Hitting the bird’s eye

What I am now about to disclose is a bit controversial, a bit unconventional, somewhat unbelievable and somehow unknown. Perhaps we were not told, as the lullabies told us were of a different genre, of fairy tales and Gabbar’s torture.  What lies at my narration is the story of Karna, who was the mightiest archer of history. Yes, mightier than even Arjun.

Karna was the son of a charioteer and thus he was refused to be trained by Guru Dronacharya in his Military Academy. Nevertheless, he began his sessions all alone in the night, under the light of the moon and a lamp. However, as per the custom that every student should have a guru, so Karna choose none other than the mighty sun god as his guru. From dawn to noon he went to the ghats of Gang and remained smeared in the water, neck deep, paying his tributes to the sun god. Thereafter, in the remaining time he practiced that often stretched till the fall of dusk, sometimes even more.

We all have heard or read the story of Arjun, when he aimed at the bird's eye. It was a competition organized in the arena of the military academy by Guru Dronacharya himself. Everyone was competing everyone. However, Karna was absent that day and the news reached him late. In the arena, one after the other Guru Dronacharya repeated the very same question, “What do you see?” And answers flowed in from a tree, to a mountain, clouds, trees, pastures, dogs, cows and riverbeds. These answers were themselves the elimination of all these contestants, bringing Arjun closer to the question. When Arjun was asked the same question he replied, “I see the bird’s eye.” Guru Drona patted his back and asked him to proceed. He aimed and down came the bird with the arrow still in its eye. Dronacharya was pleased as per his expectations from Arjun. He again patted his bat and declared him the greatest archer.

               As Ashwatthaman, Guru Drona’s son narrated this tale to Karna, he saw a spark in his eyes. He asked him promptly, “What would you have answered Karna?”

“I would have said, nothing. Yes, NOTHING. When Karna takes an aim, he can see nothing. His entire body itself becomes an arrow, and all that is seen is the tip of the arrow and a tiny dot, where it has to strike. Ashwatthaman, if I would have been there I would have pierced both the eyes of the bird in one shot.”

“I believe you Karna. I know you could have. There is no one in this land who can compete you in any field. Neither from the Pandavas, nor the Kauravas.”

That night Karna went to the academy with his brother Shona. He told Shona to place the bird at the highest possible place on the Ashoka tree. Shona did as instructed by his elder brother. He climbed high, placed the bird and lighted a lamp near it. From a distance, Karna looked at the bird and gripped his bow. He now could see nothing, nothing except the tip of his arrow and the point of aim. In his mind he planned, I will hit both the eyes of the bird in one shot. I need to release the second arrow after a short break, such that the first arrow when hits the bird turns it clockwise and then my other arrow pierces right through the other eye of the bird. He aimed, concentrated and with a hold of breath released the arrow. After a fraction of second he released the other arrow too. With two brief splutters and a thud the bird came down on the plinth.

Shona ran in excitement to see it and Karna followed patiently. The stuffed bird lay there, perfectly pierced with two arrows in each eye. Shoan looked at his brother with a gleaming face. Karna affectionately smiled back and took Shoan by his shoulder and moved back to their restroom.

“You are the greatest archer bhaiya.” Shoan said as he took Karna’s bow to lighten his weight. Karna smiled and they paced ahead.

From Seeing to Doing

The air we breathe and the water we drink are amongst a few things that in all parts of the world are colorless, tasteless and odorless; yet of utmost significance to live. As these basic essentials of life- air and water, turn worthless when diluted so does ‘those’.

What I call ‘those’ are not differentiated by color, neither by accent, nor by religion or trends. ‘They’ are simply presented in a natural manner. We observe ‘them’ happening and being repeated over times around us and across the globe; just like the water being drunk and the air being reported. Unlike water and air, ‘they’ are in different forms and flashes. ‘They’ are a few binding strands that though insignificant in count, yet significant enough to discipline, bound and unite an infinite mass of people. ‘Them’ is what we call ‘Culture’.

Culture, in different tongues is spoken differently, in different places practiced differently and in different holy books is scripted differently; but only in different words, actions and characters respectively. The basic functioning and ideology however remains constant. Culture in all forms means respect, discipline and protection.

Like the Muslim culture asks the women to wear a hijab, so in Hinduism the lady covers the head with a veil. In India and places abroad elders are offered seats in a crowded bus; similarly across the world women are offered the first step. The saying- ‘ladies first’ always strike us as we happen to climb a bus at a bus-stop with a lady beside us.

From the Bible to the Koran; from the Guru Granth Sahib to the Bhagwad Gita all religious scriptures convey the same meaning of brotherhood, equality and lovingness. Kindness is respected all around the globe, whether it is by helping an old lady cross a busy road or by donating a fraction of one’s first paycheck to an orphanage. On a similar context, stealing and cheating is despised worldwide irrespective of how small or big the act is.

In the Indian culture- that I am somewhat more acquainted with, and take immense pride in- are a list of festivals that are celebrated with great zeal and infinite unity. Like ‘Holi’, the festival of colors splashes vibrant shades on all religions. Similar is ‘Deepawali’, the joyous celebrations at the end of Lord Rama’s exile is marked by countless lights glowing and numerous firecrackers cracking across the nation. Then comes ‘Eid’ and the auspicious Kheer travels from the Muslim kitchens to the Hindu dining-tables creamed by three affectionate hugs of prosperity and brotherhood. On the occasion of Lohri, one can witness everyone tapping their feet to the beats of Punjabi music and eating peanuts.

One of the greatest strengths of Indian culture can also be seen from festivals like Ganesha Chaturthi and Durga Puja. Lakhs of idols are made by the hands of Muslim craftsmen and then worshipped by Hindu devotees. These celebrations, each of which holds a tale behind, are esteemed occasions that carry in itself a sense of pride and unity in diversity.

The youth that at times is also referred to as the coming change of the nation, can make the most by inculcating values of these cultures and traditions. These celebrations and happenings teach us the principles of sharing and loving, of kindness and respect. It in a way embraces us with the thought of being philanthropic and more responsible towards the society.

Though these celebrations are over in hours of commencement, yet the message is immortal. Only that we need to take a leap ahead and DO something. SEEING pleasant things brings a smile to our face, but only DOING pleasant things can light up others’ faces. So, to create a better future we possibly don’t need to make another century of inventions; these handful of cultures are powerful enough to craft a better world. All we need is to shift our paradigm from- SEEING TO DOING!

Those memories of the past

Let’s get into a lovely flashback,
Day one when we first entered the gate,
In different shoes with aims and dreams,
Needless to say we all met by fate
In a single unit plan of his so great.

It was here we made the biggest discoveries,
To name a few- LAL-QUILA, D.C & PROXIES.
Meaning to life changed up
As we gave our college life a start up.

We spotted things great and a few beautiful too
Don’t get me wrong as I name a few.
I hope we remember ‘Bagh’
The ‘Laxmi Dhaba’ and the ‘Mama Bhanja’
Something furious was the ‘Examination Controller’s Bark’
And you’ll definitely miss the deer-park.

It was here again that we learnt
Padai sometimes needed a break;
A cheers to the lovely mass bunks,
The Shiv Mandir chai and the Mussoorie flunks.

Now proceeding to the real core,
Our department was the most blamed
What left by us all-
Was graced by the juniors so ignited and flamed,
Civil is uncontrollable, It’s unbearable, they’re intolerable, were some reported talks.
Never to worry, as the freshers’ will always say- “Civil Rocks!”

Now the Engineering part [Some secrets must be timely revealed],
With so much of this hectic schedule,
And around the year construction tab,
The architect I believe must have slipped
To design the civil engineering lab.

Nevertheless, we are engineers now,
Disastrous though from head to tail,
Perhaps it is true when said-
“Your experiments might not always fail.”

Now to those beautiful Wednesdays and Saturdays,
Though dressing up in the grey shades was more of an irony,
Yet we haughtily redressed if it was a Wednesday.
I must say we’ve had a remarkable memory,
As we never wrongly dressed on a casual day.

It was all like a filmi scene,
Amidst roller-coaster of life, things ended clean.
Attendance was really a pain in the neck,
At last we succeeded in ending the heck.

It’s sad that we are now free,
For what seemed the life’s test
Was in fact the longest vacation.
We leave ahead with dreams and admirations,
And things not achieved passed to these fellow masons.

*Dedicated to my batch of engineering clique.... these are 'memories forever