E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: I was sitting on the banks of the Ganga in Rudra Prayag. The place was enchanting. If Life is Eternity, here is a place you could almost trace it back.

As I sat there totally engrossed in the scenery, I saw sage Vyasa taking a stroll.

“Vyasa munivar! Namaskara. I never thought I could see you in flesh and blood. It is just wonderful to see and speak to you.”

“Thank you. I too feel after eons in time, man more or less remains the same.”

“You will be glad to know we rank Mahabharatha as one of the greatest stories ever told. I want to know how you felt when you wrote about Dhritharashtra and Duryodhana. What were you trying to depict in their relationship?”

“Putra Vyamoha. Basically, Dhritharashtra was blind on two counts. Physically he couldn’t see what his son was up to. He was also blind to all his dhushkriyas. His blind love betrayed his sense of reason and reality.”

“Is that why Krishna replaced Bhima with a steel structure, otherwise he would have crushed him in his embrace?”

“Of course. But I find even now people are blind when it comes to their children. They unnecessarily pamper and baby them so much, it becomes their undoing in the end. They have just not learnt their lessons although they quote Mahabharatha every second breath.”

“You are a Trikaala Gnani. How do you feel about our present times?”

“I find parents resorting to hook and crook to promote their children. When their efforts fail, they lose their self-control. Margaret Alva’s sudden outburst because a ticket was denied to her son Nivedit Alva in an election is an indication of the malaise. Doesn’t she know there will be different strokes for different people in their response?”

He is up-to-date on what’s happening, I thought, though his choice of words flummoxed me.

“I didn’t get you. Could you elaborate?”

“If she thought she was from a minority community and therefore would be forgiven for her outburst, she was sadly mistaken. She should have known though she was from a minority, in the eyes of her bosses, she was not from a community her chairperson would give her right arm for! Alva’s calculation went woefully wrong. She should know she is no C.K. Jaffer Sharief!”

I was impressed with Vyasa’s deep insight into our religion based politics which often baffles best of our TV pundits.

“Your knowledge of our current affairs is just amazing although there was no democracy in your time as you were all ruled mostly by Kings.”

“But it is no different,” continued Vyasa, “I am puzzled by your so called democracy when parents are openly anointing sons as their successors. These days every politician is now a Dhrutharashtra. Even Dhrutharashtra did not do a coronation for his son like H.D. Deve Gowda did the other day. Puthra Vyamoha is all right up to a point, but he shouldn’t have ignored his other son Dushyasana.”

I could only marvel at his knowledge of what was happening down below.

Was Vyasa following Churumuri? Had he participated in the “Children’s Day Caption Contest” under a pseudonym?

Is he wondering where H.D. Revanna is, as everybody else is?

“You have deep knowledge of our political scenario. Being a trikaala gnani, you should be knowing the future too. What about Rahul Gandhi? Will he too become a victim of putra vyamoha? Also when will this Vamsha Paramparya in the Congress end?”

There was total silence. Vyasa was foxed, I thought.

“Look. I may have to do many more janmas and write many more Mahabharathas to answer this! In Mahabharatha, I ended the Pandava family with Bharatha as the last king of their vamsha. But I am not sure how many Janmas the Nehru-Gandhi vamsha will run….”

With that, Vyasa’s visage dissolved into the Ganga.