Kaun Banega Crorepathi-2 : Preparations

Kaun Banega Crorepathi -2: Preparations.

On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays form 9 to 10 PM none of us at home is available to the world. We all turn into ‘Couch potatoes’ watching the Big B conducting the KBC-2 in a manner only he can do. On the night of 6th August, Amitabh Bachchan, the anchor in KBC-2 programme, posed this question: “In Hindu mythology, which God is known to have died after being shot by an arrow on his heel?”
“Lord Krishna, of course”, I said without waiting for the options.
“Appa, you are ok. Cool.” complimented my son, because the answer was right. The soup tasted better.
But what my family does not know is that I have this hectic parley with ‘the Secret 8’ (the children of the Merry Land School, just opposite to our house) almost every other evening learning these piquant tit–bits through active participation in their pleasantly exciting, appetizing discussions. It took some time to gain admission into their ‘Ivy-league’ as I call it because like in the Ivy league we are 8 of us.( Ivy League as you all know, is a specific group of eight academic institutions. These schools are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale. The league was formed in the 1940s by the presidents of the eight schools to foster intercollegiate football competition "in such a way as to maintain the values of the game, while keeping it in fitting proportion to the main purposes of academic life.)
Let me not digress. Let me get you all straight into a typical conversational quizzing day of our Ivy League, the average age excluding me being twelve. Cut to:
Location: Culvert in front of Merry Land School
Time: After school hours
Participants: Students and 1 Senior Citizen
Subject: Preparation for KBC-2: Hindu Mythology

“These are for those with a serious know-how of Indian Mythology”: so says our 5 year old leader of the group.

“Who was the one who ate up one of the demon pair Ilwal and Batapi!”?
“Is it Agastya?”
“Yes, it is... And he not only ate Ilwal/Batapi, but also drank the whole of the ocean...”

“Who, other than Drona and Arjuna, knew the complete plan of the Chakravyuha?”
“Drona's wife...? Jayadratha? Must be Krishna”.
“This is the tough mythology round.. And no, it is not Kripi.. Nor Jayadratha for that matter. The Divine Krishna's omniscience has to be ignored in this context.. And Krishna considered as the Gwala that he was.. Nope he didn't know it”.
“Does Subhadra count? She fell asleep when Arjuna was telling her about the Chakravyuha, but she only knew, well... half of it. No she does not.. And for the same reason nor does Abhimanyu”
“It's got to be Bhishma and may be also Karna”
“Any hints, uncle?”
“No and no... Just think about the story of how Arjuna came to learn the secret of the Chakravyuha from Drona, and you will reach the answer”..
“Is it Ashwatthama? Drona probably shared the secret with his son”.
“Well the answer I was looking for was 'Ashwatthama'.. Arjuna learnt that Drona was teaching his son secretly,.. He also followed Ashwatthama to the secret place.. And then Drona had to teach them both together... including Chakravyuha..”

“How was the 'Eighth Vasu' known as in his next birth?”
“Well... the eighth Vasu was Bhishma (Devavrata)”
“The answer is indeed Bhishma..”

“Name the two queens of Yayati”
“Sharmishtha and Devayani”
“Right!!”

“Now tell me who was the first (and perhaps only) love of Devayani, and why he refused to marry her”.
“Her father Sukracharya's student: Kach He considered his guru's daughter as his sister.”
“Right!!He did consider Devayani his sister, but for a more profound reason..”

“Name the Shankhs(Conch shells) of Krishna and the 5 Pandavas?”
“That’s easy”, I volunteered
Sri Krishna -PanchajanyaYudhishthira -AnantavijayaBhima -Paundra Arjun -DevaduttaNakula -SughoshaSahadeva -Manipushpak

“There is a particular order in which the incarnations of Vishnu are supposed to have appeared. What’s peculiar about this order?” (This was a classic from my late father)
“Any hints uncle?”
“ UMMM lemme seee. The answer has to do with science...”
Long silence.
“The answer is that the initial few avatars are in the order of evolution of vertebrates: Matsya (fish) >> Kurma (reptile) >> Varaha (mammal) >> Narsimha (higher mammal) >> Vaman (short-statured ape-man??) >> The human avatars
“You are right, uncle - the ten avatars do appear in an evolutionary order!”

“Do you know what is Vishnu's mace or gada called?”
“Vishnu's gada= Kaumudaki”, that response was from the 5 year old. Of course she is armed with Amar Chitra Katha.

“Durvasa is famous for his anger and curses all through the Indian mythology.. But what is that one famous boon that he gave as an exception?”
“Probably you are referring to the incident when Kunti, who was yet unmarried, had served him at her father's palace and Durvasa blessed her with a boon. He said that soon she will be the mother of a brave son! And Karna was thus born!”
“ Ummm ok. But my version is a bit different again: It was Durvasa who gave Kunti the mantra for invoking Gods who would then grant her sons with their own qualities.. And not only Karna, but the Pandavas too were born with the help of that mantra..”

Hmmm.. Too much time for the correct answer...All the same I need to raise the level of my questions a bit..
“What is the hometown of the Yaksha in Meghadootam?”
“As far as I remember, the Yaksha was an attendant of Kubera exiled to Ramtek. So logically his hometown must be Alkapuri. Am I right?”
“The logic is quite right... (Although it was to Ramgiri that the Yaksha was exiled..)”

“How did Nala hear about the woman he married, and how did he send his first message to her?”
“Damayanti, the daughter of king Bhima of Vidarbha was unparalleled in beauty and her renown spread far and wide. The attendants of Nala used to praise her in front of him and same was true of Damayanti's attendants. The first message was sent via a Hansa/swan captured by Nala who told Nala that it would carry his message to Damayanti if he spares its life.”

“Who was Ranchhodji (mythological, not Morarji Desai), and why was he called so?”
“Ranchodji was another name for Krishna/Dwarkadish. I believe he got this title when he ran away from His battle (with Jarasandh). He had lost on 17 previous occasions!”
“Sounds similar to our cricket team”
“Oh shut up you Dude”
“Krishna took all his Yadavas and ran away to Dwarka so that Jarasandh does not cross the sea and come after him”.
“You got the meaning of the name Ranchhodji right! But the explanation is slightly different. It's controversial whether Krishna lost in all 17 pervious battles. (Krishna was a hero and a God: so obviously his fans have tried hard to explain things in his favour). But in the 18th battle Krishna was facing both Jarasandh and Kalyavan. And his encounter with Kalyavan is the famous tactical story of Ranchhodji. About that later.”
“These prove at least one thing that Krishna was so tactful that he even resorted to deception and still remained popular. It seems.. Ranchhodji Krishnji Ran (battle ground) chhodke bahotbar bhagen hain (sometimes even with his mighty brother..)”. That was a comment from the senior most girl member!

“Which king served Kamdhenu's daughter, and got his son as a boon from her? You know that king served Kamdhenu's daughter, and got a son in blessing from her?”(Hint: The story is found in one of Kalidasa's creations. This from the 11 year old Sanskrit Pundit)
“Was it Bhojraj?? ???” I volunteered. I looked silly. “Or am I way off the mark?”
“Yes.. you ARE way off the mark.. uncle””Maybe it would be somewhat easier if I tell you that the creation in question was
'Raghuvamsham' ok? Uncle?
‘ O Alright! it was King Dileep who served Nandini to beget King Raghu.”
“Yes, that's right..” there was a round of applause. I put my collar up.

“On to much more recent mythology now..” That was our Vice President.
“Believe it or not. Tulsidas is said to have been visited by SreeRam and Lakshman once, when he was sitting at a Ghat in Varanasi.. But he didn't realize it was THEM, and sent THEM off after tilak, prasad, and having THEM recite: 'Jai Shri Ram'.. After a while, a parrot made him realize their true identity.. Can you tell me who the parrot really was? Bonus points for telling me what the parrot said..
“Hanuman”, I shouted excitedly and “he said, - chitrakoot ke ghat pe lagi santan ki bhid; tulsidas chandan ghise tilak det raghuvir.
“.Exact-Lee!!! Wow uncle you are cool”
(I only know the difficulty I went through in SIES to learn Hindi and Kabir ke dohe etc.)

“How did Krishna get the name 'Damodar'?
“ I know of a river Damodar, where the Dam refers to bunch of Algae! “
“Yeh! Stop joking yaar. Be serious da””But here it could be ropes with which Yashoda used to tie Krishna up..”, I intervened to
sort out the fight.
“Yup that’s right! “
“Probably refers to the incident when Yashoda tied Krishna to an 'Okhli' and Krishna dragged it in between two Kadamb trees and uprooted them.. and..”
“That’s enough uncle”

“Which of Krishna's wives did he win by 'Haran'?”
“Well, By "haran" you mean theft? is that it?” ”In that case Rukmini would be the one..”
“Yes, Rukmini's right!”

“Who was it that lost one of his/her eyes due to being disrespectful to Seeta?”
“Kaakaasura!”
“You're right! Although Tulsidas refers to him as Jayant..”
“But Jayant is Indra's son.. How he came to be known as KAkASURA is difficult to imagine..”
“That’s not part of the question. So leave it at that”

“In how many re-incarnations did Raavan become unified with Vishnu, and how many would it have taken him if he wanted to do it in a friendly way?
“.Something to do with...Jai and Vijai ? “
“Yes, Vishnu's bodyguards Jai and Vijay were cursed that they would have to be born on earth - 3 times if evil, OR alternatively 7 times if good - before they could come back to Vaikuntham”..

“But do you know why they were cursed?”

Well here goes the story..The learned sage Narad once fell into the influence of Maya, and got enamoured with a girl on earth.. He asked Vishnu to make him handsome for some time.. Vishnu asked him what he wanted to look like.. He asked to look like Hari himself..So Vishnu decided to play a jest with him and gave him the face of Hari (a monkey) instead of Hari (Vishnu himself)..When he was returning red-face) from the girl's house.. the two bodyguards happened to look at him, and could not control their laughter..Narad, already fuming, turned around, and condemned them both to Mrityulok.. It was only after Vishnu appeased him a little, when he assured them that they would return to Vaikuntham after three/seven births..

It would take Seven births to reunite with Vishnu in a friendly way.. While it would take only Three births if he was hostile to gods in each birth. They opted the latter choice obviously to be with the Lord as early as possible even if it meant taking the evil route!

“Is there a moral here?”
“ Hey! You have a set mind da”The three births: Hiranyaksha/ HiranyakashipuRavana/ KumbhakarnaKansa/ ShishupalaThis story, and several others are told in detail in the Baal Kaand of Ram Charit Manas to explain why Vishnu needed to take Avatar ..

THE DAYS PROCEEDINGS CAME TO AN END. THE CHILDREN LEFT ME FORLORN WAITING FOR ANOTHER DAY. But then I had become 5 years younger in their company. I wiped my moist bifocals and put it away. I took a deep breath and reflected on how wonderful my life was. Indeed, I was a rich man. I will always be grateful for the numerous times my children have helped me see things differently. Everything I Really Need to Know, I seem to learn from Children. My wife and I have been blessed with two lovely kids. Early in my role as father, I vowed to do my utmost to help our children realize life’s most precious lessons and to instill core values. I thought I was going to be their teacher. I soon learned it was I who was in training like it happens here with my “Secret 8-the ivy League” I once asked my friend SRP,
“How have you brought the kids up so well?”
“I? By leaving them alone”, he laughed.
That spoke volumes! Didn’t it?

V V R (7th Aug 2005)