Tuesday, January 20

Dard Mein Bhi Ye Labb Muskura Jaate Hai...

Hi.

Didn’t feel like writing today.

Am I sad? No. Not really. Just the general, persistent melancholy feeling that you all know is an integral part of me...

Life’s NOT happening. I’m working, and I’m not enjoying it. I’m staying with family, and I’m not liking it. Friends and events are not exciting enough either. Or maybe, the “missing” bit is in my brain / attitude.

Anyways, I’m gona talk about another’s gloom today. Of Bheeshma, the Kuru patriarch. (What did you think? Just coz I wrote
yesterday that I’ve been talking too much about Mahabharata does not mean I won’t talk about it!!)

I’m currently reading the Bheeshma Parva in the
Mahabharata. Poor man, Bheeshma. One of the 8 vasus cursed to be born on earth as mortals coz they stole a muni’s cow, Bheeshma lived a life of misery, almost as bad as Karna’s. (Maybe worse, coz Bheeshma could select when and how he wanted to die, and yet he chose to endure so much pain before he embraced death. Admire his tenacity!)

One thing I don’t admire in him, (please correct me if I’m wrong) is the fact that he did not interrupt or cut short the
game of dice that finally led to the great Mahabharata war. He had the authority to express his disapproval of the episode, but he didn’t. He didn’t even support Dro when she was dragged into the sabha wearing nothing but a single cloth, and affronted publicly. Why??!!! I don’t know... And I didn’t like it...

Anyway, his life has not been an easy one. First, he had to live without a father, and then without his mother. An excellent warrior, he had to forsake conjugal bliss coz his dad lusted for a fisherwoman whose pa wanted his daughter’s son to be placed on the throne after the king. When no promise satisfied the to-be-pa-in-law, Bheeshma swore to remain celibate all his life (and from this time, “Devavrata” became “Bheeshma”).

His privation had just begun. For after this, he saw all those he had nurtured to become the Kuru kings, meet their sad and sudden demise. Ever loyal to the Kuru kingdom, Bheeshma sided with the Kauravas inspite of knowing they were evil and would die at the hands of the Pandavas in the great war that would end the contemporary yuga. What more, he even told Duryodhana that he would command the army only on two conditions – one, he wouldn’t kill the sons of Pandu, and two, he would not fight in the same army as Karna. (Apparently, it's not Bhishma who refused to fight alongwith Karna, but the latter - says
Wiki)

What is truly remarkable is that he himself tells the Pandavas how to kill him. Could anything be more valiant? Lying on a bed of arrows, he counts the ones Arjuna shot at him (including one to rest his head on) and the one most fatal, the deepest was Shikhandi’s - Shikhandi, who in the previous birth was Amba of Kasi, kidnapped by Bheeshma from her swayamvara, who swore to murder her captor coz she had to face disgrace thanks to his act...

But well, enough about that. Here’s the update on Aamche Pune. I’ve heard the city’s on high alert coz a bunch of 26 terrorists have arrived from somewhere. (Despite advance information, I don’t understand how our folks can’t capture them...)

The other update is on ME – I can NOT laugh artificially. My cheeks and jaw ache when I do that. Mum’s good at that sort of thing, given that she, unlike me, has no choice but to entertain all and sundry. And ya, I am also very impatient with slow people, who just DON’T seem to get the simplest of things. Grrrr...

Gotta go. Good day!
Lonely Princess


P.S : The title?? Oh... Love that song, and couldn't think of any other :-) Dard mein bhi ye labb muskura jate hai, beete lamhe hume jab bhi yaad aata hai... Listen to it. It's amazing! Keep singing!!

2 comments:

vishal said...

anuja..here u are..it happens on off wid people..same shit here goes to work just for d sake of it..impatiently waiting for one and a half years to come back to Pune..one thing i wld suggest that dnt feel Lonely coz noone ever is..the supreme power is id us..As humans..me included we tend to think of bad things in life..how we 4get bout gud thgs..imagine ur first scooter,first boyfriend,first day in col..first friend,first salary...remem boman irani in Bluffmaster..About pune updates it's worrisome..the best city..d place im very close to..which as always been cool..lets hope the authorities does everythg to protect law n order..n keep our pune safe..yo!keep smiling!it's part of ur usp....
"count ur blessings rather than ur troubles"
love n care
vishal

MS said...

Hmm, nice one, i wud have liked if u would have elaborated on Pitama Bheeshma. anyways still was nice post. I guess mood swings are integral part of ours lives now. i dont know whether or not we shd do anything abt it. aaa not pune plz, i love tht city its the place where i was born n brought up.

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