Trust, the basis of life

Aryan was getting cynical. The traffic was getting worse by the day and monsoons did not help on a road that had more potholes than the black tar.

The heavy monsoons did the bikers no good either...

Vivek managed a smile before trying to pacify his irate friend.

“Aryan, things will get better,” he managed to shout above the noise of the vehicular horns.

“Vivek, we have been talking about this for long. But I do realise that we will not be able to see progress and I do not wish to fool myself anymore. Maybe, I shall pray to God to take his next avatar soon and repair the roads,” an extremely frustrated Aryan poured his heart out.

“For a change, I will tell you the dohe written by Saint Kabir,” said Vivek to his friend. 

‘Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande

Mein To Tere Paas Mein

Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein Na Ekant Niwas Mein’

“Well, Vivek, what does that mean?” Aryan sounded calmer.

Vivek told his friend that the verses meant that God is within each one of us and there is no need to search for Him in any other manner or any other place.

“But, Aryan, for every problem that we face in life, I think the solution is within us. We go around in circles for years and find ourselves coming back to square one!” exclaimed Vivek.

“Wait, so you mean that when we come back to square one, it is an indication that the solution lies exactly at the place from where we began the search?” Aryan had hit the bull’s eye.

“Precisely. I think we are both on the same page now. The last line of the doha goes like this, 

‘Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein’ 

If we tried to solve our problems with trust in ourselves, therein lies God,” Vivek sounded positive.

“Vivek, tonight I shall read the dohe of the great Saint Kabir. He does make a lot of sense. There is so much knowledge around us, like there is so much traffic around us. What we discuss is purely our choice. Thanks my friend for making my day positive,” Aryan said, patting his friend on his shoulder!

“By the way, Aryan, I am planning to meet the town planning authorities tomorrow. If we can convince the office-goers of this area to take off from work for a week, we can help the authorities in repairing the road. I believe this can be done,” Vivek’s voice carried confidence and conviction.

“Done!” Aryan echoed Vivek’s confidence.

In a month’s time, Vivek did not have enough time to complete the story as it took them just about 10 minutes to reach office!

Paranar – The fearless poet

Paranar is hailed as the first Tamil historian. His poems echoed his fearlessness and he acted positively while correcting erring Kings.

Paranar can easily be considered as one of the best Sangam poets. But for Paranar’s 85 poems with narration of historical anecdotes, we would have been clueless about kings who ruled during the period.

Paranar has sung praises about many of the great kings including the Chera kings Neduncheralathan, Cheran Senkuttuvan and some of the great philanthropists like Ay, Anji, Kari, Ori, and Pegan.

Pegan was a King from the Velir clan and was a great philanthropist. One day, as he was walking through the forests of his kingdom, he saw a peacock shivering in the cold. Without a moment’s hesitation he removed the gold-laced shawl that adorned him and wrapped it around the peacock.

While Paranar praised the king for his philanthropic deeds, the just poet also chided the king’s infidelity.  The poet wrote in one of the songs (classified as Purananuru), 

"May those who love mercy act with justice?" 

He tried hard to bring the king back to his senses, though the outcome of the poet’s efforts is not known. In one more of his poems, that the poet wrote he had emphasised that his work will never be aimed at pleasing kings. Parana hated praising kings of valour that they seldom exhibited. 

The poets and the Kings shared a unique relationship and some of the poets also used to counsel the Kings when they went wrong in their judgement. The kings, on their part, took the wise poets into confidence before they made crucial decisions. This system went a long way in enriching the land and its cultural past!