Us & Them - Repeat Telecast

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Whoever said "Man is a rational being" is a hopeless dreamer.

Men (and women) are completely irrational in their prejudices. 

Even our gods are not above it. Most of our vedas and puranas are description of fights between devas (gods) and asuras (demons) although they were cousins of a sort:

...Later, in the Puranas, Kashyap is portrayed as the father of both, devas and asuras. In thePuranas, Kashyap is said to have married 60 daughters of Daksha Prajapati and fathered all beings on earth including devas, asuras, manavas and the entire animal world.^[1]

...wiki

Some profound Genesis there!

Incidentally mine is Kashyap gotra...I am a direct descendant of the said Kashyap and so I am superior to the rest of the "devas, asuras, manavas, and the entire animal world"...including YOU!

During the great churning of the milky ocean, asuras put in as much effort as devas...but were denied the amrit (ambrosia) by a mean skulduggery of the devas...Vishnu took the form of a maiden called Mohini and ditched ausras of the fruit of their labors and made them mortals while the devas became immortal...but they continued their fights endlessly.

Raam was supposed to be a decent manava (maryada purush)...but he was into killing his cousins, the asuras, all his life.

Krishna had no such pretension of impartiality between cousins who were fighting till death...he was known as Pandava Pakshapati (partial to the Pandavas).

Yudhistir was the least prejudiced of all the characters of Mahabharat. During their exile, all his four brothers were killed by Yaksha. And Yudhistir went looking for them and Yaksha took his grand viva and was impressed. And he asked Yudhistir to choose one of his brothers whom he would be willing to revive. And Yudhi answered 'Nakul' instead of the valiant Arjun or Bhim. Asked why, he said "I am alive and I am the son of my mother Kunti. So, I want a son of my stepmother Madri to be alive too". Yaksha was impressed and revived all of them.

But the same Yudhistir had no compunction in uttering a blasted lie to kill his Guru (Dron) so all his other 100 cousins get killed too...also his elder brother Karna who refused to defect.

In our South Indian brahmin community there are so many sects and subsects and everyone thinks his own is superior to the others.

I had a charming experience of this prejudice. 

My Father died on a most auspicious day (according to my mom), in 1994. It happened to be the Vaisakh Panchami, the day on which Shankara was born (Shankara Jayanti). Unfortunately it was not such a convenient day for me to perform the rituals of his death anniversary every year (Shraadh ceremonies). Because Shankara Jayanti also happens to be the most auspicious day for performing the Sacred Thread Ceremonies of young brahmin kids. This is rather more of a fetching thing for our Pundits than the routine shraadh ceremony...the latter fetches him only Rs 100 whereas each thread ceremony is worth Rs 1000.

So it was tough for me to find pundits willing to forgo their lucrative business to assist me in my father's shraadh rituals. 

After inquiries I found, in 2008, that my work could be got done in a Madhva temple in Nellore. The pundit agreed to perform it in a hurry and run away. While his youthful wife (who lives in and looks after the temple's humdrum routine) would cook the sacrificial meal and feed me...all included in the Rs 100 deal.

I told the pundit that I am not a hearty eater, but I have my mom and six sisters who would love to partake the Prasad (token offering) of Father's Shraadh. This consists of some laddus and some vadas. The pundit said that the default prasad is 2 laddus and 2 vadas only which are covered by the fees of Rs 100. I was slightly disappointed but didn't like to haggle with him or offer more money like in a dhaba. This dialogue between us took place in the presence of his wife...the hostess for my meal.

So, I sat down for my meal and the young, shy, but superior wife started serving me...superior because Madhvas think they are holier than us Dravids.

I was also equally shy by nature to be fed by an unknown lady. And kept quiet throughout my meal...like her.

At the end of the meal, I took the liberty to tell her:

"This was a wonderful meal...very very tasty. Thank you"

And she didn't exactly blush with my compliment but was pleased.

And I added:

"The food tasted like the one cooked and served by my own wife"

And she couldn't decide whether it was a nice or cheeky comment.

And I added:

"My wife is a Madhva"

Then she burst into a broad smile and said:

"Is that so? I didn't know!"

And she vanished into her kitchen and returned holding a huge packet in her hands which she delivered to me. And said:

"Here are 10 laddus and 10 vadas...for all your family members and your wife"

And it was my turn to smile like a million dollars...  

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...Posted by Ishani   

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