Real or Myth?
There are many stories that I have posted over the past 3 years.
Alexander the Great…lessons
The Yale Goal setting experiment
The California story of the death of a scuba driver in a forest fire
Arthur Ashe’s attitude
Frankly I have not done enough research to see whether these stories are true or false. Neither does it matter.
All these stories carry a fantastic moral. If you understand the moral and damn the story, so be it. To me it does not matter whether you believe the story or do not believe the story. The question is do you understand the moral of the story.
In all my training life I have found that people remember stories – and therefore the morals, and not the other way around. Ramayana and Mahabharata are also stories with fantastic morals. Jataka tales (i have posted many on this blog) is another amazing treasure house of stories. I have written about Kumbhakarna and Ravana in my stories – does it matter whether they lived?
I have a feeling that ancient Indian writers wrote a lot of fiction as well as commentaries. If it was not a commentary, they would have said ‘this is not a commentary’ so it is possible that Ramayana and Mahabharatha did really happen. Or maybe it did not happen.
Like Rajagopalachari once said ‘This story is either an imagination or a real life story. If it is somebody’s imagination…it is a brilliant imagination’. I cannot agree more.
Now I am trying to write a fiction novel based on the financial services sector…and I have no clue how to start. So if Valmiki and Vyasa could write a masterpiece which has lived 4000 years, that must be some imagination, right?
Vic
The Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Valmiki and Vyasa are not just the imagination, they all are true and have existed in Reality.
One will only know the Truth when he searches for it..in all humility. It is not an overnight process.
But you’ll know the Truth if you have a genuine desire and the journey of Experiments with Truth (as Mahatma Gandhi puts it) will surpass all the knowledge that exists in this world. In the end, this is the only endeavor that is really worth something. Everything else is bound to perish with time.
aditya
great aspiration indeed subra
Best wishes for the venture
Dr Mohammed Ali Khan
“I have never seen a people more fascinated by song & dance & stories like the Indians..” The Greek diplomat Megasthenes wrote in his book ‘Indica’ around 2300 years ago. Maybe, story-telling is there in our blood.
Suresh
I hope 3000 years later when they read your blog (blogs will be run by clones/robots by then giving humans virtual blogs!) they will learn to distinguish between a real blogger (Subra) and a virtual blog – even though both may appear similar.
Itivritta – thus it occurred; itihasa – not just facts of history but also events, cultures, story that happened historically. Ramayana and Mahabharatha are Itihaas. Quite different from Anglo-Saxon “history”.
R.Manivannan
Wish you all the best for your novel Sir.
anon
You should begin.So much raw material already with you…
Once the first draft is ready you can get a good editor.
As you always say– get a professional! 🙂
MKJ
Humans write books, reports, articles, blogs….some factual, some philosophical, some fictional…..i feel this trait must have been there from day 1 when humans learned to speak / write / print / shoot!! 1000 years later someone will debate whether roburt ludlom, or ayn rand or gandhiji were imaginary or fictional!!
Manu
Existence Ramayan and Mahabharata is as true as existence of you and me. Here is concrete proof. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam's_Bridge