The Broken Tusk - THE Stylus

A word about the contents before we begin. Rural India, Economics, Technology, History, Religion and Philosophy have been the key factors that have shaped my outlook so far. So you are likely to be subjected to all of the above, not necessarily in that order. There is no guarantee that one or more will not be mixed up in the same story either. So, it is “Reader Beware” from now on.
Let me start with the first story, which is the reason for the title, by borrowing it from that master story teller, Rajaji.
Time : Sometime in BC or a few millennium ago or in some aeon
Lead actors : Ved Vyas, the main author/arranger of Mahabharata and Lord Ganapati
Act/Scene : The story of Mahabharata is about to begin and Vyas is on the look out for someone to write down his own blog of 100,000 poems/verses.
“
Brahma extolled Vyasa and said: "O sage, invoke Ganapati and beg him to be your amanuensis." Having said these words he disappeared. The sage Vyasa meditated on Ganapati who appeared before him. Vyasa received him with due respect and sought his aid.
"Lord Ganapati, I shall dictate the story of the Mahabharata and I pray you to be graciously pleased to write it down."
Ganapati replied: "Very well. I shall do as you wish. But my pen must not stop while I am writing. So you must dictate without pause or hesitation. I can only write on this condition?'
Vyasa agreed, guarding himself, however, with a counter stipulation: "Be it so, but you must first grasp the meaning of what I dictate before you write it down."
Ganapati smiled and agreed to the condition. Then the sage began to sing the story of the Mahabharata. He would occasionally compose some complex stanzas which would make Ganapati pause a while to get at the meaning and Vyasa would avail himself of this interval to compose many stanzas in his mind. 'Thus the Mahabharata came to be written by Ganapati to the dictation of Vyasa.
“

In the process of capturing the verses of the Mahabharata, it is believed that his pen had broken due to the speed, and in the urgency of taking down the immortal words flowing from Ved Vyas, Ganapati snapped off his tusk as a replacement quill ! The broken tusk thus became The Broken Tusk – which represents a writing instrument or a tool that facilitates learning. It does symbolize Discrimination – ability to distinguish what is real and what is unreal. The tusk also denotes the universe i.e. the Maya, according to Mudgala Purana, standing for the creation and durability.

This blog will therefore capture the stories about ideas, people and places first hand and like the Ganesha’s stylus, it would not stake claim to the stories (they belong to Ved Vyas and the real people), but would facilitate recording and retelling of the same. And hopefully I will keep that part of the deal where the understanding precedes the writing. Any errors and acts of omission and commission would henceforth lie with the tool and not the author.

If you are wondering that the posts in this blog start with the name of the places, yes that is by design, as the travel always triggers a lot of molecules in my system to observe and synthesise. The geography also ensures that the ideas are not abstract, even though there would be a few degrees of freedom lost because of implementation efficiencies. Given my limited experience in the hinterland and non-existent one in writing, there are bound to be issues. I have already discovered that being editor and the author at the same time is very demanding and there are always going to be alpha and beta errors. The length and the frequency of the posts are not defined and like my current favourite author Nassim Taleb, it is one of the preconditions of the author to the editor. So, sit back and enjoy the chronicles and if you find something good or bad, pl do drop in a word.