Tides of Thoughts

Abhinav was a smart boy. He was in senior kindergarten . He loved to learn in school. One day, the teacher taught road rules . She showed the traffic signal . She talked about wearing a helmet. She told them to walk on the left side. Abhinav listened carefully. After school, his father came. Father made Abhinav wear a helmet. Abhinav said, “My teacher taught me this!” They started driving home. Suddenly, Abhinav asked, “Papa, why are we on the right side?” Father said, “It is faster this way.” Abhinav was confused. He kept quiet. At the signal, the light was red. Father stopped for a moment. Then he drove forward again. Abhinav said, “Papa, the signal is red. We must wait for green.” Father said, “No cars are coming. It is okay.” Abhinav still felt worried. At the next road, people crossed anywhere. There was no zebra crossing . Abhinav asked, “Papa, why do people cross anywhere? My teacher told us to use a zebra crossing.” Father said, “People forget the rules.” Abhinav became sad...

Guha, a character that needs no introduction to people who have watched or read something about Ramayana. Many of us remember this character as someone who helped Rama cross a river. But how many of us remember or correctly know which river Rama crossed with the help of Guha? I asked the same question on different social media platforms with the following options: Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, and Godavari.  The question received 60 votes as below: Ganga (33.9% - 20) Yamuna (14.3% - 9) Brahmaputra (3.6% - 2) Godavari (48.2% - 29) Godavari got the highest number of votes, but the correct answer is Ganga . Then how did we end up with Godavari getting the highest votes? This can be attributed to movies in regional languages and a slight mistranslation of the Valmiki Ramayana. So, what does Valmiki Ramayana have to say about Guha and his role in Ramayana? The episode of Guha begins in Ayodhyakanda, Sarga 50, with Rama reaching the banks of the Ganga. The intro of Guha goes like this: तत्...