Wayside temples in danger: 370

The serene atmosphere under the shade of tree of unknown species was too good to last forever. Mooshik, who just came on to the road for a stroll, watched some yellow painted contraptions passing by, with an extended hands supporting the wrist folded inward resembling the elephants feeding themselves. Behind them, came contraptions holding attached troughs in front of them, as if afraid to leave them at home. 

Three-roller behemoths coming behind these contraptions and moving at snail's pace, shook the ground so much as to scare his tail to hide safely out of sight. Through all this crunching and grinding parade of yellow painted contraptions, Ganesha sat unmoving, unnerved and uncaring like a statue. This pose frightened Mooshik much more than the sight of moving yellow painted contraptions on the road.

Mooshik came scampering and panting. "Oh Ganesha, I saw yellow-coloured behemoths moving on the other main road." 

Perturbed Ganesha snapped, "what if? Are you frightened?

No. The behemoths have names like bees, rollers and dozers. Some part of their full names I could not catch."

Why these names should frighten you. You did not even get the full names for them. At least cany you describe them for me? Before that tell me why you are frightened? 

" I am frightened because of the breaking news I read in my group mail. It warned of an impending demolition drive.

The thing named as bee has a long arm, a wrist that can bend inwards to resemble an elephant feeding food into the mouth.

There is this behemoth called roller, which while moving shakes the ground like an earthquake." 

Can you give me a better description?

" Looked like an elephant with a heavy & thick round front leg and two round legs at the back and was able to move by rotating the legs. Imagine a child crawling, you get the picture!"

Oh, Mooshik. What you saw might be a road roller.

Ganesha commanded, “Stop jittering about and describe that dozer thing.”

The thing named a dozer has a small trough at the front, moves on caterpillar-like legs and can simply walk through a wall.  For some reason, the first half of its name reminded me of your father’s mount"

“A Rishabam dozer! 

No, no. These people have another name for Rishabam.

Oh dummy, I get it! The yellow behemoth is a bulldozer!

“Ganesha, what about the bee thing?”

“Mooshik, you omitted certain details, but I get the mental picture of an elephant feeding itself. It must be a JCB! You thought I am not savvy enough to know this earth moving equipment” 

Ganesh thought, “Equipment savvy or not, the real issue was the impending demolition drive. Ganseha knew from past experience, the wayside temples and tress become the first casualties during any drive. Though these drives were undertaken proclaiming public interest or national interest. It was a ruse to avoid or get through legal hurdles, and at the same time helping people to drive away fast from the scene after widening the road, leaving the poor workmanship as a public inconvenience for ever or till another drive. Who knows, I might be evicted first for occupying an unauthorised construction.” 

At this point onwards, he vowed to thoroughly vet the ownership issue of the land before accepting to be consecrated in any wayside temple.  He did not want to shift the blame on to Mooshik, as surely, he would point his tail at him and demur, “You are the boss, what could I have done?” 

Ganesha got busy and promptly sent the distress signal to Brahma seeking urgent intervention. This signal landed in Brahma’s laps when his trusted trouble shooter Chitragupta was unavailable to help Ganesha. He decided to depute Narad, who was a frequent traveller and worldly wise in the affairs of earth. Narad who had just barely managed to come out of one crisis, was reluctant but could not say no to his father. 

He had secret wish, to tease Ganesha a bit on his choice of abode and his divine philosophy – “Gods, astrologers, tarot readers, and even parrots are like cosmic customer-support system. I love being a wayside god which basically gives me the divine equivalent of plausible deniability. Devotees assume I am either solving bigger crises or temporarily unable to move “even a small boulder.”   

Narad wanted to point out,” Ganesha you can get away speaking like this to Mooshik but not to me.

Smiling to himself Narad thought, “while there, why not play a little game with Mooshik’s fear of bird “tattoos”? 

After reaching earth, Narad went straight to the wayside temple. It was desolate but the idols of Ganesha and Mooshik and the birds on the tree had an ethereal effect on the environment. 

The moment Narad sat on a nearby, Ganesha explained about the imminent demolition of the temple and uprooting of the tree. Mooshik added his bit and said, " We came here against my suggestion but might be forced out without any fanfare." 

How do you know of this? Narad asked.

 "Through my grapevine. Similar demolition drives are going on in many places, as we speak" replied Mooshik. 

Ganesha said, " Of course Mooshik was reluctant but how could I have anticipated that this dirt road would suddenly become important?" 

Narad utilised this opportunity to tease Ganesha and said "So, claiming to be busy or being unable to shift a small boulder, you did nothing except forcing it as a philosophy on Mooshik as a divine equivalent of a plausible denial. Ganesha, what happened to your cosmic customer support system, not getting a response?” 

Out of reverence to Brahma and his son Narad, Ganesha kept his belly full of boiling anger within himself.  From the sidelines, Mooshik was avidly watching for tell tale signs that Ganesha and Narad will escalate the war of words. It was Ganesha who adroitly diverted the topic and said, “Narad, being what I am, I cannot say or do anything that could be construed by mischievous elements to mean something which I did not really mean” 

Mooshik had an earful but could not make head or tail out of this jumbo sentence. But Narad being Narad caught the drift and said with a smile,” Ganesha, you want me to do something, which you don't want to do? In other words, you mean to say that whatever I have to do, should not bring your name in to disrepute. Is it because you expect whatever I do, people will accept it as Narad’s schemes will end in something good? Am I correct?”

Ganesha knew this was sure to come, but kept quiet as road rollers and bulldozer have more weight than Narad's jibe. Mooshik had some other thinking going on, "If Narad is so clever where else I could use him?" 

Narad had a plan but he needed Mooshik's help to kick start it. He asked, "Can you arrange a parade with your friends, on this road up to the point where the road widening ends?" 

Mooshik, though shocked and surprised, agreed to do so. Narad choosing the temple as the starting point made Ganesha to feel a little uncomfortable at the thought, “Why Narad was teaming up with Mooshik  to deny him his own doctrine of divine deniability?” 

Without much fanfare the parade started and as it was about to end, a huge mammoth joined it. A few stragglers on the road saw this spectacle and promptly spread the news. That brought some more onlookers to the scene. As they were watching, the mammoth just disappeared under the road where moments ago, there was no depression or deep pit.  

At the speed of a supersonic missile, the disappearance of the mammoth was repeated and spread as an alien invasion. At another location on the road, the parked road rollers and bulldozers moved forward without anyone driving them and just like the mammoth disappeared under the road. 

The mammoth re-appeared in the opposite direction, rose over the wayside temple and kept going towards the horizon. The onlookers could not see any movement of its legs sparking a viral debate, once again, on its  alien origin. Some even likened it to the mystery and alien citizenship status surrounding the comet 3I/ATLAS. The crowd expected the bulldozers and road rollers to follow suit. Instead, they had another surprise in store. The tree which could barely support a dozen scrawny birds became the center of activity. 

Hitherto unseen and unheard-of bird species of different coloured wings took off from the tree like fighter jets, joined with the mammoth for the sky walk. This was a sensational news and to further sensationalise it , the tabloids and channels flocked to the site. Imagination ran riot and "Miracle@temp”  and "#Ganesh_ wayside" trended worldwide. 

Public frenzy raising by leaps and bounds, the administration suddenly found its own vacant land on the opposite side of the temple and quietly pushed back the road alignment by 30 meters, to leave the tree and the wayside temple untouched. 

Having finished his work, Narad looked at Ganesha and said, "It is your privilege to choose the site you want to sit. But time and again I cannot come and save another wayside temple. I will leave with you a capsule that creates the apparitions whatever you have just witnessed here. Use it whenever you need to save another of your wayside temple." 

Mooshik asked "Can I make copies?" 

Narad replied. "No need. Set this dial to any sector and the show will begin near all the wayside temples in that sector " 

When will it end?

Automatically after 3 runs and if you want to continue, use this pointer to set at any number." 

Hearing all this Ganesha felt an immense relief and blew out a loud sigh which shook the nearby tree forcing it to almost drop all its leaves. Narad making use of this diversion just vanished from the scene.

Part-2: Mathematical nightmares: -348-

 ….“mathematics is not adding up and about 90% of the qualifying students found themselves in this mess.” 

This started ChintaMany on the 2^nd part of his astrological tour. The heaven above being the same it demanded a western treatment. He was curious to look at the ways the Sun and the planets found themselves in the mathematical hot waters, in the tropical system of astrology before finding himself into hot water!  

The Babylonians in Mesopotamia, seeded the Western astrology about 4200 years ago. As mundane astrology, they used it for tracking planetary movements for political and weather predictions. Around 1600 years later, the sky was divided into twelve equal sectors and named as zodiacs. 

It took about 400 years for the Greeks to combine their philosophy, culture and the Babylonian knowledge to evolve the   horoscopic astrology. They introduced the zodiac-focusing to create a chart of the heavens at the exact moment of birth. Astronomer Ptolemy is credited for solidifying the system based on the tropical zodiac. During the Middle Ages, this system from the Roman Empire passed through the hands of Islamic scholars and returned to Europe to eventually to merge with psychological concepts in the 20th century.  

Many differences exist between Western astrology and the Vedic version. No cyclic Dasa system and follows fixed zodiacal signs irrespective of date and time of individuals born in the same period. Western astrology has Uranus Neptune and Pluto which stay put for a longer in a zodiacal sign. Whereas, Vedic astrology is longitude based local sun rise and elapsed time at birth. The rotation of Earth and revolution of Moon places birth star, in different quadrants, and ascendent in different zodiacal signs, on any given day!

The main focus of Western astrology is on the current planetary positions, transits and their relationships (aspects) to one another. Whereas, Vedic astrology uses planetary positions, its strength and aspects along with the strength of the houses, as indicated in the birth chart. Due consideration is also given to the current and sub-planetary periods, transits of planets and their influences giving an opportunity for all the planets to have a say in the predicted outcome. 

Departing from Vedic astrology, it chose to partially modify the criteria in allotting permanent residency. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have reserved berths. Jupiter and Neptune become co-owners of Pisces. Mars and Pluto become co-owners of Scorpio.  Saturn and Uranus grudgingly share space in Aquarius. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn should thank heavens for at least being left with one fully owned house! 

ChintaMany was certain that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, discovered in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, got included as an afterthought. He wondered whether the western astrologers have foreseen the need for enlarged planetary family to explain away things that have not been foreseen by the inventors of this system of prediction. They did not stop there and to leave no stone unturned chose to include asteroids Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta and even borrowing the lunar north and south nodes from the Vedic astrology. Did Vedic astrology missed the opportunity to find any predictive usage for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto which would have allowed it to go a few tentative steps ahead? 

To get back on track, ChintaMany decided to corelate the reasons for the plight of students. It shocked him to no end to know that the West has been printing and projecting its oceanic ego by proclaiming that numbers and all other mathematical branches were grown out of their fertile minds while a majority of their own qualifying students were hitting the rock bottom in the field of mathematics!  Copy rights? Intellectual Property Rights? No, sir it does not apply to ‘US’ and we gladly apply it to ‘Others’. 

ChintaMany could not hide his anger, when in reality all these claims on numbers and functions have been invented and used even in astronomical calculations, before the West could focus their telescopes on stars and planets. Why grudge the credit to the Others, who would have advanced mathematics, independently or at least simultaneously, in different geographical locations? The Others had even used sand to write down their solutions. Is it not a fact that it was the Others who invented the papyrus to write upon? 

Though, from this cauldron of hypocrisy, a few managed to excel in mathematics. For the rest, the reason could be the modern gadgets which need only ‘to be spoken to’ and they squeak out the answer for the problem. Maybe, the students have given up thinking why struggle and strain for a little gain!  Elsewhere, the children recited tables, did mental mathematics. Growing up, they applied these skills in all walks of life and solved half the problem in the mind and for the rest either used paper or a modern gadget. He concluded that the essential difference boiled down to the West taking it easy, while the Others persevered and competed. 

The key indicators for potential difficulties with mathematics tumbled out of the closet of Western Astrology. Afflicted Mercury indicates impediments and poor mathematical skills by affecting   logic, calculation, and analytical thinking. The moon and Saturn in challenging placements add another layer of difficulty.

In addition, Mercury in water signs Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio is unfavourable and especially in Pisces where Mercury is debilitated (or in its fall), leads to intuitive and emotional understanding over logical, dry, or calculated analysis. 

When in hard aspects with Neptune or conjunct, square, or in opposition to Saturn it indicates foggy thinking, lack of focus, mental restriction, fear of making mistakes, or slow processing speed, causing anxiety in timed mathematics scenarios, debility in calculation & logic and difficulties with concrete, structured, or analytical subjects. Mercury when conjunct with Saturn can create a slow, methodical mind that might struggle with rapid calculations or quick, abstract reasoning, though they may eventually become proficient through intense effort.

Too close to the Sun, it can be "burned" by the ego, leading to problems in practical application of logic. 

Moon-Neptune aspects bring in additional difficulties such as daydreaming, or confusion, making complex calculations challenging. 

Moon-Rahu or Ketu in conjunction or Opposition often leads to distorted thought processes, anxiety, and a wandering mind. 

A weak Moon, by itself, leads to emotional instability, stress, or fear and can inhibit the ability to perform mental arithmetic. 

Not to be left behind, a severely afflicted ascendant lord can make it harder to apply intelligence to practical studies. 

Mars, standing for logic, technical ability, and speed plays a secondary role, when afflicted it indicates an intelligent person becoming careless, impatient, reluctant to re-check their work and gets derailed in mathematic. However, in the 5th house it augurs well for the study of mathematics. 

If in harmony, Mars (logic) and Mercury (intellect) can improve mathematics skills. 

Noting some parallels between Vedic and Western astrology, ChintaMany decided to decode the house rules followed in Western astrology. 

Watery signs Cancer or Scorpio or Pisces in the chart makes one emotional and subjective and whereas the Fiery signs Aries or Leo or Sagittarius makes one impetuous, rushed, and careless. Unhelpful or unoccupied Earthly signs Virgo or Capricorn or Taurus in the chart can cause difficulty with methodical, detail-oriented, and structured tasks like mathematics.  

Saturn in the 3^rd or 5^th house can represent blockages in learning, particularly early education or areas requiring quick, creative, or logical mental efforts. 

Mercury in the 12^th house often indicates challenges in expressing logical thoughts clearly, as mental processes are hidden or internal. 

Mercury-Neptune or Mercury-Saturn aspect, particularly in a Water sign, coupled with a disorganized Moon (e.g., Moon-Rahu) that hinders concentration are potential tendencies that lead to weak mathematics skills. Strong effort, discipline (Saturn), and practice can overcome these natal limitations. 

The 3rd house, governing logic, mental capacity and short-term memory, if afflicted can lead to a lack of motor control, low cognitive capacity to deal with technical challenges, and in dealing with complex problems. 

The 5th house or its lord representing intelligence, memory, and the capacity to learn technical and difficult calculations is affected if malefic planets like Saturn, Rahu, or Ketu occupy it. 

Mercury in the 6th house, can result in an approach to subjects that is too detached from practical application. 

The 6th, 8th, and 12^th are labelled as challenging houses have far ranged effect on routines, works, hidden matters, subconscious and leads to isolation.  Mercury, the significator of mathematics if placed in these houses, particularly in an afflicted state, can make it difficult to grasp analytical concepts. 

ChintaMany noted that both astrological versions are unequivocal in this regard. The placement of a single planet “good” or “bad” does not determine a person’s aptitude or lack of it to guarantee a specific outcome or for learning mathematics.  It usually indicates a different style of learning or a need for increased effort in that area. Often, a "poor" placement can be mitigated by other, stronger aspects in the chart. 

The strength of planets and hence of the birth chart depends on the zodiac signs occupied as owners or during transits or the company of good and bad friends they keep or the benign or malefic aspects they attract has a bearing on the prediction. And its outcome.  It may not be a coincidence that both the systems have at least four to six houses or zodiacal signs where the transiting planet does not pay the rent but the individual has to. Is this called karma! 

Both the systems dispense this exit line: Astrology is a complex subject. Perseverance and targeted effort can often overcome challenges and mitigate sufferings! 

ChintaMany pitied the ‘strugglers’ in mathematics and the astrological systems failing to grasp the gravity of the situation!

Part-2 Adalat in Brahma Lok 369

Brahma: When demigods, lesser gods and elevated souls are members in every committee, how their reports would be different from each other! 

Narad: Father, this is where group psychology comes into play. In every committee, each group will try to pull the other in a different direction. If they finish the primary report, that can be considered as an achievement. 

Brahma: What happens then, do we read the reports? 

Narad: No. We give the demigod committee report to the lesser god’s committee for a review report. The lesser god’s committee report will be vetted by the elevated soul’s committee and the elevated soul’s committee report will be vetted by the demigod’s committee. 

Bahama:  Narad, then in what way will their review reports help them to find a common ground? 

Narad: Father, the earthlings follow the “why hurry to solve a problem?”.  The objective of finding a common ground can be left to another committee, at another time. This way everybody has something to do to accomplish nothing! 

Brahma's heads started knocking at each other with arguments and counter arguments on the pros & cons of Narad's plan. Unable to bear the suspense filled atmosphere, Brahma asked, " Now, we will get three reports plus three secondary reports. instead of one. What is this?" 

Narad: This is the principle of the divide and rule technique, which I was mentioning earlier.

Brahma: Then what happens?

Narad: Now, we have three reports and three more secondary reports to move on to the second step.

Brahma boiling in anger asked, "Narad have you lost your thinking capacity? Now will we not have to deal with six reports?

Narad: Father, trust me again. I have witnessed many such proceedings on earth. It will work. We have just completed the second step of the technique. 

Brahma: Is there a limit to the number of steps? 

Narad: No, but we can choose where to stop, if we get tired of the game. 

Brahma: Really, this technique is practiced by earthlings with their limited lifespan!  

Narad: That is the hidden beauty of this technique. Once the subsidiary reports are submitted, we have to initiate the crucial third step with perfect timing for maximum effect. 

Brahma: What that would be? 

Narad: It is called the selective leak step. The secondary reports of lesser god and the elevated soul's committees are leaked, all over our Lokas. The original reports along with the secondary report of the demi god’s committee will be locked in the vault of Bank of Kubera. 

Brahma: I am getting really confused now. The primary report prepared by one committee is revised by another committee for the secondary report.  When the committees had equal representation, why the selective leaks would raise a commotion? 

Narad: The commotion will start regarding the un-leaked secondary report of the demigod’s committee, as elevated souls are being considered a competition by the others! 

Brahma: what is your idea? Are we not trying to avoid commotion? 

Narad: Yes. Unless a commotion is created, how confusion will not get clarified.? You will have wait for the next step in the technique to be initiated. Exactly this procedure is followed in earth by any ruler who wants to bury an issue in mountains of paper. The selective leaks spark a media war which helps to add a little mountain of papers with each committee blames the other for the leak, misrepresentation and suppression of facts by writing dissent notes. 

At this point, Brahma's heads started to jump up and down in fury, distorting the faces. He started to show symptoms of nervous worry and blamed his heads for suggesting. "Why not give it a try?" and in turn they blamed him for becoming a scared crow. 

Narad stood aghast on the protocol breach when the heads teased Brahma and Brahma responded by blaming the heads. But he knew unless you churn the pot, you can’t get the butter out of curd. Immediately he regretted picking up this saying and promptly blamed it on his frequent visits to earth. 

Unable to witness the cataclysmic effect the leaked reports have caused, Narad declared a brief recess and got out of sight. 

 Left to his own devices, Brahma waited for the raging fury to abate and the heads to settle down allowing the contorted faces to become normal. 

After leaking the secondary reports and licking up the other un-leaked copies, Narad vanished from Brahma Lok to an undisclosed destination. He had a purpose which he could not press on to someone else. The matter was so delicate and had far reaching effects much more than mergers of two black holes.  

The sudden departure of Narad left Brahma with his heads playing one against the other. How long is a question that has no meaning or answer in Brahma Lok where time exists without a clock-like thing to mark its passage. In such a situation, sending wave after wave of communication was the only way he could reach Narad. 

The leaked reports had the desired effect. Demi gods and lesser gods gathered raising cacophony, pandemonium and engaged themselves busily in rabble rousing. Hitherto unheard-of arrows accusations flew thick and fast. 

Narad took his own sweet time to respond to Bahama’s frantic messages. Brahma did not know that he had gone incognito for preparing the special time capsules. Heads steaming with anger Brahma gave him a sizzling roasting. Nonchalantly, Narad tabled three-time capsules. Still to cool down, Brahma snapped and asked. "What is this game you are playing, now?" What is the secret buried in the 1^st capsule?

This is the end game for the cacophony, pandemonium and rabble rousing that has been going on for some time. I will arrange for looped screening of the content of the capsules, one after the other. You may have to appreciate me later. 

The 1^st capsule starts with the visual evidence of the Lokas as they peacefully existed before the gathering in Brahma Lok met with you to express their interest in exploring a quid pro quo order. The visuals are really rich - clothes, ornaments and with top-notch artists from the vocal and dance disciplines performing everywhere. So, to say it has captured the essence of divine blessed life. It ends with the caption, “Cosmic order provides for all” 

What is in the 2^nd capsule? 

Narad did not reveal that this capsule is a doctored version, personally edited by him, combining chaotic scenes, from all over earth curated by removing the original background with that of different Lokas to scare the demi gids, lesser gods and elevated solus. He did not point out to his thinking that the elevated souls having suffered such chaos would eventually act as moderators. He did not bring out that precisely for that reason only he had kept the secondary report prepared by the elevated soul’s committee in a locker of Bank of Kuber. 

He replied, “The visuals are packed with unheard of verbal slangs being freely hurled at each other without any exception to demigods, lesser gods and elevated souls. 

“Narad, how come the limited number of elevated souls are able to raise such a … (Brahma did not want to utter the word hell), as shown in this capsule? 

Father, you are sadly out of touch with the uproarious scenes and pandemonium created by the elected earthlings be it a Parliament, National Diet, Knesset, Bundestag, the Congress and so on. The elevated souls are fully aware that procedure matters rather than the numbers. Now, you have the answer! 

What is stored in the 3^rd capsule? 

The first half is action packed. Demi gods question lesser gods’ eligibility, Combinedly they question the elevated souls, the elevated souls question their eligibility to question them. 

The second half is acrimonious. Demi gods want the elevated souls to be banished from Brahma Lok. The lesser gods accuse the demigods of suppressing their elevation. The elevated souls blame the demigods and lesser gods for treating them as unaccounted, unwanted numbers. 

In the ending portion of this capsule, you will see all of them locking themselves inside their abodes not wanting to come even face to face. 

After a brief blackout on the screen, the message “where you don't want to be." will keep flashing.  Since we will be once again screening the capsules in serial order, the messages from the 1^st and 3^rd capsules will definitely reach them. 

What happens next?

They will ask for a re-run and request to see only the first capsule once again! Your problem is solved and I have to go ...

Narad, you are off to earth again, why?

I have still unfinished works to attend to...

                                                                                                                                              -concluded- 

The pseudo suo motu case: 337

If something exciting might lead to something useful for the something, and when that something seemed reluctant to appeal, then the suo motu judge wanted to try it out. He had depleted the supply of legal pads and furnitures by doodling and whitling away the wood.  The court and his chamber having nothing more to offer, as sacrifice at the altar of his hobby, resulted in this dire situation, forcing him to search for a brief and the skills of his go-to pro bono lawyer. 

To be honest with himself, he accepted that the opening sentence was a bit confusing and felt the need for an expert opinion to decode and ferret out his suo motu case.  Geopolitics unwittingly ended up giving a brief and respite to him. Itching for a good legal fight though feeling blindfolded, he started looking for his legal luminary. 

Probably, scared of the judge’s earlier verdicts or worried about getting tangled in some more suo motu cases, the duo including his nephew, whom he was trying to groom as a trial lawyer, have vanished without leaving digital footprints. He thought - Clever guys, might have bought 2^nd or 3^rd hand burner phones to escape from his court.  The judge presides over a defunct court, which he had usurped, and nobody cared what he did or did not do there. 

Though an unrecognised legal luminary (no harm in blowing a small note in his own trumpet!), still he knew which switches functioned and which did not in that premises. Unfortunately, these things did not give him peace of mind, except the use of pads and wooden furnitures for his hobby. And this did not sit well with him. 

One of such functioning switches diverted power to an incandescent bulb which lit an anaemic glow in his mind. When this eureka moment (powerful or weak) occurred, his lordship was precariously perched on a table, which was trying to perfect some dance movements. He controlled himself from jumping up and by force of court room habit, from shouting ‘Eureka, Eureka, Eureka’.  What if they don’t come to the court, the court will go and get them. 

He ran a mental directory of places, where normally these two lawyers hung out, occasionally visited and rarely revisited. His logic dictated to search in that place where no one would expect them to be. He chose the category of rarely revisited place and presto he found them, lolling under the shade of a withered tree, in a namesake forest which like his court existed only on paper. 

The judge had a sense of humour. At the mere sight of them he burst out laughing and asked, “What made you to think that you could hide from me? Have you become so lazy to search for a healthy tree? Get up, you lazy bones! We have an interesting suo motu to deal with. Listen carefully and let me see how will you handle it and what will be the verdict"

Precisely to avoid the judge and his penchant for taking suo motu cases and drag them in as pro bono counsellors on issues like ‘ant stealing sweets to America not buying weapons from other countries’, they were lolling under that withered tree. 

Annoyed, they asked him why a session of his court in this forest? 

The reply judge gave them a Taser jolt – “the case is legally outside the jurisdiction of even the regular courts. Though prima facie it is ultra vires, I am invoking ex arbitrio judicis, to hold this session. So, we will try it even in a jungle or a namesake forest. Understand, suo motu cases cannot wait for the convenience of courts or counsellors. Since you people have not turned up at court, I came over here.” 

Leaving the counsellors speechless, the judge asked, “Do you have any pretrial and post-trial motions before we start the proceedings?”  Mesmerised by this eloquent speech laden with Latin terms, a snake started to slowly ascend on the stump of the tree on which the judge had decided to preside from.  The duo wondered what law points this slider wanted to hear! Unaware of this, the judge while searching for a piece of wood to use as gavel, almost went over the head of the snake. 

The duo murmured to themselves, " Why should he saddle us with this judgeship?"

The judge, sensing imminent threat to his bench (tree stump) said hurriedly, " Not so fast. One of you to prosecute and the other to defend. Now, read the docket and proceed when ready, I am all ears!" 

Forced to enact a drama, the senior pro bono counsel declared himself as the opposing advocate leaving the judge’s nephew the role of the prosecutor. The case docket proclaimed, “The boon and bane of deals” 

Nephew:  A deal is beneficial, if both the parties feel it would be better to forget and move on.

Pro bono: Not if the deal is brokered by a third party. Then there stands the gift horse and affected parties should not hesitate to look into its mouth.

Nephew: No. will this not amount to mistrust, as deals are trust based?

Pro bono: Yes. They should be, but perspectives differ. After all, the deal or a war basically revolves around perspectives of one or the other involved.  

The judge to mark his presence intoned, “I agree. Counsellors move it on.”

The counsellors exchanged a quick “horse or the case?” Though he could not hear it clearly, the judge sent them a warning look. 

Pro bono: “Striking a deal in commerce, trade and economy is beset with mindsets, across the negotiating table. Ego hangs thick in the air. After many iterations, a finalised deal will still be advantageous to one of the sides. 

Nephew: Then, without splitting more hairs, pack the bags and leave with what you could get 

The judge almost applauded this decisive verbal blow on the pro bono but reined in his enthusiasm to clap. He sorely missed his unwhittled gavel left in his chamber? 

The judge, to inject clarify, asked, “Don’t we need negotiators when wars are raging or conflicts are boiling? 

Pro bono: I would not trust political negotiators. Wars or conflicts need hardened negotiators who understand and speak the language of bullets. Territories and boundaries are not easy commodities to strike a deal with.  

Judge prompted his nephew, “Any counter?” 

Nephew: Certainly judge. The learned pro bono counsell not preferring political negotiators is surprising to me Sovereignty and self-respect or ‘conflict gone too far to make any difference now attitude’, are the complicating factors or the potholes and speed breakers. It becomes hard for the deal maker to drive through objections. 

Pro bono:  Prosecution is judging the full movie by looking at a single scene. What happens if the deal maker runs out of patience or has other deals to broker? Is it not conflict of interests? If a lone deal maker enters the scene, there might be many inducements and quid pro quos on offer to seal a deal. In the case of my type of bullet-language negotiators, it would be a cut and dried deal. 

Nephew: Will not the quid pro quo might be monetary help to one and sell armaments to the other nation as an insurance policy for a possible future conflict? 

Pro bono: Judge, I object strongly the imputation that a quid pro quo is to prepare the other nation for a future conflict. The fine print in the peace accord might contain a clause allowing the deal maker to own a military base or a mining right as facilitator's charge. After the ink dries on the accord, both the parties wonder why they themselves could not have waved the white flags and saved the base and the mines! That is why I said, I would not prefer political negotiators. 

Nephew: The negotiators come into picture only when the so-called waving of white flags did not happen. 

This rebuttal pleased the judge, though he felt it was an argument suffering with anaemia. 

Pro bono: If two or three deal makers descend, this would raise the complexities in the complicated negotiations. Each one will be trying to land the best maximum quid pro quo advantage for their respective countries, benefitting   Commerce, Trade and armament industries. Where is equity in this? 

The prosecuting counsel lost his cool and looked menacingly at the pro bono counsellor. To defuse the situation quickly, the judge loudly clapped his hands and cried order ,order ,order.  Rattled by this sudden thunderclap, the snake lost further interest in the proceedings and the judge’s body parts, slowly uncoiled itself from the tree stump and left. 

Unaware of the fangs that, by a mere kissing distance, missing to inject a dose of venom, the judge asked, "Why female negotiators are not on the scene? 

Nephew: They are tough negotiators. That is why female deal makers are not deputed. 

Looking at pro bono counsellor, the judge asked, “Want to add or oppose?” 

Pro bono: (who dares to go against?!) “Their intuitive assessment and focus will primarily be on what the population will get out of it rather than what business would flow into the armaments and mining industries. Not only they are tough but reaching an accord …...” 

As the arguments whizzed over his head, the judge sat like a frozen statue. Breaking the trance, he asked.  "Counsellor, all these happen before or during or after the war?" If all these have happened before start of a conflict, I am inclined to reject the argument. If these things are happening during a war, then I have some questions." 

Actually, the counsellors were clutching at non-existent straws. They welcomed the opportunity to know what those questions the learned judge would be coming up with. 

An anti-Eureka moment struck the learned judge. To buy some time in order to find wiggle room, he did what he could do, at any time as a judge. Announced an adjournment citing other legal engagements! 

The nephew murmured a quip "Maybe with the neighbour feeding a pack of stray dogs that bark and howl at the judge, whenever they see him." 

Pro bono (murmured): “Has he gone out of his mind? The judge had declared an adjournment, here in this namesake forest! 

The judge heard these asides as loud as the barking of those stray dogs. He decided to take his nephew to task after dealing with the dogs. He made a mental note to review all such snide remarks before writing the judgement on this case. At this point, a supernova eureka moment exploded in his mind. Recovering poise and with a smug smile he announced, “There was no such suo motu case and I just wanted to check how sharp your legal brains were functioning!” 

Turning toward his nephew, he said, “bark is better than getting bitten – case wise and canine wise!” 

Irritated by this intruding attitude of the judge they replied “Judge, we too played the same game.  Till some time back, there was a venomous snake taking measurements before taking a jab at you. We lost the opportunity to witness that precision strike as exactly at that point you thunder clapped for order in the proceeding. Our loss, we regret!

Judge, you are not a kid anymore to be playing April Fools in the month of August. We knew you were up to something when we saw the masked case title, " Negotiated treaty or betrayal?". Having come so far let us help you to gather some wood for your whittling leisure.

The judge found himself royally stumped, forced to sit on a tree stump!  Not in a position to threaten them with contempt of court, he decided to give them a hand in collecting wood pieces for his hobby.

You wonder what was the verdict? We will hear it when they come out of the woods!

Part-1 Adalat in Brahma Lok: 368

He had never witnessed such a gathering of semi-gods, lesser gods and souls that have attained ‘nirvana’ in front of his residence. It not only disturbed the meditation regime but brought forth the concern that at this point of time, the stalwarts Chitragupta and Yamadharmaraj were conspicuously absent. The issue has generated much consternation, and everyone present had a complaint against one entity- Narad. Brahma toyed with the idea of recusing himself and request either Vishnu or Shiva to adjudicate in the matter.

His heads rose immediately in rebellion and hinted that recusal may well result in the erosion of confidence in the impartial nature of Brahma. Instead, they argued that this issue could be turned into an advantage to establish the indisputable fact that it is not easy to sway the opinion of Brahma and assured that they will resolutely stand by to maintain the balance of power, both physically and legally.

Immediately, he ordered Narad to be at hand, while complaints against him are being presented. Brahma thought with worries, “What did Narad do? Not known to be for or against anyone, why complaints are being raised now? In fact, he happens to be a good diplomat and agent provocateur, without personal attachments in both the roles. So far, his periodic assessments have been of the gem stones embedded class.”

Fortunately, and with foresight, he had constituted a generic committee comprising of members from this very gathering, which might be advantageous. But in the Adalat, Narad being his progeny will remain only as an inconsequential fact. Without carrying any weight. 

Taking the seat, Brahma indicated that he was ready to hear their complaints, though he had already received their brainwaves borne thinking even before they had decided to meet with him. But in life, pretense pays. This gem of wisdom has been presented to him by none other than his proteges Chitragupta and Narad. 

Brahma asked, “What is your complaint?” Smitten by hesitation, the gathering started to explain.

 “Apart from visiting other Lokas, Narada visits the Earth the most. On returning, he gives a vivid picture on the happenings, like a sound and light show, in which actual earthlings and their activities, amnesties and strange looking moving things in air, on water and on the surface of earth.

There large crowds stood behind fenced off area. On a raised stage, erected a little away from the crowd, a few dignitaries occupy the dais and one of them keeps on talking. Narada patiently explained afterwards that it was a political meeting, and the speaker was promising everything, will be given free, except life, if his party comes to power.

Narad elaborated, in a democracy people elect rulers and they can happily borrow wealth, pocket some, distribute some and after their tenure ends leave the burden as debt for the coming generations to settle. When we asked, where the speaker has an account in the Bank of Kuber, he did not reply.

Narad had conveniently forgotten to hint that here too we could have elections, promises, debts and so on…The way he described the happenings on Earth makes us sad that we have been missing out on all these possible thrills and excitements, so long! This is our complaint on Narad for not being proactive to initiate such changes here in Brahma Lok.” 

A team consisting of semi-god, lesser gods and the elevated spirit tried to estimate the elapsed time in terms of the orbital motion of a faraway star. To give them a shock, Brahma meddled with the speed and position of that star. He too wanted to enjoy some fun by watching the orbits of confusion on their faces.

As he was hearing the complaints, his heads offered a four-way counselling to these misguided litigants who have misunderstood the purpose for which Narad shared information, after each visit to other Lokas.  

“Follow The edicts that operate.” The first head suggested.

Here the system governs without absolute power. On planets like Earth activities from getting up to going back to sleep generates chaos, conflicts and law & order problems. Various forms of governance are required to deal with different kinds of aberrations. Here in Brahma Lok, life goes on in an orderly fashion. All of us are governed by our free will, which is governed by local customs and which are governed by universal mandate. 

This circular justification offered by his second head left Brahma wondering whether the gathering would ultimately reach the conclusion that he rules without having absolute power and a doubt whose side this head is on? 

The third head pointed that according to Narad, the way of life is basically different with power and need ever on the increase. Here, these things do not exist. Brahma understood the reference was to Earth, but he had no reason to find fault with Narad’s frequent tours to Earth. 

The fourth head cautiously pointed out that the rabble rousing is a special technique perfected by human beings and the vocabulary used is anathema in Brahma Lok. Brahma had a jolt when he extracted the meaning from this hint.  He was very much familiar with rabble rousing and engineered vocabulary. He vividly recollected the visit to Earth along with Chitragupta, whence they happened to witness a political meeting from the sidelines of a barricade. The impact and the bitter memory were still fresh in his mind. 

One of the ‘nirvana’ stamped souls, ventured forward to present the collective thinking of the gathering. It explained that since creation, the Lokas have been in a status quo limbo and why not change it to a quid pro quo status? 

Now it became clear to Brahma where the gathering wanted to go. The secret coming out of hiding did not surprise Brahma. Narad has stirred the pot once again, aiming to achieve something beyond the quid pro quo status. He wondered " What could be the game plan? Whether he should go along with it or negative it?" 

His collective heads intoned, " why not give it a try?" This quick, uninvited counselling made Brahma to suspect whether his heads are under his control or they have become spokespersons for Narad?  

"There is an easy way and a hard way. To understand this, if hard way is the path they choose, then let it be". One of the heads had suggested this to indirectly indicate to Brahma that not all his heads are in tune with Narad's plan. 

Brahma came to a quick decision - five heads will work better than four, in finding out a solution. Nard who had sowed this seed should be the fifth head and be made to toil in reaping the produce also. He informed the gathering that a two-member committee will brainstorm on the pleadings presented by them.  

Nard expected some fireworks from his father, but Brahma maintained a ‘deep space’ silence which was more deafening than the cacophonies, manipulative and inflammatory rhetorics of rabble rousers he was familiar with.

Brahma: what is the way forward?

Narad: If you ask me, I suggest forming three committees.

Brahma: why three, when all of them came together? What the committees would do?

Narad: This is a time ‘out living’ technique, perfected by rulers on Earth. Trust me on this. It will give excellent outcome.

Brahma (little unsure): Ok. Name the committees then.

Narad: the first committee will be chaired by a demigod and will have equal number of demi and lesser gods and elevated souls, to come out with a primary report. The second committee chaired by a lesser gods will have similar composition and remit. The third committee chaired by an elevated soul will have similar composition and remit.