Thursday, January 26, 2012

The mighty mace champ!

The mace champion, elephant rider, best cook, Draupadi's favorite who else can it be apart from Bhima.

It is said that Bheema, Duryodhana, Keechaka, Jarasandha and Hidimbasura were born in the same cosmic phase. It was also said that one among these five will kill the rest of them too. Bhima was the first to kill Himdimbasura and eventually slays everyone else. His encounter with Dhuryodhana is known by all, the epic Mahabharath is all about it, but those with the others is less known. The thigh of Dhuryodhana became his weak point and hence he was killed. That was a lovely plot. The other stories too have really interesting plots. Perhaps, many of them don't even know about it. A small attempt to fill in those stories.. again of course told by grandma. Hmm.. some day may be my kid might google these and read them and appreciate me for taking this effort.(',') I don't exactly remember the cause for the fight between Bhima and Jarasandha. But I do know the details of the fight, from a movie i watched :)

Encounter with Hidimbasura:

In their exile, Pandavas lived in many villages . One night, when Bhima was on guard, 2 demon siblings named Hidimba and Hidimbi came in search of food. They smelt human flesh and saw all these brothers with their mother Kunthi sleeping. The hungry Hidimba asked his sister to bring loads of fresh human meat to satisfy his hunger. Hidimbi proceeded to the camp site and while deciding whom to kill first, her eyes fell on Bhima. His gigantic personality attracted her towards him. She came back and told her brother that she would not kill him as she loved him and wanted to marry him. Then Hidimba, disregarding her words, came there to kill them and eat them, but the mighty Bhima fought him and killed him. By then the other Pandavas and Kunti also woke up and were surprised to see a demon killed and lying there. Hidimbi requested Kunti to accept her for Bhima. Kunti accepted her on Bhima's consent.

Encounter with Keechaka :

During their 13th year of exile, a period which they had to pass unrecognized, they chose to stay disguised in the kingdom of Virata. Yudhistra, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakul and Sahadev were disguised as Royal Adviser, a cook, a eunuch dance teacher, the shepherd and cattle-caretaker respectively in this kingdom. Draupadi was called Sairandhri/Malini, the care taker of the Queen. Keechaka was the Queen's brother, who was also the commander in chief of the army. He surpassed the king Virata in all qualities and hence was dominant and bullying as well. His eyes one day fell on Malini and lusted for her. He expressed his desire for Malini to the Queen, but she denied saying that she was a Pathivrata and such a thought also would be considered a sin. But he vowed to destroy her husband's kingdom and hence she sent Malini to his chamber without telling her his intention.

While Malini was serving the wine, Keechaka embraced Malini and tried to kiss her. Malini cried and pushed him and escaped from him. The next day in the throne room, she was once again humiliated amidst an assembly full of courtiers, the King including her disguised husband Yudhishtira, neither of whom could bring themselves to react because Keechaka wielded so much power within the kingdom. Seething from the public insult, Draupadi confronted all her husbands who hung their head in shame and yet showed no signs of help. They resented to reveal their identities, which if they did, they had to go on exile for another 13 years. It was Bhima, who consoled her and agreed to solve her problem. He told her to invite Keechaka to her chamber room and leave the rest to him. When Keechaka arrived in the room, he saw, much to his pleasure, what he thought was a sleeping Malini. As Keechaka advanced forward, however, the person who he thought to be Malini revealed himself as Bhima, who proceeded to brutally kill Keechaka. This was indication to the Kauravas that Bhima and the other Pandavas were in this very kingdom and hence Dhuryodhana attacked the Virata's after this to search for all the five brothers.


Encounter with Jarasandha :

Bhima and  Jarasandha fought for many days, may be almost a month, but still Jarasandha was undefeatable. His name meant "joined by Jara". Apparently in the past, a king gave half fruit, given and blessed by a holy sage to have a son, to each of his two wives, . Each wife gave birth to only half of a human body. A demon named Jara, happened to unite them to eat it and unknowingly the child got its life and came into existence.

Bhima did not know how to defeat Jarasandha. Every time he killed Jarasandha and threw the bodies, they would merge and come back to life. Every attempt to kill him was futile. Bhima was on the verge of quitting when he resorted to Lord Krishna. Krishna, from distance made a signal to catch Bhima's attention. He then, took a stick, broke it into two and threw the left piece on right side and the right piece on the left side. Bhima precisely followed the same. Now, when he killed Jarasandha's body into two, he threw them in opposite directions. The two pieces of the body could no more unite and thus was the end to Jarasandha.

P.S :No wonder "Chota Bhim"'s TRP is amazingly high. My nephew has all cd's of it!! :)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Insane Me

There are some days when I think magic doesn't exists. Everything that happened was all a fantasy. When this thought creeps in, I fall into a deep black pit with the only thought being that . . . . This is life.. I chose it! Nothing is special, nothing is magical, and there's no way I'll ever be more than just any other idiot cribbing in US of A.

I am hopeless, reckless and lost.... tripping and tumbling through internal chaos i AM making a sincere attempt to find myself, the old me, the idiot me, the insane but sweet gal in me. This shall pass, things shall change and i will be back may be with a bang.

Careless words make people love us a little less. Patience is really a most important virtue. This too shall pass is the best answer to all questions. Be yourself, there will be people who like the real you. Don't care about the rest. Give the right things happening in your life a chance. Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. Cry if you need to, it’s healthy to shed your tears. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.”  It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.”  Thank God for what you have and for all the wonderful people around you supporting you. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.