The Prodigal Sons :-)

It was almost time when he reached the hang out and he saw another man already sitting by the balcony smoking chillum. The man with the chillum was dressed modestly and looked lost in his thoughts but shook his head just as he realized there's some one else in the balcony. There was a man in white robe with a lot of facial hair and he took a few steps towards the man with chillum and sat down facing him. They shook hands with each other smiling. 

The Chillum Man : " Would you like a drag?"
The white Robe Man : (Smiles mischievously) " No Mr. Stone, I have got mine right here! "
He takes out a pet bottle of wine from under his robe and asks the other man,
" Would you like some of this?"
The Chillum Man : " Ha Ha, I'm not fond of blood (winks)."
The man in the robe takes a sip and smiles.


Neither of them speak for a while and then breaking the silence, the chillum man speaks,
" Nothing has changed, don't you think? There was a victim complaining about people who were right there at the time of attack and did nothing to help."
The man in the robe nodded in agreement and spoke " I think so too. It's same everywhere irrespective of the times. When I was being punished for no reason, there was a huge crowd gathered around to see what was happening to me but no one came forward to stop though, in their heart, they knew what was going on was not right. When I said 'forgive them as they don't know what they are doing' ,it wasn't meant to be for those who punished me but they twisted my words !"
The man with the chillum squeezed his hand gently before saying " I'm amazed that you continue to help them get better. You have a kind heart my dear."

The man in the robe smiled kindly and said " I heard about the tragic end of the people when they were on pilgrimage. That was very very sad. What went wrong?"
The chillum man looked very disappointed when he said " You know, you tell everyone there's a God within each one of you and 'Har Har Mahadev' are not just words but a message. and who do you think cares? It doesn't take a God to tell them about the nature of land.They were told not to build anything anywhere in that place. Once you let superstition take over you, idol worship is at the top of the list and the reason is lost. It's not just now, I told them not to build a memorial ground when thousands of Asuras were killed.It was not morally right but who would listen? That's how assi ghat came into existence, just against my wishes. It still glorifies the blasphemy and reminds me of the blunder I allowed."
He shrugged and looked sideways. The man in the robe came forward and hugged him. " But you are truly a man of honor. You still continue to protect them. " 


They released each other and looked at their beloveds resting at the foot of the old fort. The chillum man said " Where's this other guy? why hasn't he showed up?"
The man in robe " Well, you know he's been framed by his own followers and I guess he's been working really hard to clear his name. Poor him,he's been badly betrayed by his own people though they say they are doing all these in his honor."
The Chillum man " Yeah I guess he beats both of us. His devotees have done more than what happened to us. You know they say 'A friend in need is a friend in deed', what say? "

Both the men got out of the old fort and just as they started walking their beloveds, a lamb and a bull followed them.

A secret that blew Lanka into pieces !

It's always said that the whole life unfolds before your eyes in a glimpse when you are about to die but no one knows the order that follows. Ravana's eyelashes batted,felt heavy and began to close as his mind raced back to the events in the past. 

The young vanara was standing before him singing praises of Rama and advising him to return Sita. He added that if he fell on Rama's feet asking for his forgiveness his kingdom would be spared too. Ravana tried hard to remember the name of the young monkey man but his mind had started the evacuation process already! He just remembered that the youth resembled Vaali who was once his well-wisher.That's when he thought Vaali's son was a fool to join hands with someone who murdered his own father who was a great warrior and a wonderful ruler. For a moment he felt proud of his sons who stood by him at all times but what he forgot was the possibility that it didn't always take a son to betray, it could be a sibling just like Sugreeva!

Ravana groaned, there was a jackal biting his feet but he couldn't move even a toe to show resistance. He remembered the day Soorpnakha entered his court with a bleeding nose and chopped ears. He was very happy and sad at the same time when he heard her story. That's the moment he got to know the whereabouts of his abandoned daughter after a very long time. He had stopped his spies to bring any report about the princess of Mithila after he heard she was married off to a decent prince. But it pained a lot to know she was living in the thick forest and he was furious about Rama who was the reason behind it. He looked at his sister and smiled inside " You got the lesson of your life for going after men and now it's my duty as a father to bring my daughter back and save her from misery." He couldn't tell anyone about it ,so he just flew in his metal bird with Maricha to bring his daughter,princess of Lanka back home!

Ravana moved his eye lids and looked around. All the great men of his dynasty were lying in the pool of blood. His ministers,generals,admirals,sons and soldiers of the soil. He wept for what he brought down upon them. His well-kept secret from the world had torn him apart from his people and kingdom. All he wanted to do was teach a lesson to Rama who made his daughter suffer in the middle of wilderness. And when Rama declared a war against him not knowing his intentions, he felt too proud to go back to him with his reasons. He felt it would look like an attempt to escape behind the shield of cowardice. He was filled with his nasty ego till the brim of his soul. He always wanted to be a hero. His ego had lead him too far from where he couldn't return.

Just before his eyes closed completely he saw a blurr silhouette of a man with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. He walked slowly towards Ravana and kept a hand on his head and that's when Ravana knew it was Rama. He had one last wish and he wanted Rama to fulfill that." Rama, please don't listen to the stories floating around. Sita is my abandoned daughter when she was only a few months old,as my astrologers told me she would bring  destruction to the entire Asura empire. I didn't kidnap your wife but I only brought a daughter home. It was a secret that I never told anyone before or after I brought her back as I feared my people might not let her see the light of the day once the truth was out." 

 But nothing came out of his mouth, he choked on his own words as they struggled to escape his throat and made only sounds that no one could make sense of. He brought his palms together to beg him to forgive him for what he had done in a state of righteousness. He wanted to tell him that  he was so wrong to separate a wife from her husband even if the lady was his daughter and how blinded he was to see her side of the story. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he struggled to thank him for making him realize his mistakes,not only the one with his daughter but also for having wrong people around. His hands fell to his sides and his chest heaved for the last time before falling into a state of coma never to return.

*********************************

A pyre was set and the body was placed on it. Mandodari was standing by the window of her room, expressionless. Ravana looked up to see Mandodari, he was getting ready to ride pillion with Yama on his bison. Yama gauged the situation and gave him a few minutes before he spoke. 

" Hey Ravana, the mighty ruler of Lanka. Your lady needs you. Your entire royal family and those who knew the secret have already joined me long back. She would take it to her grave unless you tell her to part with it. Would you like me to let you go back,perhaps?" . Ravana was now above all the miseries of the world and he said with a surprisingly pleasant tone " Hey Yama, God of Death,do not underestimate my queen. She's capable of taking it from here alone and as far as my daughter is concerned I have let her down and never once fulfilled my duties towards her. I wronged her when I took her away from Rama thinking I was right in doing so. This is my chance to correct what I did.  Rama will rejoice over his victory and his name will be etched in the history of India. Don't forget the people of India need a king like him. This is my gift to my daughter." Yama smiled and took off with Ravana just before his pyre was ignited.

Ravana thought to himself " Rama, I won so many battles adding feathers to my crown day after day but never once was this famous. But time time, I lost my battle to you and you made me known to the world and I'm grateful to you. I'm Ravana and I live forever in the minds of people as long as you promise to come back everytime to lead me to salvation. Jai Shri Ram."

My tragic and unfinished love story :-(

Though Clooney wasn't in The Dark Knight and Bale wasn't an appropriate substitution, leaving audience to look for something else to fill their hearts with, 'the Joker' emerged as a breath of fresh air. But it wasn't the last time I liked Ledger, I fell in love with him all over again when I watched one of his earlier movies from 1999 called '10 things I hate about you' focused on teen-drama.Oh boy, what's with these attractive men and me falling in love with all of them, would it stop somewhere? I hope not !!!!! 

Actually in this movie aforementioned, it wasn't him I fell in love with but his type ! I thought I was done liking this kinda bad boys when I hit 30 but looks like the teen in me still likes the type,a revelation to myself (!) Oh boy, how charming was his unpolished mannerisms (am I actually saying this?)....mostly subtle! I guess it's his subtle behavior that I fell for which is completely unlike our bollywood heroes, who 'try' to be that unpolished bad boys who are very loud and show offs and guess what,it's a big turn off !!!! ( They need to know this,wish they read my posts...(sigh) ) ;-)

It's a big loss that Heath is not among us today and he won't be in any of the future(or should I say 'feature'?) movies. Does anyone want to tell me how ridiculous it was when Vivek Oberoi compared himself in Krrish3 to our beloved Joker saab ??!!! I wanted to say 'You wish'! Let's just hope he reaches there someday (I mean acting-wise :-p)

It's going under as one of my tragic or unfinished love stories :-( but I wish I could tell you the 10 things I hate about the movies that you are not in and your 'absence' from the movie tops the list !!!!

Being a woman is my privilege.

When I was a little girl I would hate Disney movies or any movie that portrayed princesses(read women) as characters meant to wait for a certain prince charming to sweep them off their feet. It always made me feel like a weaker sex and I didn't want to be one. Why would I want to wait for a prince charming to be happy or to live happily ever after????!!!!

Well, I guess the grown-up inside me has slightly changed now ! Though I still don't believe that waiting for the prince charming is the only thing that girls do in their lifetime, my theory has evolved over the years. Being a feminist is not anti-men, atleast not for me. You say you favor women but you evaluate her against what men have done over the years. Is that what I want to do too? It's not about what I want to tell my son or daughter,it's something I need to understand first.

I don't want to be measured against men. I do things differently and there's no comparison. I never want to say things like 'I can do the same thing as you, so I'm an equal'. Why would I want to be equal to men? They are not the benchmark and I strongly believe there IS no such benchmark for both girls and boys. All I want to tell my kids is ' Being independent is a polished word for being selfish. Be there for each other and don't let your ego overrule your relationships. It's not about what one can do but it's about what one can do FOR the other.' I would never mind waiting for a prince charming !

When in a relationship, I want to keep that difference that I am the woman and he's the man. I may not knit for you but I would wait until after midnight to have a meal with you, I would like to hear you say the magical three words, I would want to get pampered and feel special and I would wait for the touch that makes me tremble with excitement  because I am a woman and I like that. Being a woman is not a clause to set out on a journey to prove anything to anyone but it's my privilege.  

Men and women cannot replace each other ,if they did it wouldn't feel the same !!!!