Songs of the not-so innocent

Have you ever read through the various mythological tales, religious texts, films etc. and thought "Oh! puhlease.... there is no way that happened "? If so, well take a gander at the twists in the scenarios mentioned below. No offence... and if you do take offence, please stop reading this blog, because there's a part - 2 coming up sometime. 1. The Ramayan: Kaikeyi: Ram, you must leave Ayodhya for 14 years Ram (cool as a cucumber): Fine. No problem. There's a nice camp-ground just past the city gates. I can always have provisions delivered to my tent. Kaikeyi: Ehh... no. That's not what I meant.... you're to go into the forests for 14 years. Ram: Weeeeell..... all right. But if I go, Lakshman goes with me. Lakshman does a double-take: Dude, what the hell !! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ram is in the forest with Sita and Lakshman. Bharat approaches. Bharat: Bhaiyya! You are the rightful king. ...

Routine... slow death. Exquisite and highly refined torture. Perfection, because of the indifference of the torturer. I've been reading a lot recently. 3-4 books, simultaneously, something I haven't done in years. Much as I like to read, it seems to point out the lack of any other activity in my life. The week from Monday to Friday passes by without making any impression on me, my thoughts or contributing anything to knowledge or experience. Go to work at 8:00 am, come back at 5:00 pm. Spend the next 5-6 hours doing nothing I can remember. Life seems to be Ed Norton's general facial expression in 'Fight Club'. In contrast, the books that I'm reading are all about travel, generally under adverse circumstances. One Scottish guy walked through Afghanistan just after the fall of the Taliban. A lady lived with and moved around with the gypsies of Europe for a couple of years. Another guy whirl-winded through America and wrote about in a way that got a generation to ...