In love with the demon

Technically speaking, this would be my first blog post. And what a start! The very day when, the city bids a tearful farewell to the goddess, I am here to make a new start. I quite know somewhere, the city also prepares itself to a new start, for yet another show, next year.

Today Dussehra is celebrated in the city which has witnessed 4 years of my inanity. 

Well, now Dussehra, as we all probably know, is the day when Lord Rama won over Ravana. Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, blah blah blah blah. No, I am going to make a point here; I absolutely adore this man, err, demon. (If Rajnikant can have a million fan following, I can always fall for some evil, intelligent, ten- headed antagonist)And there are reasons for that.

• a great scholar
• a capable ruler
• was almost invincible and was the emporor of the three worlds, the human, the celestials, and the demons.
• maestro of the Veena
• and me, being a sapiosexual, the very fact that he was fully aware of the contents of the six Shastras made my heart skip a few beats. :| His knowledge of the six Shastras as well as his knowledge of the four Vedas, ten Holy Scriptures in all, is by this interpretation considered the inner meaning of the belief that Ravana had ten heads. Something, huh?!
• And then, he is known for his virility and  forceful attempts to conquer beautiful women.
• Being an ardent fan of Narayan, he wanted to reach him. When unsuccessful, he tried all sorts of wanton wickedness, violence to invite Ram to kill him. Though stupid, but managed to reach Narayan, by surrendering.

The fact that has always made me a little uncomfortable is that he had ten heads. I mean, just think about the poor fellow riding a horse in the forest, making its way between two trees, or whatever! He had to constantly measure the approximate space before heading somewhere. Sad!

And then he was a perfect gentleman. Legend has it that Ravan and his wife Mandodari were offering puja at the Ashtapad temple. Mandodari was in a state of trance while dancing in devotion as Ravan played the veena.Suddenly,a string of the veena snapped.But Ravan,determined to not let that come in the way of Mandodari's divine dance, plucked out a vein from his thigh to keep the instrument playing! 

And still they burn the effigy of Ravan, every year to celebrate Ram's victory. :(