Randomthoughts 28122018

#Randomthoughts This morning , as I was brushing my teeth , I couldn't help but notice the two day old stubble on my face staring at me from  the washbasin mirror . Well , apart from a nasty feeling of looking like a derelict , it triggered a very much unconnected thought process in me . My problem is that I can't help such unusual, irrelevant, unnecessary lapses of thinking. And they always spring up at the oddest situations and points of time . Probably my lazy and idle mind is responsible for all this nonsense that I litter my timeline with.

OK , let me come to the point . Looking at the fungus like growth on my face , I wondered why Ram and Lakshman of Ramayana are always shown as clean shaven in the various Ram Leela shows, Theatre shows, TV serials and films . Particularly , when they were roaming in the forests for fourteen years , on their Vanavas. I mean, how did they manage to keep themselves clean shaven ? I realised that all through my life , I have never seen a portrayal of Ram wIth beards , in sundry paintings or idols. Even Shyam Benegal had episodes of Ramayana in Discovery of India but Ram remained clean shaven there too.

Now , I know that this will seem  silly to many and if reaching up to this point of the narrative , some may also have doubts about my mental state. I also know , some others may be full of derision about how I waste my time in thinking, writing and then posting such stuff . But I doubt if anybody can give me a clear answer. Because nobody knows.

That brings us to another point. The images of Ram that the devout have in their mind is largely guided by what some actor looks like or what a painter decided to be . The same thing applies to many other characters that we pray to.  If today I decide to make a film on Ramayana , then at least for the period of exile , I will show Ram with long hairs and beard . Now will that offend people and their sensibilities ?  I don't know. It shouldn't , logically saying but one can't be sure. Probably all this wouldn't have mattered much earlier , but now it could trigger a wave of violence and arson , if some vested interest group takes offence.

Realism doesn't matter much to minds that glorify make believe even when the gaping incongruities are pointed out . People never like to face inconvenient truths. Say for example me ; why don't I face the truth that I need not think or write about all these things . They serve no purpose.