Today I met Sita in the crowded bus stop of Shivajinagar. She was not in her usual attire — saree --- and was wearing a burqa, almost concealing her true self behind the shade of black.
But, the glint in her eyes got her caught red-handed as for the first time I could recognise the real woman.
After all, it was the flash point, where the epic battle of Ramayana was fought. As soon as I recognized, immediately I went near her, and touched her feet in obeisance. She warned me not to. I stepped back.
“Don’t make it obvious. I am tired of human devotion without any cause,” she said.
Once again I was quick, and asked for her forgiveness. The gentle soul, as she has always been, smiled at me. I gauged she was no more angry. I smiled back and inched closer to her.
“Where are you headed for?” I asked.
“Wherever you want to take me, I am at your mercy.”
“Good”.
We boarded the 330, which was partially empty.
Once comfortably seated, she removed the veil from her face.
“Why are you hiding yourself?” I enquired.
“Scared?” I further probed.
“No, I am tired of being Sita.”
“Hmm..”
“But, you are a goddess, the wife of great lord Rama. You epitomise womanhood. You have set a benchmark for all women to be followed. You tell us that true womanhood lies in the ability to make supreme sacrifice for the sake and prestige of one’s husband and family.”
She flashed a sarcastic smile.
“Isn’t it tiring to be always obedient and submissive?” she questioned.
“When have I been allowed to express myself fully? My true potential does not lie in following someone else’s dictates. I could have offered more to myself, and women who look upon me as their idol. But, I was denied to do so often.”
I remained quiet. She was breathing fast, as if angry over her character sketch.
“So, you want more to add to your character graph?” I smiled.
“Yes,” she nodded.
“Say suppose, you are my creator, tell me how would sketch my character?”
I paused for a while. My thoughts were veering to blasphemy.
“I don’t want to offend those who worship you,” I replied.
“So what? Tell me?”
“Feel free to express yourself. Give me a new look, a new lease of life,” she insisted.
“Then listen.”
“Had I been your creator, I would have made you fall in love with Ravana, the demon god. He loved you, and had the guts to abduct you, without fearing any consequences. In fact, he ruined himself for you. He had never harmed you, even when he kept you under captivity. When rumours were rife about your purity, your husband did not protect you. In order to save his power, he punished you to second exile at a time when you were expecting.”
“I would have made you stand against your husband and assert your rights, and probably would have orchestrated a divorce. I would have never made you sit on a pyre of fire as part of Agni Pariksha (fire ordeal) to prove your innocence. Once the seed of doubt engulfs the corridors of a marriage, nothing can save it. And, I find it ridiculous on the part of your husband to listen to his subjects’ demand, questioning your integrity. Probably, he was more in love with his power and position, and that is why never defended you.”
“Hope I have not hurt you by sketching you a rebel,” I apologised.
She was looking intently at me, her eyes sparkling bright.
“You’re right. This is perhaps my real self, which I too have ignored for long. That is why I was feeling so suffocated?”
“Now, I am relieved. In a way you have thrown light on my true self, hidden deep in the abyss of so-called tradition and culture.”
These were the last words said by Sita before she disembarked midway in the journey near HAL airport.
As the bus zoomed past the airport, where few Indian air force helicopters were conducting test drive, I also saw one burqa clad woman running amok on the runway.
(This is my answer to the question posed to me by a woman who wanted to know if I have read the Ramayana. She had the audacity to ask me “who is the hero (nayak) of Ramayana”? I don’t know, why she wanted to know that. Either she thought I am too modern (read atheist) to bother about religious texts like Ramayana, or an illiterate and have no clue what the great epic is all about. When I was confronted with the two questions, I was too shocked to reply. After due thought, I can say one thing very confidently, Ram was certainly not the hero of Ramayana. I would like to anoint either Sita or Ravana as the heroes of the epic.)
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