Friday 16 November 2018

At the epicenter of a nation in Motion - Maha Parva of choices

The last line of the poem “Invictus” (the Latin word meaning victorious) by English poet William Ernest Henley reads “I am the master of my fate.” Henley was a man who greatly believed that no matter what life threw at him, he was going to make a choice steer his destiny in the direction he wanted ,similarly any civilization or nation has to make those choices and its the future generations which will bear the benefits or consequences of the same.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation in 1933 over radio an entire nation listened and followed its leader for over an decade - be it war or a financial depression.

Its a choice a country makes or its citizens and so we have a choice to make in less than a year.

The next few chapters are a pre text to the story of country in motion book - A clinical perspective of contemporary and mythological characters and instances

In this chapter of  Maha Parva  we look at few characters of epic Mahabharata and their contemporary comparison and context

1. What if Bheeshma had not taken the vow of lifelong Brahmacharya

2. What if Kunti had revealed the secret of Karna ?

3. What if king Dhritarashtra had followed Dharma and stopped his beloved son from taking the wrong path 

and the list goes on ....

its all about choices you make which pivots the direction in which the story goes ...


People have conditions and reasoning for the choices they make .Bheeshma did it in the name of love for his father and nation ,Kunti in the name of   protecting her dignity .


The consequences has to be faced by them and sometimes by the next generations.


In the great Epic it ended with the "Silence of a War"

As Krishna says to Arjuna " He is a fool who practises truth without knowing the difference between truth and falsehood"


Mahatma Gandhi was one contemporary World leader who was effective in making his choices .
His dream of a large scale socio political reform where every body shared concern for the poor before a country gets its Independence is one such case .Weather it became a reality is anybody's guess but idea is still in the right perspective .

That is  what successful nations and civilizations do - uplift the poor which starts with a concern for the same.

Its all about the small choices we make and not all of us make great things but can we do those small things with great love as the great Mother told ...

Karna in Mahabharata is one enigma who did this but again,was his life difficulties Karna's choice?

lets talk about this in the next chapter of Maha Parva !

till then

ಸುರಪಸಭೆಯಲಿ ಗಾಧಿಸುತ ವಸಿಷ್ಠ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆ ।
ಧರೆಯೊಳದರಿಂ ಹರಿಶ್ಚಂದ್ರಂಗೆ ತಪನೆ ।।
ಬರುವುದಿಂತೆತ್ತಣಿನೊ ಬೇಡದ ಪ್ರಾರಬ್ಧ ।
ಕರುಮಗತಿ ಕೃತ್ರಿಮವೊ ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ।।


                     --- The way of Karma is devious indeed


Sunday 1 April 2018

Tampering the GentleMan's Game -Not being a " Stitha Pragna"




A person who maintain's his balance in the sorrowful situation and also happy situations and the one who is not affected by desire ,jealousy  etc is called "Stitha Pragna" according to Bhagavad Geeta and I  draw parallel's to the Gentlemen's game where  it is all about witnessing the character shown by individuals along with their skill set .

When Former Prime Minister of Australia once said Australian Cricked Team Captain is the most important person in Australia it says a lot of how people Down Under take their cricket.

The Ball Tampering was a  very minor topic in the bigger scheme of scandals and fixing allegations that goes around in Cricket .
But the point was not about Ball Tampering this time around but about a Australian Cricket Captain revered as the next Sir Don Bradman being at the center of controversy .

What was expected of Steve Smith was to show some qualities of "Stitha Pragna" .He is good enough to come back in a year's time ,his tears will definitely melt hearts in Australia but this will be a scar that will be part of his career .

Probably Steve Smith never was destined to be a Sir Don Bradman or have a Dravid  like career.

Dravid was an epitome of  what the GentleMan's game was all about be it winning or losing  .Records are made to be broken and forgotten too.But it is the way you have carried your career that will stand the test of time.

Desire to win is less important than the way you win.Hope to see Steve Smith right in time for 2019 WC ! Cricket Australia has got the timing right this time too !


                 There is a dignity attached to winning a game or losing it .
                                         Either ways ....
                                                                    Life As It Is ...
                                                                                         Continues !!!
                                                                                                                                 pavan