Where are we to stroll if given a choice between mountains and beaches? The prompt that's worth its weight in words looms over my head as my nine year old and I plonk in the couch and write away!
Long back, in the kingdom of Vijayanagaram, lived a wise and just king named Krishnadevaraya. The said king was a super hero of sorts - He did everything. He slayed the enemies by the day and by night, he swooned over the literary prowess of his prized eight Poets - called as the 'Ashtadhiggajas" Meaning the eight powerful Elephants. Now each of the eight had their claim to fame with their illustrious works, but one of them inspired generation after generation with his wit, humor and extraordinary spontaneity.
Legend has it that Tenali Ramarishna - fondly know as Ramakrishna Kavi in the court of Vijayanagara, was once approached by the Goddess almighty herself and was offered a choice between picking enormous knowledge or copious wealth. The catch, mind you - was this or that! And our mischevious hero, asking to see the symbolic elixirs of weatlth and wisdom upclose, mixes them both and gulps them before one could have blinked.
The flustered Goddess was perhaps charmed by his sly, but outwardly blesses - curses him to be a Vikatakavi - a Palindrome - of a title that is supposed to keep Ramakrishna kavi in a seesaw of the aforementioned boons of wealth and wisdom.
I know, I drag RamakrishnaKavi out of nowhere into a subject matter that is supposed to stroll along a seashore or a mountain trail. It is probably because the nature lover in me cannot choose one over the other. I'd take the trail and tread down gently from a higher altitude while admiring the view and reach the beach to find some seashells and enjoy as the tepid waters lick my barefeet.
Mountains raise my spirits and make me soar in spiritual highs while the beach grounds me and anchors my human turbulence. How am I to choose one?
No comments:
Post a Comment