Cheerleaders

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Four Search Parties for Sita were launched by Sugriv, of which the Southbound Party included Hanuman, known for his prowess as well as his intense devotion to Raam. Hanuman was the son of the great god Vayu and he was blessed with the eightfold powers (ashta siddhis: anima, mahima, garima, laghima, prapti, prakaamyam, ishatvam and vasistvam) that I talked about in an earlier post:

http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2011/07/tall-gossip.html

Raam had a hunch that Sita's abductor was headed south (Jatayu breathed his last before completing the word Sou..). So, Hanuman was chosen to go south.

But Hanuman had a problem: he always forgot that he had all those powers and had to be reminded.

So, when their Search party reached the Seashore without finding Sita, everyone there was depressed including Hanuman. And they had half a mind to beat a retreat. But the wise decided there was no way they could return empty-handed and so someone had to cross the sea and continue the search. And everyone, including Hanuman felt unequal to the task. And it was left to Jambavan to go over to Hanuman and cheer him up reminding the tremendous powers he had.

That did the trick.

Raam himself was always prone to forget that he was the incarnation of the very Vishnu; and behaved like a human. That is one reason why Raamaayan is charming, even to RKN to take the trouble of narrating the story in English.

During the course of the battle, Raam was deeply depressed that none of his astras (missiles) was good enough to kill Raavan (the secret had to be revealed to him by Vibhishan later). So, one morning he was sitting gloomily wondering what to do:

Tato yuddha parishrantam samarey chinthayasthitam
Raavanam chagrato drshtwa yuddhaya samupasthitam

Then, seeing Raam's desperation, Sage Agasthya (of the Frogs blog) walks down to Raam and cheers him up by teaching him the loveliest adoration called: Aaaditya Hridayam and asks him to recite it.

That did the trick.

Arjun was rather obtuse: he needed the entire 18-Chapter Bhagavadgita to be taught by Krishna right in the middle of the battlefield even before killing started. Not yet convinced, he had to be shown the 4-D show called the Vishwarupa Sandarshan, before he could be cheered up to start killing.

But that did the trick.

There is a charming story of how Gautma, the Buddha, in search of Enlightenment follows the prevalent path of extreme austerities, but in vain. And then he happens to listen to a group of village belles playing soul-fulfilling music on their lutes; and understands by simile that just as a lute won't play when its strings are too tight or too loose, so he should invent the Middle Path.

And Sujata did the trick of feeding him the first morsel after days of going hungry.

So, every individual and nation when in distress needs cheerleaders.

When London was being bombed relentlessly, it was Chruchill who cheered up the Nation with his soul-stirring speeches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6llT2ZYg-4E

So much so that the shopkeepers of London (ridiculed by Napoleon) kept their shops grittily open; and, when bombed to smithereens, they hung placards: "Shop More Open!"

Even the young boys and girls of the US surprised me by their Obama slogan:

"Yes, we can!"

It was so heartening that I couldn't make out who was cheering whom: Obama or the young ones. There is a flash word for it which I never used so far: synergy.

If you live as long as I, you would realize that there were situations when you were down in the dumps but someone acts as your cheerleader (if you are lucky). It could be a friend, a wife, a son, a guru, a student or even a stranger.

Once, in 1971, I was stranded on the Howrah Station Platform about to board the Madras Mail on a family mission. And felt that I would be so comfortable if I had a hundred rupee note in my pocket (I had only a fifty rupee note). And lo and behold, there came along totally unexpectedly a friend of mine (NP) and pushed a hundred rupee note into my pocket, and left like Sage Agastya:

Asmin kshaney mahabaho raavanam twam vadhishyasi
Evamuktvaa tathagastyo jagaamacha yathaagatam

It was one of those unexplained miracles.

And after marriage, my wife routinely played my cheerleader when needed most, bless her!

So, here is three cheers for all cheerleaders of the world!

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Tailpiece

Today's DC carries an article by my favorite, Paul Krugman (NL), in which he lampoons S&P:

"...If there's a single word that best describes the rating agency's decision to downgrade America, it's chutzpah---traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy becasue he's an orphan...

...Before downgrading US debt, S&P sent a preliminary draft of its press release to the US Treasury. Officials there quickly spotted a $2 trillion error in S&P's calculations...After discussion, S&P conceded it was wrong---and downgraded America anyway, after removing some of the economic analysis from its report...."

gps: This reminded me of the chutzpah of a Senior Professor Z whose marking of M Sc scripts I had to officially 'scrutinize'.

And his questions were all essay type. One student forgot to label his Question Numbers serially (KGPians were queer). So, when I looked into the script closely, I found that Q. Nos 4 and 5 were answered without a break. And Professor Z thought it was a single question answered ok, and gave him 12 out of 15 in the margin.

And I took the script to him and showed that the poor chap answered both the questions one after the other without a big break and so he deserves twice 12 marks (I rather knew the subject cursorily).

Professor Z looked up and down and down and up and back and forth and forth and back and struck out the 12 and replaced it by a 6 and another 6 so his total on the top page didn't change...

He was rather immutable, like the Himalayas before our generation...

I simply passed on the message to the concerned student so he could go and bargain, which was officially allowed...but didn't follow it up...one should do just the proper thing, no more-no less..



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