Delusional Obvious

For M.... Who made me see the 'real' me....

Shantanu had fallen in love with Ganga, her beauty and somehow he was not at peace. The only way he could be at peace was if she was to marry him. Ganga agreed on one condition. He will not ask her any question no matter what she did and if he did question, after answering to that one, she would leave him. Smitten by love, he readily agreed to this assuming what can a harmless beautiful woman do that I would need to question.

After enjoying some marital bliss, Ganga delivered a baby boy. Everyone in the whole of Shantanu's kingdom was excited. He was waiting to get the news of his heir. One of his dasis' came and gave him the good news, to which he gave away his pearl necklace. He was eagerly waiting in excitement to hold his boy, to play with him, to see his smile, to hear his voice, he was on 7th heaven. Suddenly standing in his window, he saw Ganga carrying the kid to the banks of the river. He followed her and what he saw later was unbelievable. He saw Ganga drowning the new born in the river without a wrinkle of regret or pain on her face. He so very wanted to stop her, and ask her whats going on, but then he suddenly remembered his promise before marriage. So all he cud do was stand still. She looked at him, his inability, smiled and went back to the palace. He felt as though his manhood, his king hood, his sheer existence was challenged but he could'nt do anything because he had promised. He was a Kshatriya, he could'nt possibly break his promise, more so because he was in love with her.

Couple of months later, Ganga again delivered a baby boy, again Shantanu got excited, saw her carrying the child to the banks of the river, he followed her, she drowned the new born, smiled, went back. Helpless, Shantanu could not do anything. This went on for 7 kids. He was dying bit by bit with every child of his killed by their own mother. He was questioned by everyone, his people, his courtsmen, his friends, well wishers, and most importantly himself. He could not take it anymore.

Ganga became pregnant with his 8th kid. Now it was more like a ritual, dasi coming to tell Shantanu about the new born, he getting happy, and then waiting for the inevitable. So again, Ganga was going to the banks of the river. However, this time Shantanu could not stop himself. He finally broke his silence and his promise and asked her the reason for such inhuman behavior. She told him "we are angels. we have been sent to this earth because of a small curse. similarly there were 8 other angels cursed by one of the Gods and those 8 angels also had to live on this earth. I felt pity on them and I promised those angels to drown them the moment they are born and free them of their curse. however, it seems that this 8th one is yet to live the curse." She left after answering that question. The 8th son is famously known as Bhisma who is famous for his promise that he made to make his father happy.

When I saw this the first time, what really struck me was what I would like to call as "Delusional Obvious". We see a certain incident and based on our knowledge, our understanding, our comprehension, our perceptions, our definitions of right and wrong, we make a judgement. Shantanu saw like all the others including me that Ganga is drowning her new born, her own child, when a mother is supposed to be a symbol of love and sacrifice. How can a mother do something like this? We not only make the judgment but also support it with our logic to such a great extent, that we successfully generate feelings of Hatred, Anger, Frustration, etc. Then we accumulate these feelings and eventually go away from peace. However, when Ganga gave the reason of her doing this act, there was a paradigm shift in the way we all perceive it. All of a sudden, we thought, "Oh My God.... this is also possible. we never imagined...."

Sometimes (for me most of the times) we are not able to see the other side of the whole incident. Maybe there is a bigger cause, a more important task in progress, while we are consumed by our feelings derived from our limited understanding. And by the time we realise this mistake, the damage is done.


For asking this question to Ganga, Shantanu gave up on his love for the rest of his life. I am sure all of us also have paid some or the other price by resorting to our reactions to the incident or Delusional Obvious.


Dont you think everytime we react, just for a little while, we should take a step back and think, is there another side to this, that maybe, just maybe, I am not aware of?

Again.... Its a choice.... Always.... :-)