Ever wondered what it would be like if the Mahabharata were written with Draupadi as the narrator and the entire story being her perspective?
I've been thinking about it for the past few days.. musing over all the incidents that actually happen to Draupadi and all the predicaments she faces as a woman. How did it feel to be soo close to God? In my opinion, she is an epitome of pure devotion to God and she is the perfect example of true surrender. Lord Sri Krishna was her best friend and mentor. Apart from that, how would she have felt when, in her Swayamvar while several kings could not lift up the bow, Karna, the son of a "mere" charioteer managed to lift it and string it? What was it like to be treated like an object and introduced to her mother-in-law as bheeksha..and what did it feel like to be cheated and married to 5 men, while she garlanded only one? What must have been her mental trauma when she realized that she was pawned again like an object in a game of dice.. and was called a whore that slept with 5 men and nearly stripped in a court despite her husbands and grandfather and the king being present?
Draupadi, I think is the real heroine of the Mahabharath. She is a very strong and powerful character.. vain, proud, strong, wanting to avenge the injustice meted to her and highly devoted. When her husbands lose focus of the war towards the end, she reminds them of her promise that she will not wash/comb her hair until Dushasan's blood touches her tresses. She is an icon of feminity and female strength.
I think it may be interesting to read a feministic view of the great epic!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Much Ado about Nothing
All of the "nothings" in the past week that I'm making a fuss about...
1. The saga of finding an apt-mate. OMG tiresome! Its either a girl who would rather stay in her cousin's place, or a girl that likes the apt but her dad doesn't, or a girl who wants to move in tommorrow (while the apt is available at the end of the month), or another who is thinking twice about moving 'cos the apt is in the third floor, or another who likes the place but can't afford the rent and so would like find another person! And every single time, you haveta clean the apt and take time off to be in the house for people that might even show up an hour and a half later than the specified time on a weekday afternoon!
2. And while you run around taking care of rapidly breeding animals and your apt needs, there will be that absolutely nosy can't-help-but-gossip-and-comment- coworker of yours that well.. can't help but gossip and comment about your absence from your supposed work-place. Annoying to the very end. And well.. quite like me to be actually bothered and lose my sleep (on a saturday morning) over the silly lady's comment!
Ah women I tell you!
3. And then thankfully there will be some women who can help revive your spirits and make you feel good in a few minutes time.. like say Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and the one Nora Ephron, with movies about women that revive their lives and spirits by cooking. Not that I'm a huge fan of cooking.. (although I definitely am impressed and inspired by Julie & Julia's cook-to-beat-stress attitude!).. but the movie motivates people like me to try achieve Something in the blogging world! (wrong reason huh? but well the movie does inspire you to have a short-term goal and achieve it!!)
4. So finally when its time to spend my precious saturday night doing something fruitful (like blogging)...I end up trying to figure out new templates for my blog site.. only to end up getting confused about html and xml codes and finding no template that actually matches my requirement and so I stick on to my silly old template! But the amount of time spent on it = 3.5 hours, in which time anyone could have even generated their own template from scratch.. while all I had to do was modify some pre-exisiting templates to insert some widgets! Talk about having a million ways to squander time!
1. The saga of finding an apt-mate. OMG tiresome! Its either a girl who would rather stay in her cousin's place, or a girl that likes the apt but her dad doesn't, or a girl who wants to move in tommorrow (while the apt is available at the end of the month), or another who is thinking twice about moving 'cos the apt is in the third floor, or another who likes the place but can't afford the rent and so would like find another person! And every single time, you haveta clean the apt and take time off to be in the house for people that might even show up an hour and a half later than the specified time on a weekday afternoon!
2. And while you run around taking care of rapidly breeding animals and your apt needs, there will be that absolutely nosy can't-help-but-gossip-and-comment- coworker of yours that well.. can't help but gossip and comment about your absence from your supposed work-place. Annoying to the very end. And well.. quite like me to be actually bothered and lose my sleep (on a saturday morning) over the silly lady's comment!
Ah women I tell you!
3. And then thankfully there will be some women who can help revive your spirits and make you feel good in a few minutes time.. like say Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and the one Nora Ephron, with movies about women that revive their lives and spirits by cooking. Not that I'm a huge fan of cooking.. (although I definitely am impressed and inspired by Julie & Julia's cook-to-beat-stress attitude!).. but the movie motivates people like me to try achieve Something in the blogging world! (wrong reason huh? but well the movie does inspire you to have a short-term goal and achieve it!!)
4. So finally when its time to spend my precious saturday night doing something fruitful (like blogging)...I end up trying to figure out new templates for my blog site.. only to end up getting confused about html and xml codes and finding no template that actually matches my requirement and so I stick on to my silly old template! But the amount of time spent on it = 3.5 hours, in which time anyone could have even generated their own template from scratch.. while all I had to do was modify some pre-exisiting templates to insert some widgets! Talk about having a million ways to squander time!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Tea time
Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~Catherine Douzel
Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Author Unknown
For me its always tea not coffee!
I know its probably absurd being a tam-bram or simply a tamilian and being unaware of words like "Madras kaapi", Filter kaapi! I have no idea how coffee tastes..and well many people claim I'm missing something HUGE in life. But I personally feel no loss when I have tea for company!
Tea has a charm of its own.
You can drink tea at any time of the day or night and you'll always find a cuppa tea to suit your mood unlike coffee which I think is drunk to mainly get the caffeine shot and to stay awake.
Here's a few examples -
When I need to keep my eyes wide open for an all-nighter: Grate pieces of ginger into boiling water and add black tea powder and milk and sugar. Voila. The perfect OMMMGGGGG feeling when you have Ginger snaps to go with the Ginger Chai. You feel euphoric as the caffeine kicks your nerves and gets your heart pumping faster.
The lazy saturday afternoon with a relaxing book and when its ok if you fall asleep on your bed over the warm lighting of the bedside-lampshade: Have a cuppa herbal tea - Rooibos Lemon, Green tea or the ever delicious Mate tea. The warm smell of the tea will do its job of relaxing you and putting you into your best siesta while you dream away of that old English country-side and horses and barns! Awesome.
And at other times, when you don't want the heaviness of ginger chai, but yet you want the caffeine to keep you awake.. get the tea and add lemon and honey! Oh my.. you'll realize there's nothing to worry in life as the tea and honey brings about optimism and hope back into you! You'll absolutely relish it.
And well needless to say, nothing like a good-looking, graceful tea-pot, ornate and oriental to go with that cuppa tea while you sit out in the lawns relaxing and enjoying the trees and birds around you! Simply perfect :)
Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Author Unknown
For me its always tea not coffee!
I know its probably absurd being a tam-bram or simply a tamilian and being unaware of words like "Madras kaapi", Filter kaapi! I have no idea how coffee tastes..and well many people claim I'm missing something HUGE in life. But I personally feel no loss when I have tea for company!
Tea has a charm of its own.
You can drink tea at any time of the day or night and you'll always find a cuppa tea to suit your mood unlike coffee which I think is drunk to mainly get the caffeine shot and to stay awake.
Here's a few examples -
When I need to keep my eyes wide open for an all-nighter: Grate pieces of ginger into boiling water and add black tea powder and milk and sugar. Voila. The perfect OMMMGGGGG feeling when you have Ginger snaps to go with the Ginger Chai. You feel euphoric as the caffeine kicks your nerves and gets your heart pumping faster.
The lazy saturday afternoon with a relaxing book and when its ok if you fall asleep on your bed over the warm lighting of the bedside-lampshade: Have a cuppa herbal tea - Rooibos Lemon, Green tea or the ever delicious Mate tea. The warm smell of the tea will do its job of relaxing you and putting you into your best siesta while you dream away of that old English country-side and horses and barns! Awesome.
And at other times, when you don't want the heaviness of ginger chai, but yet you want the caffeine to keep you awake.. get the tea and add lemon and honey! Oh my.. you'll realize there's nothing to worry in life as the tea and honey brings about optimism and hope back into you! You'll absolutely relish it.
And well needless to say, nothing like a good-looking, graceful tea-pot, ornate and oriental to go with that cuppa tea while you sit out in the lawns relaxing and enjoying the trees and birds around you! Simply perfect :)
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