Fiction
Anand Shankar was trolled
mercilessly in social media when he posted his story ‘Ravana’ in his blog. He was a little known blogger and hence the
tremendous attention that his present story drew came as a rude shock as well
as pleasant surprise at once.
His story ended with Sita
longing to return to Lanka because Rama suspected her chastity. No, she didn’t return. In fact, she didn’t even want to return. A painful conflict arose in her
consciousness. This man, Rama, the Maryada Purushottam, the hero of a whole country,
god incarnate, this man faltered when some silly gossip monger raised a
question about my chastity, Sita reflects at the end of Anand’s tale. Ravana emerges as a far better hero in her
consciousness. Ravana who stood before
her in Ashok Vatika with love and admiration in his eyes. And reverence that did not at all match his
royal narcissism. When he knew that his
love for her could never surpass her love for Rama, he surrendered himself in
devotion to Rama and begged to be killed by none other than his rival. Ravana
sacrificed himself for me while my husband is seeking to sacrifice me for his
honour, Sita sat pondering at the end of Anand Shankar’s story.
Trolls marched in hoards
accusing Anand Shankar of blasphemy, irreligion, demon worship, secessionism,
anti-nationalism, and all sorts of things. The euphoria over the attention his blog
received soon gave way to jitteriness.
Anand wondered what his crime really was. He contemplated for days and days.
Ravana’s ten heads
appeared to him with various colours and expressions. Anand saw his own blasphemy, irreligion, and
other evils on those faces. But very
often he saw his trolls, the numerous nationalist organisations and their
fanatic supporters, on Ravana’s faces.
Anand was confused. Who is the
real Ravana?
Sita will be sacrificed again and again until the real Ravana is discovered,
Anand Shankar began his next blog post.
Why do people react so mercilessly to imagination while they have nothing to do when 'seasoned' rapists go scotfree on grounds of minority.
ReplyDeleteThere have been many books which found mythology in different light Like Anand Neelakantan's books which were bestsellers. Then why this pseudo tears now? Is there more to it than we see on the periphery
I'm afraid there is more, Rakhi. There's a whole gang of paid trolls who work for a particular political party whose goal is to eliminate those who question the party's goals and objectives.
DeleteHorrible. Can't explain this in better words
DeleteDifferent viewpoints have become very difficult in the present times. Sad...
ReplyDeleteSad indeed. This zeal for suppressing dissent and diversity is taking the nation back by centuries.
DeleteThanks for sharing this. I was expecting a link to Anand's said post. As these days I'm writing on slut-shaming, I see Sita's case as a victim of slut-shaming who committed suicide later.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you see the first line: 'fiction'? 😑 Well, the reality is even more sinister.
DeleteHmm...a case study of Ravana, Sita and Shankara...oh I am heavily influenced by Dan Brown to see this initials everywhere nowadays.
ReplyDeleteEven before Brown, a Malayalam novelist M T Vasudevan Nair rewrote the Mahabharata from the perspective of Bheema. It's good to see the other side too 😑
DeleteExactly. I have always felt M.T wrote the first mythological fiction in India. Anyways, waiting to see Randamoozham on screen
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting too eagerly.
Delete