October 26, 2011
Snuggling under a blanket on a cool morning as the night rain continues into the dawn; the raindrops meeting the saturated soil in a million resonating kisses. I presume all heavenly afterlives of bliss include this.
The festival of lights was distinctly devoid of fireworks for the past decade in my life. American fireworks are restricted to July 4th. So it was wonderful to have unrestrained sound, light and fury of Sivakasi imports right outside the house yesterday night. Wispy smoke floated through the house. The smell of sulphur, gunpowder and danger! The kids in the neighborhood enjoyed hand-held sparklers and spinning discs that shoot rainbow sparks all over the place. The entire periodic table of elements must be inside them creating such a dazzling display. Neighborhood dogs were not so pleased. Neighborhood cats were in hiding.
The booms, loud and muffled, and whistles and fizzles went on late into the night. A bunch of adults who had alcoholically shaved off a few years of maturity from their lives were stationed in one of the house terraces. Regular launches from their arsenal. Peonies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums bloomed against the night sky. Some impressive spiders too. I had no idea about that these fireworks effects had standard names till I looked up wikipedia.
Read the episode of Yayati, his wives, Devayani and Sharmistha, and their background stories in the Mahabharatha today. Before marrying Yayati, Devayani was in love with Kacha. Brihaspati is the guru of the Devas while Shukra fills that post for the Asuras. Shukra knows the Mritasanjeevani mantra that can bring back the dead. Using it, he manages to revive the Asura army everytime they are trounced by the Devas. The dead among the Devas are done for good because Brahaspati doesn't know the elixir mantra. Clearly unacceptable! After consultation with Indra, the king of the Devas, Brihaspati sends his son, Kacha, to Shukra to become his disciple and learn the life-giving mantra for the Devas. Indra tells him that the easy route would be through Devayani.
For 500 years, Kacha remains a humble, faithful disciple. Like a Bollywood hero, he carves a niche in the heart of Devayani by his "sweet words, great songs and dancing"! The Asuras recognize his true purpose. They kill him, quarter his body and feed it to the jackals. Devayani begs her dad to bring Kacha back. The sage recites the mantra. The pieces of Kacha's flesh come flying out of the jackals' stomachs and reunite to form Kacha. This would make such a spectacular FX scene.
Again, the Asuras kill him, dismember the body and throw it into the sea. Shukra brings him back. Third time, Asuras plan better. They powder Kacha's body, mix it with alcohol and offer it to Shukra who drinks it happily without knowing. This time on reciting the mantra, he realizes that Kacha is reborn inside his own stomach. He curses alcohol. If Kacha is to live, he must die. Devayani says she will commit suicide if either of them dies. Shukra has no option but to teach Kacha the Mritunjaya mantra so that he can revive Shukra who will die as Kacha comes out of his stomach. Kacha learns the mantra and comes out. Disemboweled, Shukra dies. But using the mantra, Kacha revives him. Great scope for more special effects!
The episode doesn't end happily for Devayani because Kacha refuses to marry her. He needs to return to the heaven. She curses him. He glumly tells her that any curse that is born out of lust is ineffective!
In the afternoon, there was a wonderful show on Doordarshan Malayalam featuring old drama songs by the O.N.V Kurup-Devarajan team. The All India Radio and Doordarshan singers recreated the evergreen songs originally sung by the likes of K.S.George, C.O.Anto, Jikki and K. Sulochana.
Talking of Devarajan, a new "tradition" at the Sabarimala temple since the early 80s is the ritualistic playing of the devotional/film song, "Harivarasanam" sung by Yesudas in Devarajan's music. The song is played late at night before the temple closes. Apparently, it is Lord Ayappan's favorite lullaby. It must be played from a CD over the loud speaker system for him to go to sleep every night.
Devarajan, a communist and an atheist, is pretty amused by this development. While acknowleding the positive communal harmony factor involved in the fact that the song is sung by a Christian and the contract for the speaker system is held by a Christian, Kalakaumudi magazine, nevertheless, had a blistering article on the shame of such meaningless, low quality lyrics rising up to, literally, mythological stardom. There are only two words in the whole song that refer specifically to Ayyappan. The bulk is mostly generic stuff that can be applied to any Indian god. There are grammatical errors and word inventions that even a minor Malayalam poet can spot. This probably explains why nobody has come forward to claim the authorship. Even more hilariously, the lines talk about Ayyappan being tired of continous dancing when clearly the idol is seated in a yogic posture all the time and there is no prior mythology about the dancing tendencies of the god. This origin and popularization of a tradition within our lifetime makes one wonder how the various other traditions related to the hundreds of thousands of temples and gods in India must have come up.
Called my youngest uncle to wish him on Diwali. He was nursing a lump on his forehead. "Pazhaya pole dhyram onnum illa" (I am not as bold as I used to be) he explained. He had tried to light a cracker yesterday from close vicinity and turned away in the last moment without noticing the wall next to him. Swelling. Small cut. Blood.
Man-made crackers compete with rumbling thunder in the evening.
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