




If you have still not seen this modern version of Ahalya, inspired by story of Ahalya from Ramayana; first thing to do is to watch it here.
‘Ahalya’ by the maverick Sujoy Ghosh.
Ahalya the name, till now, symbolized a sinful woman who atone her infidelity by turning into a stone. Ahalya as said in Hindu literature, was the most beautiful woman on earth; created by Brahma himself. She was not born, but created using all the beauty of this world.

She was married to a great ‘Maharishi‘ (sage) Gautam. Gautam was much older to her and was not into worldly pleasures much. Indra, the king of God, was however, enticed with Ahalya beauty. Indra wanted to have her at any cost. Even knowing that she is the wife of maharishi Gautam, did not deter Indra from his bad intentions.
So one day, in the absence of Gautam, Indra disguised in the form of Gautam comes to Ahalya and raped her. I would like to use the word Rape because if Indra is in disguise of her husband, even if she did something willingly, it was improper and not with her consent.

Gautam came to know of it, and in result he curse Ahalya to turn into a stone and suffer for eternity till Lord Rama will come and liberate her of this curse. Rama touches the stone turned Ahalya with his foot, and she turn back to her beautiful self. She is purified now and Gautam returns back to accept her back as his wife.
This may sound too extreme when you try to play this story in modern times. It’s the same way a rape victim is punished for the crime that others did to her. Ahalya is the face of our patriarchal society. In modern times, if this would happen to any woman, a lot of feminist groups would raise their voice against it.
It seems so inhumane.
Sujoy Ghosh, the maverick, as I like to call him, has tried to do justice to Ahalya, by liberating her, without introducing any Rama in her story.

In Sujoy‘s story, Ahalya is a mystery woman, who is confident and knows her strength. She is no longer a second fiddle to Gautam. Instead as Gautam said, it is her who has inspired him for all his creations. She is the muse and master both. You will understand this as you will reach the end.
Do watch it. It will only take your 14 minutes, but it may change the image of a helpless woman who was victimized for others crimes. Here is the link again.
This 14-Minute Bengali Thriller Will Have You At The Edge Of Your Seat(buzzfeed.com)
Digital platform is the future: Sujoy Ghosh(freepressjournal.in)
The Ramayana: Epic love story in Ayodhya(ireport.cnn.com)

Ramadan is here and so are Iftar parties, one after another. In fact there is a race among Indian politicians to invite as many as their political counterparts as possible and broadcast their secularism to the minority of the nation.
Sonia Gandhi is giving an Iftar party. Arvind Kejriwal is also on the same bandwagon. President is also supposed to throw a lavish Iftar party. More or less every political party and big leader is throwing a party in the name of Iftar.
It is not a new thing but this practice is going on for years…. infact as far as I remember it has become more prominent since the time all political parties pretended to be more secular than the others. Secular as in more minority favorable parties; and by minority here, I do not mean Sikhs, Jains, Schedule castes or girls in India.
Media is also after this event as if it’s an Oscar party. Who attended whose party? Who clicked pic with whom? On that note did you saw Arvind kejriwal’s happily ever after kind of pic with his arch-enemy Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung. See the power of Ramadan.

Did you also notice in all the pics almost every non-muslim leader is wearing a skull-cap. That is also a great symbol of secularism. It is now a days a fashion statement of politicians who are Secular. Normal/common people who wear this cap may be wearing it for non fashionable reasons but how could they know that a mere cap is more than enough to turn a hypocrite into a Secular.
Do you also know that common man who fast on Ramadan usually breaks his fast with eating dates and drinking water. His Iftar is neither a lavish and grand party nor so much media seeking event.

This much talking about Iftar has made me hungry but before I go and eat my home cooked humble meal, there is one more thought that I would like to share with you.
So, I was just thinking, or kind of dreaming, what if these same politicians also do ‘Mata Ka Jagran’, or ‘kanchka – where they will feed little girls ‘kanyas’ and also give money to them. how empowering that would be? Or If they do Nanak Prabhat Pheri in the early morning hours, singing devotional songs. Or, if they throw thanksgiving parties to all the voters who voted for them and gave them power to rule for five years.

It was quite hilarious – that dream that I had.
Just imagine reading news about, ‘Sonia Gandhi has invited every political leader to her Mata ka Jagran event. She was herself dressed as Mata Durga, whereas Digvijay Singh was dressed in a Singh’s (Lion) costume. He was dancing keeping his tail in mouth.
Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing in full devotion to the tune of “beda paar karegi janpath vaali (oops jhande vaali) Maa”.

When Rahul Gandhi was dancing we saw Lalu Yadav and Mulayam shovering 10 and 20 rupees bills. Lalu also danced to his favorite devotional song ‘khushhaal karti, maala maal karti, sherowali maa apne bhakto ki nihaal karti’.
Narendra Modi arrived late, accompanying L. K. Advani by his side. While Modi was seen doing a shastaang pranam to Mata Durga (Sonia Gandhi dressed as Durga) and later giving a two-minute speech on acche din; Advani took mic in his hand and sang full song ‘Mata Sherawali bharde jholi khali’.

Kejriwal was wearing a red duppatta over his head and swinging his head in 360 degree. We later came to know that Mata Durga herself came in Kejriwal’s soul and blessed him. That was the reason of his head swinging, and not because he has lost his marbles.
It was great and blissful night when all the politicians joined together to pray to Maa Shakti Durga, and were blessed with good wisdom and honesty, if that’s possible.

PS. In no way this Jagran was a secular event.
Delhi Election 2013: Best thing that has happened to congress so far.(jcisnowjs.wordpress.com)
What Kind of Government We Want?(jcisnowjs.wordpress.com)
Diary: Sonia’s Iftar shindig a string of hits and misses(rediff.com)
Sonia Gandhi invites Opposition leaders for Iftar dinner(freepressjournal.in)

