The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
It was just a long-overdue social call which ended up with something I had been wishing for, all week! We had been to Matunga, to my aunt’s parents’ place, and my uncle (mama) volunteered to drop us back home – nothing so special about that, right? But what was special was a ‘slight’ diversion – so we could go over the newest landmark of Mumbai – the Bandra Worli Sea Link! Since the last few months , we have been looking forward to going over the much-awaited bridge (the plans for the bridge began when I was in college….), and we saw the previews to the inauguration on TV enthusiastically, wishing we were there, especially during the fireworks, the night before the ceremony!! If this had been a few years earlier, I would have been among those who jammed the bridge on the first day, eager to be among the first to go over it. Now, however, it is another matter, and I waited patiently for my turn, knowing that once the toll collection started, things would be much easier…. Sunday’s was...