Unity – a necessity

I am narrating this story from the Mahabharata to lay emphasis on the importance of unity. Before narrating the story, I want my readers to ponder over a question.  What if the people supporting a wrong cause, though few in number, are so strongly united that they are able to rip apart the majority?

Read the story of Shakuni before you begin to answer the question…

Shakuni was the brother of Gandhari. Gandhari was engaged to be married to Dhritarashtra, the blind prince of Hastinapura. When Gandhari’s brothers, including Shakuni found out about this, they were angered. The proposal was brought by Bhishma, and Shakuni took an oath to destroy Bhishma’s clan.

Before the marriage was due, Shakuni, along with the help of his hundred brothers, performed a ritual in which Gandhari was married off to a goat. This, they believed, would ward off any evil effects of Gandhari’s marriage to Dhritarashtra.

Later, when Duryodhana came to know of this, he was enraged. He imprisoned his maternal uncles of whom Shakuni was the youngest. Duryodhana’s anger knew no bounds, that even after imprisoning them, he was not satisfied. He ordered that they each be fed with one grain of rice per day. The entire family of Shakuni got together and decided to donate their one grain of rice to Shakuni as he was the youngest and needed very little food to survive. It is also believed that Shakuni was born sickly, and was a poor eater!

Slowly, one by one, Shakuni’s family members died of starvation. In the end, Shakuni not only survived, but he also became close to the Kauravas in general and Duryodhana in particular.  What followed is well known history. Shakuni defeated Yudhishtra in a game of dice. Thereafter, the cousins became the worst enemies, and Yudhishtra and his brothers were banished from their own kingdom. The whole drama culminated in the war of Mahabharata, in which Duryodhana and his brothers were killed. The Pandavas became wandering saints after relinquishing the right over their kingdom to Dhritarashtra.

Shakuni defeated Yudhishtra in a game of dice...

Shakuni’s family members were united, to the ultimate extent of sacrificing their own lives! In trying to punish the wrong act of his uncles, Duryodhana went too far and his uncontrolled anger created enemies out of his maternal uncles.

Uncontrolled anger can make us lose our sense of reasoning and not only destroy us, but can also cause irreversible damage to our near and dear ones!

On Shakuni’s part, the unity of his family members, though for the negative purpose of revenge, kept him alive and made him achieve his cause. To achieve something positive, we need a greater sense of purpose and unity.This story also brings out the fact that to break a relationship is a minute’s job. To create strong bonds, sometimes, a lifetime seems less!

Mango Tree summoned as witness!

Once Shahenshah Akbar and his wise counsel Birbal were walking in the garden outside the palace, when two people approached them. One of them was Bolu Ram, while the other was a merchant by the name Uttam Ram. Bolu Ram told the Emperor that he had lent money to Uttam Ram, though the  merchant bluntly refused to even recognize Bolu Ram, leave alone borrowing money from him!

Bolu Ram was close to tears when Birbal asked Bolu Ram if there was any proof for his claim. He told Birbal that he trusted people and Uttam Ram was known to him for many years and therefore had not thought it necessary to have a proof or witness.

This set Birbal thinking. Though from his voice and body language Birbal knew that Bolu Ram was telling the truth, there was no way of proving it. Birbal then asked Bolu Ram if there was any witness to what he claimed. By now Bolu Ram had given up all hopes of getting his money back. He simply shook his head and said, rather wryly, that there was a mango tree which witnessed the whole proceeding.

Birbal’s heart went out to Bolu Ram and immediately he hatched a plan. He asked Bolu Ram to go with one of the soldiers to fetch the mango tree. The soldier, who stood guard, was aghast, but dared not speak a word. Bolu Ram was speechless, but followed the soldier obediently. Akbar could not hide his amusement as he knew Birbal had a new trick up his sleeves and was rather curious to find out what Birbal would come up with this time!

Then Birbal started walking towards the courtroom and waited just a while, so that Akbar could lead the way. Uttam Ram, not knowing what to do, went silently behind the emperor and his trusted counsel.

An hour later Bolu Ram and the soldier walked in rather exhausted. Birbal asked the soldier if Bolu Ram had gone to the mango tree and the soldier told him that he had even pleaded with the tree. 

The obliging mango tree...

Before anyone could say another word, Birbal turned towards Uttam Ram and said, “See, did not the mango tree oblige?” Then he turned towards his colleagues and began addressing them, "Did the mango tree not come here and tell us what he had seen? Al those who saw the tree, please put up your hands," Birbal said. He then turned towards the Emperor and told him that all those who had not spoken a lie in their lives had seen the tree walk into the court as witness. Slowly many hands went up and by the time Birbal turned around to face the merchant even the Emperor’s hand had gone up.

Before Birbal could utter a word, Uttam Ram fell at the feet of the Emperor and accepted having taken money from Bolu Ram. The Emperor then asked Uttam Ram to payback twice the amount that he had taken from Bolu Ram. Bolu Ram thanked the Emperor for his fairness and thanked Birbal for his quick wit.

After the court dispersed, Akbar told Birbal that only in kingdoms where ministers were wise, mango trees walked to courts! Birbal calmly countered saying that only in kingdoms where the King was just and fair such ministers could be found!

Akbar and Birbal were in mutual admiration of each other, weren’t they?

Contentment-An eternal bliss

 

This is an incident that happened 20 years ago and I was blessed to be a witness to this incident.

This was the time when I was working for an eye hospital in the capacity of an Assistant Administrative Officer.

The hospital not only gave vision to many visually handicapped people, it also opened my eyes to the positive people around me.

As one of the hospital routines we used to go to villages nearby and conduct eye camps, identifying people with correctable vision problems. Every weekend we would travel to villages in the southern states of India and to be very honest, I always looked forward to these trips as we got to eat outside of the hostel canteen!

Once, we undertook a trip to a village in Karnataka. One child, about 7 years of age, was admitted into the camp for treatment of corneal opacity. The treatment procedure for this kid was corneal replacement. We  explained to the parents that the cornea that is replaced can get rejected by the child's body and there was only a slim chance of the child getting her vision. Nevertheless, if the child is able to see for sometime, then the procedure can be repeated a couple of times and the chances that the eye will accept the new vision were high. After explaining all the possibilities to the parents, we asked them to take a measured call.

The parents and the child alike were insistent and the corneal transplant was performed.

After a few days the child's blindfold was removed and she gradually adjusted to the light around. The following few hours in the hospital was one of unexplainable happiness, as the child ran around uttering the words, "nanu nodabahudu" meaning, "I can see".

Tears rolled down the cheeks of the onlookers, and I left the place as the possibility that this happiness of the child could be short-lived, kept coming back to me.

A couple of weeks later, the child was back with the same complaint. The vision was blurring. I could barely hold myself and thought that the family, and particularly the child, were going to be distraught. It is one thing to understand certain things verbally and so completely different to go through them and come out emotionally unscathed, however strong you may be.

I was bracing myself up to a show-down which usually happens when things do not go as per plan. But what greeted me was a composed father and an even more stoic mother. They consoled each other and decided to wait for couple of more years. They were not the ones to give up. They were ready to get the same operation done once more when the child's physical growth stopped, maybe around the age of 12 -13 years.

As I felt better and ready to move ahead to my next job, I saw one of the staff talking to the child. They explained to her that all was not lost and that she should be hopeful. In an innocent tone, the child replied that she always was hopeful and that her parents had told her to be positive. "So", asked the staff, "you are not disappointed that you cannot see?"

The child's reply is still etched in my memory. "Why should I feel disappointed? I am happy that now I know what people mean when they say, "the mango is yellow in colour". I am contented that I could see the world and everything I liked. I can visualize things when people talk to me about them."

With just one reply, the child consoled all of us and made us all better human beings!