Boomerangs

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First I saw the word "boomerang" was in 1958 in a copy of Reader's Digest. There was also a figure of an Australian aborigine standing under a tree wielding that weird contrivance. 

I thought it was all a joke till I saw a toy-version of boomerang flung into the air to attract customers to a shop in a Kukatpally mall a couple of years back.

Boomerang is a sharp weapon that is thrown by the hunter aimed at his quarry from a safe distance. If it hits and kills the animal, he would go and retrieve the carcass as well as his boomerang for his next hunt. If it misses its target, no harm...it would fly back to him for the next try.

Very clever. 

A typical modern boomerang is an L-shaped aerodynamically designed plastic toy with convex (and concave) surfaces. 

It WORKS!

Australian aborigines are not the only clever chaps...our own genius ancestors invented boomerang long long ago...it is called "Vishnu Chakra" used by Sri Krishna on Shishupala...it returned even after severing the victim's neck :)

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Bur the word "boomerang" is more often used nowadays in its figurative sense:

"An act or utterance that backfires on its originator"

The most famous instance of this is the boon given by Bhola Shivji to Bhasmasura who wanted to test his boon on Shivji himself...trying to place his hand on Shivji's own head to see if it really works. I watched this story as a dance number in one of our movies...maybe Maya Bazar.

There is also this ever-angry rishi Durvasa who, in a moment of pique, wanted to punish King Ambarisha...with the result that it boomeranged on him: Ambarisha being a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu succeeded in making the Vishnu Chakra chase Durvasa all around the world till he surrendered. It shows that even for rishis this shloka from Gita applies:

क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोह: सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: |

स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ||

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There is now a popular school of thought that in 1962, in a moment of pique, Nehruji ordered his troops to "throw the Chinese into wilderness". And we know what happened...his pique boomeranged on India with a vengeance. 

The tables are turned now. It is the pique of the Chinese Supremo Xi Jinping that boomeranged on him last week thus:

1. Xi wanted to teach Modiji a harsh lesson for improving Indian infrastructure in Ladakh. He failed miserbaly...it is now ten times better than what it was when Xi attacked.

2. Xi wanted to dissuade Modiji from getting friendlier with the US. Now not only friendship with the US but also what is called the Quad (US, Japan, Australia and India) is firmly revived against the bravado of Xi.

3. Xi thought his aggression would be a walkover. He is now withdrawing his troops and armor fast from the bitter cold Himalayas in a tacit admission of his utter failure in coercing Modiji.

4. Xi, by all accounts, made an ass of himself.

1962 avenged sweetly...

Big Boomerang!

True story: Five years back a young lady news-reader of a private TV channel was fired for reading: "Eleven Jinping" for "XI Jinping"

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And then there is this absolutely unbelievable but stunning true story:

In 1981 Prof GBM was our HoD at IIT KGP. For reasons best known to himself, he was allergic to me and was always trying to book me in one case or the other (ha!)

One evening I was summoned to his august presence by the office attendant and I went there to find him seated on his throne with a couple of his stooges attending on him.

And he grimly opened his drawer, took out an answer script, and flung it at my face saying:

"You are the scrutineer of the MSc scripts. And this answer book was discovered in the market rice shop by Dr XXX. Could you explain how it landed there before even the Senate Results Meeting is over?"

And the stooges laughed.

As I carried that blessed script to my office the stooges followed advising me:

"Apologize; and GBM may forgive"

This is the background:

Bundles of answer scripts arrive in the office and are distributed to the concerned examiners who check them, sign on the top of the answer scripts, post the marks on the marks sheet, sign the marks sheets, and deliver the bundles and mark sheets to the appointed scrutineers for that course. The scrutineer checks all the scripts to ensure that all questions are marked and the totaling and posting is correct, signs on the top of the answer scripts as well as on the mark sheets, passes on the mark sheets to the tabulators, and keeps the bundles safe with him till the Senate Meeting is over.  After that the scrutineer deposits the bundles in the Junk Room where they are preserved for a decade before clearing the room.

...I went home and returned to the office late in the night. 

First thing I noticed was that the script flung at me had the signature of the examiner, Prof CLR, but DID NOT have any scrutineer's signature at the place reserved for it...just blank.  Which meant that that bundle of answer scripts never arrived in my room. And I counted and made sure that all the other 31 bundles of the MSc were present good on the floor of my room.

Next morning I walked gaily into Prof GBM's office and showed him that there was no signature of any scrutineer on the top of that answer script; only the signature of the examiner CLR was present, which meant that that bundle was never scrutinized. And I asked GBM to open his almirah and show me the mark sheet of that bundle. 

He resisted but I insisted.

And lo and behold! The mark sheet bore the signature of CLR, and in the place reserved for the scrutineer, instead of my signature, there was the signature of none other than the unofficial spy XXX who discovered and cheerfully brought that script to the HoD to crucify me.

Boomerang!

It turned out that CLR was late in examining the scripts of that bundle, and instead of taking the bundle to the Department from his home, took only the mark sheet and asked his friend XXX to sign on it in good faith, which he did...friendship being thicker than blood.

And the bundle was sold to the raddiwala (waste paper monger) during dusting and cleaning by the maid (in good faith again! :)

And the spy escaped...as usual...

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Wishing bad luck to others certainly boomerangs.

It is said that "self-loathing" too boomerangs on oneself. Indeed self-loathing is the incidental cause as well as a symptom of clinical depression (I know).

There is this well-known chant uttered by devotees while doing the pradakshina (turning around oneself in front of their gods):

యానికాని చ పాపాని జన్మాంతరకృతానిచ

తాని తాని ప్రణశ్యంతి ప్రదక్షిణ పదే పదే 

పాపోహం పాపకర్మాహం పాపాత్మా పాప సంభవ :

త్రాహిమాం కృపయా దేవ శరణాగతవత్సల 

అన్యధా శరణం నాస్తి త్వమేవ శరణం మమ 

తస్మాత్కారుణ్య భావేన రక్ష రక్ష మహేశ్వర  

The operative sentence there is:

"paapoham paapa karmaanaam paapaatmaa paapa sambhavah"

It is said it should be replaced by:

"bhktoham bhakta karmaanaam bhaktaatmaa bhakta sambhavah"

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says:

"Don't always cry 'I am a sinner...I am a sinner'.  Uttering God's name even once in faith and devotion washes away all your past sins. Like a thousand years of darkness in a cave vanishes instantly when a single match stick is struck alight dhub"

"Sin" is an innate Christian Concept. Man is born according to them in the "original sin" (of Adam & Eve).  And Jesus, and Jesus alone, can redeem you if you convert to Christianity.

On the other hand there is this heavenly verse from the Taittareeya Upanishad (Varuna to his son Bhrigu):

ఆనందాధ్యేవ ఖల్విమాని భూతాని జాయంతే

ఆనందేన జాతాని జీవంతి

ఆనందం ప్రయంత్యభిసంవిశంతి

(Beings are born from bliss, when born, they live by bliss and into bliss, when departing, they enter)

Amen! :)

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Acknowledgment:

I thank Sri Kandi Sankarayya Garu for suggesting the topic of today's blog.

Thank you Sir!

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