaraj chose shastri over moraji sensing shastri to be rather timid and pliant; puppet government was the idea. However, the new incumbent amongst other initiatives dropped moraji form the cabinet and gave indira the useless information & broadcasting portfolio and the latter avenged by barring shastri entry into teen murti by having it declared as memorial to nehru. Indeed, delhi houses many such memorials!

The kutch conflict with pakistan served as an eye-opener to the shastri government and operation gibraltar and grand slam by pakistan to capture j&k and akhnur bridge were successfully thwarted. Here, shastri scored over nehru for sharsti was decisive and took full measures to see India emerge as victorious. Shashtri came out with the famous slogan, “jai jawan, jai kisan”, recognising the contributions of soldier and farmers.

Concerned about the food and drought situation, shastri appointed an able administrator, c.subramanium as minister for food and agriculture and thus came along high yielding varieties of seeds, application of fertilizers and attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains.

Many would have doubted shastri’s ability to run the country and the nehru’s long rule brought in the comparison factor. I am sure if shastri had continued for another term, india would have progressed leaps and bounds in each field for he was a statesman and not a run on the mill politician who is ever hungry for kursee. The resignation over the ariyalur rail accident by shastri speaks about the morality of the man and indeed, “only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life” – Einstein.