Quid Pro Quo With The Gods

Dear Cheeniya,
I chanced to read Kannadasans statement "kasu koduthu kadavulai parthu
kadavulikum kasu koduthu
kadaisiyil kadavul kittaye
kasu kodunu ketkiravandhan
Manidhan
You have beautifully brought out the essence of the statement.
Regards.SLN

 

Yoo hoo! Yoo hoo! Charles Darwin wondered, why did humans develop music which he considered non-essential trait in human evolution. Only if he had listened to Teresa Brewer's dum dee dum dee da dee dum, he would have instantly declared music as the foremost indicator of human awakening.

Put another nickel in
In the nickelodeon
All I want is having you
And music, music, music



Watta voice!

Even if Charles Darwin failed to acknowledge, our beloved Elvis selected one of Teresa's songs for his earliest public performance.

And keep that old nickelodeon playing
Music, music, music!
And keep the senile brass playing
quid, pro, quo!

 

Recently, I have been intrigued with the repurposed songs in Hollywood films, revival of the 60s and 70s rock music. I would have only been informed of these songs, yet I am 'intrigued' because of their utterly deviant claim in the movie script. Look at this song by the band Jay and the Americans:

Original depiction:



"The lyrics tell the story of a young woman who is romantically involved with a man named José, but seduces the narrator with flattering words until he is love-stricken. After they kiss José arrives and the narrator flees, only to hear in the distance as the young woman uses on José exactly the same enticing words she told the narrator, suggesting she lures every suitor she meets with exactly the same script."

Repurposed depiction:



In the movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2, this incidental song is played when Yondu slaughters the crew of a spaceship. In this murderous scene,

Come a little bit closer
You're my kind of man
So big and so strong
Come a little bit closer

...is an invitation of a different tryst from Yondu , the arrow shooter, unlike the coy damsel in the original.

I so love such retellings of popular music. Inventive in the reassignment of the song.

 

Cheeniya, who is your favourite character in Mahabharata? Any time, am inquired, I declare: Shikhandi.

Why, why, you may ask. Hold your horses. First, I love the imagery of his moniker Shikhandi meaning 'lock on the crown of the head'. Puzzled, I tried to seek its significance. What does it even mean -- 'lock on the crown of the head.' So, you see, he became my instant favorite with such obscured representation.

I still don't know what that means. Do you?

Next, I love that character for the tenacity and focus. While hoi polloi struggle to identify a purpose in their existential humdrum, the indignant Amba held on to just one insight -- to punish Bhishma for her abduction, reincarnating and killing herself each time till she was reborn as the daughter of King Drupadam, named Shikhandini. Thence, she rested and grew up in that court convinced of her feasibility to assault Bhishma in the prophetic battlefield.

How could I not like such assiduous character. One goal, one fulfilment, immense tenacity to make it happen. I am in awe of that Sisyphean ascent, choose a life-defining goal, and sharpen it to victory.

 

I like your extremity in proclaiming them as "earless" rather than "tone-deaf".
(yes earless! for undervaluing the potency in music)

It's decaffeinated music these days. No intense brewing, only chewy bubble tea.

 

You asked the question and answered it yourself. You and I don't remember what we did last year, nay, yesterday leave alone remembering what we did in our prior lives. If someone knows the Sankalpa she did in the previous life and why she came into existence in this life, no wonder she is named "lock on the crown of the head". The encryption we all carry but don't know what they are.

 

Not well-versed with the Vedic Philosophy, I had to look up the meaning of "sankalpa" -- determination, vow.

There are two kinds of sorted minds while the rest are wanderers in self-inquiry.

1. Blithe creatures who don't need any fulfillment to assert their living, because they are amused by everything, like your undersigned Novalis.
2. Fixated souls withdrawn from common living, like Shikandi, so obsessed to fulfill her vow that no distraction weakened that plan.

Class#1, though diametric to class#2, feel mutual admiration. If class#2 carry a lock on their crown, class#1 jangle the bells on their jester's hat. Different yet unified. Each is sorted in their own way unobvious to the class#wanderers hopeful to claim some higher purpose and meaning in their unresolved lives.

I fancy Shikandi because she is antithetical to my disposition. I would probably have reborn with no vestiges of my past life, happy even as a caterpillar or anteater. We are amused by philosophy in others we fail to identify in us.

 

The conversation of @Novalis with Shikandi during Dwapara Yuga:

Novalis: How are you? I hope you are as excited as I am.

Shikandi: I am so excited as I know my mission will be accomplished in this life.

Novalis: How do you know that for sure?

Shikandi: Because one who made me the "lock on the crown of my head" told me so. What is your mission?

Novalis: To have fun in everything I do and remain happy every second of my life.

Shikandi: Wow, you are blessed. Don't you have to plan the strategy to achieve your mission?

Novalis: Nay, I don't plan anything and whatever happens, I am always happy. I would have been happy even if I was a Caterpillar or Anteater.

Shikandi: What is the secret behind your happy life?

Novalis: Pretty simple, Just do it. How do you remember what happened in your prior life?

Shikandi: Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavathi

Novalis: Can you please translate it into English for me? How did you manage to fulfill your mission?

Shikandi: "As you think, so you become". My mission was to kill Bhisma who had the privilege of dying at the time he prefers but he promised me that he would give up his weapons when I appear before him. But, unfortunately, this manipulative guy Sakuni prevented me from entering the battlefield because I was a woman. Hence, I need to pray to Lord Shiva to be a man for a day with the name "Shikandi" instead of "Shikandini" to kill Bhisma.

Novalis: Interesting! So you were a woman and a man in the same life. I hope we get to meet again in Kali Yuga.

(This discussion in Kali Yuga in Episode-2)