Faith can move mountains

All of us have heard that faith can move mountains. I came across a beautiful story about faith the other day in the Economic Times (Cosmic Uplink section).

There was once a religious man who was very well known for his knowledge. He had a cottage on one bank of a river while all his household supplies used to be brought over from the other bank. One milkmaid used to bring his daily quota of milk.

One day she was late. The man was very angry with her because her delay resulted in the delay of his daily pooja. So he scolded her. She replied that the water level in the river was high and no one was plying the boats so she was stuck. Thereupon he remarked that she should have walked on water to perform her duty. The maid kept quiet but wasn’t late again.

A couple of days later it rained heavily and the man heard that the river was overflowing. Still, the maid came on time. He was surprised at this and questioned her. She simply said that as told by him she had walked on water. He found it hard to believe so he took her back to the riverbank and asked her to show it to him. The maid really walked on water.

The man was astonished. ‘If this simple maid can achieve this, I can do it too’ he thought. But just as he stepped on water he fell.

The essence of the story is that it isn’t important who your teacher is - your faith is what counts.

Oh and BTW, there is a case mentioned by Archer of a Patel family (parents and sons) who were in jail for beating up their daughter who had taken to earning her living as a prostitute. And Archer mentions that they were a Sikh family. I don't know about you but at least I haven't heard of any Patel who is a Sikh :-)

There was a haunting quote in Archer's last prison diary - by Oscar Wilde

I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky

We take freedom for granted, don't we?

It's raining Jeffrey Archer for me. After finishing his last prison diary I have brought home his "Matter of Honour". Haven't read much of it yet so will post about it in a day or two.

I almost forgot to mention that before reading Archer's last prison diary, I had got Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Don't know why, but I could not progress beyond the first 2 chapters. :-(

After reading 2 volumes of Jeffrey Archer’s Prison diaries I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for the third (and the last) one. How different could that one be from the other two? But I wanted to complete the trilogy and if there were one or two interesting things in the last volume why not try it? So I am reading it now.

As expected, there isn’t anything drastically different – except for the fact that since he is in a D-cat prison he is not locked up all the time – in these pages. But now and then there are a few touching stories and amusing anecdotes (like that of a fellow prisoner - who is in for driving without license - whose high-caste Indian girl friend has to choose her would-be husband from 3 guys who come to England over one weekend from India!)

Then there is this prisoner who is sent on a town visit for the first time in over 31 years and finds the changes bewildering. In this day and age when you find a city changed noticeably even if you were away just for a year, I can’t imagine the shock the guy must have felt.

There is a reference to a book “The Driving Bell and the Butterfly” by the late Jean Dominique Bauby that Mr. Archer read while in prison. He mentions that the author of the book was left paralyzed and speechless after a massive stroke. However, he mastered a letter code with the one eyelid that he could still move and dictated a book with it. I am going to find out more about this book.

Oh and BTW, all you Sachin Tendulkar fans, your idol also finds mention in this book. His presence at the crease was apparently what put the smile back on the face of one distraught prisoner who was also a cricket fan!

I heard that the tickets of the new movie Mukhbir come with a money-back guarantee. I am not joking - you can get the money back if you don’t like the movie. Without even thinking about the Moral Hazard (even if people like the movie they can ask for refund) I am wondering if it is supreme self-confidence or total desperation that is behind this.

I sighed as I thought of so many movies that I have wasted my hard-earned money on. Two of them distinctly stand out – one was “Had kar di aapne” starring Govinda and Rani Mukherjee. I managed to survive till intermission and then walked out fearing total mental collapse. And the other movie is Battlefield Earth starring John Travolta and a bunch of yellow-toothed aliens. I distinctly remember brushing my teeth twice that night. :-)

Wonder if Dev Anand will ever announce such a scheme ;-)

Mai KKrishna

So now we have KEkta Kkapoor’s Mahabharat! Frankly, when I heard that she is planning such a thing I wondered why. Most of her serials already can be adequately described as Mahabharat - what with people plotting to grab wealth, brothers up in arms against each other, women adding fuel to fire aka Draupadi’s “Andhe ka putr andha” taunt to Duryodhana, hapless moms trying to restore peace (aka Kunti) and one person always on the side of the truth (Yudhisthir).

But when I heard the star cast I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I think Chetan Hansraj would have done better justice to the character of Duryodhana than Aryan Vaid. I simply cannot imagine Vaid playing any of the Pandavas or Kauravas because that would demand that he show some form of emotion! Pity this isn’t Ramayana or he would have been a perfect cast for Vaali, Sugriva or Angad. All that facial hair as a monkey would have hidden away his inability to emote :-)

I don’t think Kiran Juneja had much to do as Ganga in the old Mahabharat except for appearing from time to time to dole out advice to son Bheeshma. So I wonder what made Sakshi Tanwar accept this role in Kkapoor’s Mahabharat. Take a look at Ronit Roy’s Bheeshma and tell me you are not reminded of the kings in “Lord of the Rings”.

What baffled me most of all was the choice for Draupadi – Anita Hassanandani. For those of you who have never heard of this lady before, she was the one gyrating with Tushhar Kapoor to the beat of “Tere ishq ki diwanagi sar pe chhadh ke bole” in “Kuchh to hai”. Doesn’t ring a bell still? Well, you won’t be the only one like that so here’s another clue – she played Sohail Khan’s wife in Krishna Cottage. Still saying “huh?” with a blank look on your face? I can’t help you. Go watch KEkta’s Mahabharat.

I am also wondering about the word “Apane” in “Kahani apane Mahabharat ki”. Does that mean KEkta will take poetic licenses with the original saga. Maybe, after the “Lakshagruh” incident the Pandavas will resurface with entirely new faces. Maybe, Karna will be brought back to life after popular demand - aka Mihir Virani. The possibilities are simply endless. Only time will tell – "Mai Samay hu" :-)

So folks, let’s brace ourselves for the army of KKunti, KKarna, KKrishna and of course the battle of KKurukshetra :-)