When we were kids living in the government quarters of Sector 8, R.K.Puram at Delhi, we had our own fun during the Navaratri. We used to go to Sector 7 where they would be staging Ram Lila and it was great fun just to be out of the house and having a good time with friends watching the mythological characters fighting on the stage with bows, arrows and maces. During the day when the cycle-borne goodies man would arrive, we even bought the bows and arrows and swords and played with them till they gave way. Playing gods, demons and monkeys, we grew up.
The next phase was staging our
own Ram Lila. This was not easy. Not only did we have to learn the script and
practice acting, we also had to go to houses in the vicinity to ask for money
for the shamianah and the microphone. We did not have the resources to
buy costumes and in our times at Delhi there was no Maganlal Dresswala from
where we could hire from. We managed with some makeshift clothes and the person
who contributed the most had the opportunity to play Ram. Enacting the play
before parents and friends had its own big challenge as many of us would suffer
stage fright and forget the lines that we had so seriously memorised. No amount
of prompting could help. With all these antics and failures, we grew up.
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| Picture Courtesy: Internet |
We were now grown-ups and we decided to work hard to create the effigy of Ravana with ten heads. Ours was a simple effigy standing on a long pole with a cardboards and chart papers. The huge quantity of crackers we attached on the reverse of the effigy, from the shoes below to the crown above, and the loud noise it would make when on fire often made up for the small size and poor quality of our creation. It was no match for the beautiful and tall effigies that were erected at Ramlila Maidan near the Red Fort where more often than not the incumbent Prime Minister of the country got the opportunity to fire the arrow that would start the fireworks. We looked forward to the making and burning of Ravana in our backyard and we grew up.
Later as a father, I would try
and take my little daughter to the park at Nehru Place where on Dussehra
evening a huge crowd would gather. For those who know the Delhi crowd, especially
the one which goes completely berserk when they would see the chariot carrying
Ram, Lakshman and Sita coming, it is indeed scary and foolhardy for any sane
person to venture there. It did not deter me from going with my little one who I
would put on my shoulders. It would have a three-fold effect. One, she was safe
from the surging crowd. Two, she could see the action of the arrow being shot
by Ram ji which would hit the effigy of Ravana and the enactment of the last
scene of the drama on a stage erected there. And most importantly, she loved
sitting on my shoulders. It was a place where she always felt the happiest. In
all the madness and jostling of the crowds, I grew up.
Now in my sixties in Mumbai, there is no more watching of Ram Lilas or experiencing the ultimate joy of watching the burning of the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnada with the shouts of Jai Sia Ram. With the screening of magnum opus Ramayana Part 1 happening now, I sat down to do some serious thinking and asked myself if this victory of good over evil has a deeper meaning than merely an annual fun time? And this is my perspective.
Ravana’s ten heads represented
ten mortal evils.
Kama (lust/desire)
Krodha (anger)
Moha (attachment)
Mada (arrogance)
Matsarya (envy/ jealousy)
Ahamkara (ego)
Ghrina (hatred)
Bhaya (fear)
Jaddhata (insensitivity)
Lobha (greed)
We all, as human beings, have
these failings in some degree or another. The degrees may vary with time and
age of a person but no one can really say they are devoid of these traits. It means
that in each one there lives a Ravana. Ram, on the other hand, represents the opposite
side of these evils and is the one who has overcome these. In short, Ram is not
mortal and hence is treated as divine for he is one who has achieved complete victory
over these ten evils. For us humans, our aspiration is to get closer to
divinity, and over a period of time, we all try and shed some portions of the evils
and adopt to a better way of life. The story of Ramayana, therefore, is sending
us a message that we need to transform and get better. We need to beat the spirit
of Ravana within us, slowly and steadily.
It would be good if we were to
all make a simple chart and map our current state in a scale where Ravana
stands on the left side at 1 and on the extreme right stands Lord Ram at 10. Examine
the worksheet annually after having striven to move your scale to the right with
small everyday steps on some, if not all, of Ravana’s heads. This
transformation would give more meaning to the epic story and to our lives.
This will be growing up in its
truest sense.
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| Happy Diwali |
SS
