Here I share some sights of this majestic country. You may have seen it, and may or may not liked it, but to understand it, you have to stay here and let grow on you.
All images from Unsplash.com
You ask me what India is to me–
a Muslim, an erstwhile Hindu,
an in-between.
The thousand colours of the sky at dawn
when pink Clouds frame the golden Sun,
and purple Night lingers watching
holding an orange Moon in her arms,
and no grudges are held either way
as night gives way to the day.
The multi-hued trees of Sariska in autumn,
the dense forests of Ramnagar,
the sand dunes of Udaipur,
the lakes of Dispur,
the snowy mountains of Srinagar,
and the rocky plateaus and red soil of Bellary.
It is the sand of thousand colours
in Kanyakumari that I dream of
and the seashells my mum sent to me…
It is the heavenly smell of food
cooked with love
Siwai on Eid,
Gujhia on Holi,
Plum cake on Christmas
and Halwa on Vaisakhi.
India to me, a Muslim,
as it is to me as a Hindu.
It is the land of my birth,
my love, my home, my sanctuary.
*Disclaimer: This post is not meant to hurt the feelings of believers of any religion. I am not a historian. I don’t claim to be correct. Let’s agree to disagree.Lately, I came across Trojan Wars–a piece of history of Troy, Sparta and Mycenae during the Mycenaean era (1100-1600 BC) that has inspired a lot of literary pieces of the European continent–the most well-known being the Odyssey and Iliad by Homer, written somewhere between 900-600 BC.I was surprised that the central story draws a lot of parallels with Mahabharata. The time of writing this book is not clear but it pre-date Homer for sure, which makes me wonder if the same event had inspired both the books from across the globe.Here is the central story of Trojan Wars/Mahabharata:A set of Brothers live as exiles hiding from their hostile uncle. They are demi-gods, strong and skilled in the art of war, and looking for a chance to reclaim their kingdom. A king calls in princes and kings for the marriage of his eldest daughter who is a demi-goddess, and the most desirable and haughty woman alive. One of the brothers, Agamemnon/Arjun (don’t they sound the same) wins the hand through show of power (political/archery skill) but his brother gets to marry the princess. (Mahabharat’s Draupadi had to marry all the five brothers. Trojan Wars’ Agamemnon gets the other daughter.) Nobody asks the princess who she wants to marry.The prince gets back his kingdom from uncle with the help of father-in-law and the brothers rule for many years in peace. But another prince abducts/attempts to rape the princess causing uproar from husband and other kings.(In Mahabharata, the said prince is the hostile uncle’s son who exiles the brothers again for 13 years and decline to return the kingdom thereafter.)The brothers fight for the lost honour. A lot of other kingdoms enter the war for their own agendas (hatred/oath). They look like losing until they cheat. An important person from enemy camp becomes a traitor and helps the brother breach the defences (Antenor/ Bheeshma). The war ends with the death of all the people who abducted/dishonoured the princess. The end of the war also marks the end of an era (the Age of heroes/Dwapar Yug).I am not saying that these are the same stories–there are a lot of other events in the stories that make them seem pretty different overall, but the still, as a book lover, the similarities are too striking.There are a lot of deeper parallels including various characters that I’ll discuss next time.Meanwhile, let me know your thoughts through the comments section.
Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 