Geeta Ramanujam -- an international storyteller

By Raj S. Rangarajan

The Critical Mirror, Delhi

https://thecriticalmirror.com/people/featured-personality/geeta-ramanujam-an-international-storyteller/2022/05/17/

Geeta Ramanujam — an international 

storyteller

ByRaj S. Rangarajan

Posted on May 17, 2022

 

 

 

 

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She tends to be metaphorical – occasionally – metaphysical and at times mystical. She has created her own genre of storytelling, has been featured on several Indian and international forums, and was even mentioned by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Hindi broadcast series – Mann ki Baat in 2020.

I am talking of Geeta Ramanujam, accomplished author, storyteller, founder and director of her storytelling academy. Her most recent publication – Tales from the World – published by Puffin Books and illustrated by Arkapriya Koley, has been well received.  Her first book, The Wise Monkey and other Animal Stories was published in 2002.

Starting with a touching tale from India of a mountain and a bird, Geeta’s sensitively described Meru has both pathos and poetry. One gets hooked when one starts reading. In another narration, she talks of storyteller Topista Kezabu, who at 91, continues the East African oral tradition called “Koogere” – that is described as storytelling in the form of folklore and narratives. Here, she talks of crabs running sideways when a sharp-eyed Kavirondo crane would swoop down to pick up the fish.

Storyteller Ms. Geeta Ramanujam

Geeta’s passion comes through in admirable measure and her eclectic choices of subjects, countries, and methodologies for her stories are a treat for children. Her narrations open up a world of possibilities for the young ones allowing them to soar to unimaginable heights.

This versatile artist has worn several caps: nursery school teacher, writer, creator, entrepreneur. She has taken the art of storytelling to a new level and explains the exercise in an easy-to-comprehend manner. Her company, Kathalaya’s International Academy of Storytelling, based in Bengaluru, offers certificate and diploma courses, which are interactive and experiential in vocal art. She has trained almost 94,000 students, teachers, entrepreneurs, professionals from corporates as also executives from NGOs. Geeta uses her creative abilities to craftily motivate her students into teamwork and leadership skills.

We have heard of the celebrated “lollypop” series of stories for kids, and in that tradition, Geeta brings life to many of her narrations from all over the world, ranging from home country India to Japan to Greece and on to Scotland and South Africa and many more.

Geeta says, “Folk tales are generally passed down from one generation to another through oral narrations when children and adults gather at festivals or when they share food, perhaps around a camp fire.“ Imaginative grandmothers in India have always spun magical tales at leisurely home-cooked meals with children listening raptly. Tasty morsels seem tastier when the story is suspenseful or enticing or both. The narrator-grandma is the key artist in the process and her stories that embellish or exaggerate are also sometimes credible.

Geeta Ramanujam’s far-reaching scholarly repertoire extend beyond  48 countries that she has visited, and many of her books have been published in European and Asian languages. Her narrations talk of elements – fire and water and living things – as also of American-Indian traditions, and shamans. “The oral tradition is alive and kicking” reassures Geeta.

Some of her chapters highlight heart-warming nuggets in her “Did You Know” column for easy comprehension:

For instance, continues Geeta: “In Native American culture, stones are referred to as Stone People, and they are the record-keepers on Earth. They hold the stories of the earth within them. Storytellers often hold a special stone that has ‘spoken to them’ when they tell a tale. Some have—what is known in Irish as a crane bag—a bag containing stones, each one a different size, shape and colour, that they have gathered along their way. The storyteller will pick out a stone, hold it, feel it’s qualities and begin a story.”

“In Scandinavia, the stone is replaced with a nail and in Germany, an axe head is used. Sometimes, there’s one charismatic traveler, sometimes two; sometimes, it’s a monk, and even a soldier. But the heart of the tale remains the same “ So goes her clarion call: “are you tempted to try some Stone Soup?”

Did you know:

* that in the Zulu tradition, drinking and eating from the same place was and still is a sign of friendship, which comes from their ‘share-what-you-have’ belief?

* that as part of their storytelling practice called “Goorompa” narrated to the author through “Kamishibai” in Japan, pictorial images called “Chitrakathis” were used by the Pinguli tribes in Maharashtra citing epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. These stories, Geeta says, travelled to Japan?

* that Anansi, a “trickster” is a West African god? He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the god of all knowledge, and is one of the important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.

* that the Borok is a aboriginal tribe of Tripura state in Northeast India with a population of approximately 15 lakh. They speak a language called “Kokborok” that comprises alphabets and letters like so many of our languages, but the difference is that this tribe also communicates  through sounds, gestures and symbols with devout relationships with their gods and goddesses.

A former Bharatanatyam performer and Carnatic music singer, Geeta has been a recipient of the Encontro Internacional Boca do Céu de Contadores de Histórias Award in 2016 in Brazil, the Ashoka Fellowship Award from the U.S. in 2000, the Bangalore Hero Award in 2018 and the Best Story Narrator Award from the Governor of Tamil Nadu in 2019. A former resident of Mumbai Geeta now makes her home in Bangalore.

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The Author: Raj S Rangarajan is a free-lance journalist based out of New York.  He can be contacted at: raj.rangarajan@gmail.com

Dignity Dialogue — May 2022

 TRAVEL ISSUE — Cover Story

                                          Swami Vivekananda Temple at Kanyakumari

Buddies and Bonding

Raj S. Rangarajan

We have been buddies since college in 1958 and remain in touch. For our 60th anniversary as classmates in Ramnarain Ruia College in Mumbai, nine of us — four men with their better halves and yours truly — decided to traverse down memory lane. 

Thanks to Club Mahindra Resort membership spearheaded by two trip organisers, we have done the gamut of outings ranging from Ashtamudi and Poovar in Kerala to Yercaud and Tanjavoor in Tamil Nadu and Mahableshwar in Maharashtra, and many more. Our eclectic mix of nine comprised former corporate and government executives, bankers and entrepreneurs, homemakers and consultants.

We were as adept at playing rummy as spending cool evenings with elixirs from Scotland or dancing away the evenings. Our homemaker bunch was happy and grateful for the worry-free breaks from daily chores. Some of us were content in discussing gardening or shopping, and of course catching up on gossip. Others excelled in spiritual outpourings or astrology.

The mornings at these Club Mahindra breakfasts were leisurely accentuated by professionally laid-out culinary spreads with forbidden specialities becoming the norm, never mind the health standpoint. We got to indulge in some of these goodies that one does not make at home. Occasionally we felt there was no tomorrow!

Desserts were exquisite and one could die for the almond baklava. Afternoon boat rides on the Ashtamudi Lake in Quilon, Kerala were experiences to cherish and reminisce about. Not to forget freshly-fried mouth-watering cholesterol-rich “’bhajiyas’ at 4:30 pm, washed down with masala chai while admiring the placid lake. Camaraderie and fellowship were unmatched. Nostalgia formed the fabric of our conversations. Every old episode had a story to tell and the retelling of some had their own inevitable embellishments.

While we did have the usual arguments and lapses in memory, it was always a fun experience to meet up in March every year. Year 2021 was the exception. Each of us had our favourite tale of woe blended with geriatric affectations — some more dramatic than others. Having known each other for more than 60 glorious years, we were very predictable and argumentative: we laughed at the same old jokes, and occasionally completed each other’s sentences like so many seasoned couples.

With an approximate total age count of 700+ years between us, one of the aspirations of some was to skydive or bungee jump. If a former US president could do it at the age of 90, why not us?

                                                            Thanjavur Mandir

Dignity Dialogue — April 2022

Try Pranic Healing

In these testing times when survival is at stake, healing physically and mentally is important. Raj S. Rangarajan provides a few pointers.

How often have we heard the refrain from medical practitioners in the EU: “It’s a matter of time, it is beyond us, guess, it’s timefor prayer.” This sentiment from doctors is prevalent in many cultures, religions and faiths all over the globe. Even in movies. Some openly carry their faiths with manifest articulation and external displays, others practice their beliefs quietly. Some others are insecure and reach out to the almighty in some form. In these situations do prayers help? 

Over the past two plus years, with the onset of the corona virus pandemic and following uncertainties in day-to-day living (read ‘survival’ in some countries), many seniors, younger folk and even school-going kids have been worried.

Some are helpless and throw tantrums to cope. The number of people who have taken to prayer has increased all over the world. Temples, churches, mosques, gurdwaras and other places of worship are overflowing with nonbelievers and nihilists. Reasons attributed are the relentless scourge of the pandemic with its mutative variants — Delta and now albeit a ‘milder’ Omicron — leading to doubts and fear of the unknown.

Some of us personally know or have heard of someone who succumbed to the virus affliction. In hospitals and nursing facilities in the US, we hear periodically of horror stories of helpless frustration as also joyous celebrations. Each day brings varied mixed emotions for frontline healthcare workers — doctors, nurses, caregivers, porters, drivers and other hospital staff — who are intimately involved in this common calling of healing. One wonders how they survive each day. One’s faith helps when everything seems lost. Ask any hospital care worker. 

                                                                            Vidya Tathacharya

Connecting with an unknown power beyond oneself seems to help many. Prayer keeps them going? Some articulate their sentiments overtly, others in subtle allusions in conversations with family and friends. Social networks and some media sadly spread negativity and a pervasive sense of doom.

With the pandemic not abating, many are supremely stressed and are hurting — physically, mentally and psychologically. There are instances of people hiring psychologists or therapists to live their daily lives. Many of us have to cope with newer healing mechanisms. Varied techniques are being offered — holistic, spiritual, natural, energy, crystals, reiki, aromatherapy, et al. 

One of the ‘energy’ methods used is called pranic healing founded by Grand Master Choa Kuk Sui (GMCKS), originally from the Philippines. His disciple from California is Master Stephen Co. Pranic healing is a highly developed and tested system of energy treatment that uses ‘prana’ to balance, harmonise and transform the body’s energy processes.

There is no touching of patients in this healing process as in allopathy. One such practitioner from Chennai is Vidya Tathacharya who follows Master Co. Vidya is an invocative, instructive healer and uses her basic faith and universal energy to heal people by following certain protocols. Her close, personal thoughts are addressed to herself — like prayer — and her spiritual focus is directed toward the person’s ailment. Her soul concentration helps the patient in distress. Attached to the Twin Hearts Meditation in Chennai since 2014, Vidya has been quietly healing ailments ranging from physical distress to lingering anger, from broken emotional relationships to road rage.

Qualified in psychology Vidya says, “Pranic healing doesn’t have to necessarily pertain to physical illness; the practice can also be applied to practical aspirations like getting a new apartment or acquiring a life partner.” Her practice trains women managers through proactive, Zoom sessions in their respective career disciplines. She also conducts group-energy courses in pranic psychotherapy where she addresses mental stresses, phobias, depression or other compulsive behaviour. Vidya narrated a recent incident wherein she healed a lady remotely.

An acquaintance had hinted that a particular person in Mumbai had suffered a stroke. While the patient was being stabilised by doctors, Vidya — 1,400 km away — focussed her ‘chakras’ and meditative experience to slowly redirect the existent pure energy toward the patient. Within five days the patient recovered and was in a position to start walking again. Each of us can self-heal; we don’t need another caregiver (see resources below). With ‘prana’ or life force all around us we can motivate our spiritual energy centres of the body to absorb and process our own bodies. Proper pranic breathing techniques will help us in absorbing air prana. If we expose ourselves to the sun, we can absorb sun prana.

Vidya adds, “The feedback from these meetings is very satisfying and personally instructive.” Lakshmi Gayatri Mantra is suggested for prosperity. Also shown below are pointers in terms of the chakras and the aura that accompanies it. It also shows how a specific part of one’s body can be healed by distant healing: it involves scanning the affected part, cleansing the dirty energy and energising the body part with fresh energy. Guru Stephen Co recommends bathing with water (with salt) will help in removing diseased energy from our body as well. Water and salt therapy is reportedly effective, strengthening the body and making it stronger.

A college classmate of mine has been constantly complaining that because of the pandemic problem, he lives in a state of terror. He is restless, cannot sleep, and admits that he would prefer to die. Mercifully, his cool, philosophically-minded wife realistically reassures him that dying is not that easy! His will to not live is constantly being tested by his will power to continue to survive, thanks to his daily dose of prescribed medication from homeopathy and ayurveda. In a light-hearted aside the wife admonishes: “Stop threatening!”

Resources

• https://www.thepranichealers.com/masterchoa-kok-sui-courses

• https://www.masterco.org/

• https://praniclifestyle.com/blogs/pranic-lifestyle/lakshmi-gayatrimantra-by-master-choakok-sui

• https://pranickolkata.com/twin-hearts/

The View

The Pimplés - by Raj S. Rangarajan 

College sweethearts — Sonal and Vilas met in 1967 at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, India, a venerated art school. Sonal specialized in textile designing while Vilas became a sculptor taking after his dad Vasant, also a J.J. alumnus. Later Vilas taught sculpture, ceramics and pottery for eight years at the same school. 

Tower West residents (Apt 23B) since 2008, the Pimplés landed in New York in 1984 and have lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Battery Park earlier. They have two daughters Anuja and Anar, and seven months ago, Anuja became a mother to charming Priya. 

Sonal is also a yoga instructor and meditation practitioner. She ran her own textile art studio in Manhattan from 1999 to 2011, which she converted into a yoga studio that had its run from 2011 till 2016. Sonal teaches classic hatha yoga that reportedly dates back to the 2nd century BCE. Her style embraces a pleasing blend of dynamic breathing with profound emphasis on concentration. 

“Conscious, concentrated breathing helps calm one’s mind and nerves”, emphasizes Sonal. She talks of the concept of “trataka” or yogic purification where the practitioner gazes at a candle flame in the dark, while breathing naturally. While practicing, “focus, and resist the urge to blink or close one’s eyes”, recommends Sonal.

 

Sonal specializes in plant-based vegan cooking and her dining table is always adorned with gourmet delicacies. While relishing his wife’s cooking, Vilas has also been busy painting and sculpting. (See his creations here.) With a passionate interest in creating organic forms and abstractions, Vilas says, “Real life has been my inspiration”. His love for nature shows intimately in his paintings that touchingly emphasize textures, colors and forms. 

In 2012, Vilas participated in an art group show in Manhattan and in 2008, he held a solo exhibition of sculptures and another of digital prints on canvas in Mumbai, India. Good luck, Sonal and Vilas, from TW! 

 Dignity Dialogue

Debunking Myths about Dementia

Based on a book authored by Dr. Sanjay Gupta about dementia and the misassumptions that surround it, Raj Rangarajan tackles the myth about seniors supposedly doomed to forget or confuse things, places or dates as they age.

I am sure many of us know of incidents or are aware of friends or relatives who are victims of dementia, where the person is not fully conscious of where she or he is, or how she or he got there in the first place. As a senior, this writer does think of mortality – if not for my own self – at least for two older close friends – A and B – who seem to manage with sheer willpower and endurance.

Their caregivers are constantly on hand, but I am not sure if the patients are really ‘consciously present’ in the moment. Both of them in their nineties are perhaps aware and survive with what is termed ‘muscle memory’.

This is the ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement or action.

Both A and B have lost the ability to communicate or to recall things, places or past events. Photographs or online appearances sometimes jog their memories. I am sure such scenarios are constantly noticed in many care facilities in India as also in other parts of the world. In his book titled ‘Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age’, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, MD, debunks myths about the ageing brain that many of us tend to incorrectly

assume through literature or hearsay.

This neurosurgeon says, “The brain is not a mystery anymore.” He reassures us that dementia is not an inevitable consequence of old age. Dementia can be a spectrum, ranging from mild to severe, and some of the causes of dementia are currently reversible. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for more than half the cases

of dementia in the United States. 

And, Dr. Gupta cautions, words such as dementia and Alzheimer’s are being used interchangeably, and they should not be so used. Each is a separate, unique condition. Unless a senior is being treated for a particular brain-related ailment, Dr. Gupta hastens to clarify: do not fret.

Sometimes, we tend to blame our forgetfulness to fading memory or ageing. However, Dr. Gupta clarifies that some of the concepts that seniors experience may include absentmindedness, blocking, scrambling, fading away, struggling for retrieval or muddled multitasking. More focused concentration on the task at hand helps.

For instance, typing an email while watching television or your computer, iPad or iPhone or android device

becomes a herculean effort. Some of us find it difficult to accomplish two activities simultaneously. Dr. Gupta

points out that our brain continually cleans out older memories to make room for new ones. That’s reassuring,

to say the least.

While puzzles, crosswords, games or brain-training videos can improve working memory, brain functions such as reasoning and problem-solving help in generating cognitive reserve. This is the brain’s ability to improvise and navigate around impediments. The concept was discovered in the late eighties by a group of scientists in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego. 

New skills such as learning a new language or to cook or paint or learning a new computer code or say, learning salsa dancing or even writing a novel will help in the cognitive reserve department. To use an analogy,

just as a car has a braking and acceleration system that helps navigate trafficon a normal road, Dr. Gupta

affirms, “The brain has the ability and resourcefulness to avoid unexpected roadblocks or diversions or other

vehicles.”

Switching gears now, Dr. Gupta adds, “Male and female brains differ in ways that dictate learning abilities and intelligence.” Surveys suggest that Alzheimer’s strikes a disproportionate number of women compared to men. It is attributed to women’s physiology, as also pregnancies. However, women seem to score better than men on standard tests that are used to diagnose early states of dementia. We are all aware that we are dominated

by either the right or left brain and that both are intricately co-dependent. Both are equally involved in handling grammar and pronunciation as also reading and mathematics.

Research has also shown that people with greater quantities of cognitive reserve are more likely to stave off the degenerative brain changes associated with dementia or Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis. However, Dr. Gupta cautions: “Vascular dementia could be caused by adverse cardiovascular conditions including massive stroke or by damaged blood vessels in the brain as a result of diabetes, high blood pressure or atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries).” His advice to patients: constantly monitor all parameters regularly. Nevertheless, people diagnosed with cognitive decline or dementia or Alzheimer’s disease could continue to learn things. 

Dr. Gupta adds that no known dietary supplement improves memory or prevents cognitive decline or dementia, irrespective of what the manufacturer claims on the internet or through TV and newspaper advertisements. When it comes to trusting sources, we have to be particularly careful these days with the proliferation of agenda-driven false information. We also need to constantly revise our thinking on what to believe. 

In a shout-out to the humble Indian turmeric, Dr. Gupta says that prevalence of dementia is lower in homes where turmeric is a staple. 

Meanwhile, an international team of researchers identified a brain disorder known as LATE. It has similar

symptoms to Alzheimer’s disease but appears to be caused by the buildup of the toxic protein TDP-43. This

finding will help distinguish between different brain disorders and develop precise and personalised treatments.

In conclusion, we have got word that Aduhelm has been approved recently for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Teresa Carr, an American journalist, mentions in ‘Consumer Reports’ magazine that The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States approved Aduhelm, the first new drug for Alzheimer’s

disease in almost 20 years – and the first to potentially slow progression of the disease. Only time will tell.

Dignity Dialogue | December 2021

 https://thebalconystories.com/sita-forever-an-inspiration/

• BOOKS / CULTURE

Sita – Forever An Inspiration

• 5 minute read

• By

  RAJ RANGARAJAN --  

• October 26, 2021

Spread the love

Bhanumathi Narasimhan’s ‘Sita: A Tale of Ancient Love’ is an easy-read and welcome addition to the plethora of publications already adorning libraries and homes the world over.

‘Sita – A Tale of Ancient Love’ by Bhanumathi Narasimhan (Ebury Press- An imprint of Penguin Random House India – 304 pages, Rs. 340) on the Mithila princess glides from the past to the present seamlessly with kaleidoscopic imagery. If not attentive, one could miss the context for its contemporary flow of explanations so well packed with minuscule detailing of emotions and incidents.

Narasimhan’s literary background, scholarship, and knowledge of traditions are distinctly manifest in her book ‘Sita,’ where her graphic descriptive nuances vividly. With tranquil peace in her soul, the author imagines how Sita looked at Rama and how the vibes between them were brief but magical for a “love at first sight”!

“Life is full of duality,” and the reader has to be prepared to accept certain basic concepts without debate. Some assumptions are what they are and cannot be challenged. One need not question the “how” and “why” of events or situations as they reportedly happened centuries ago. 

Bhanumathi Narasimhan

To a question about why she chose to write about Sita, the evocative author who holds a Master’s Degree in Sanskrit Literature from Bangalore University says, “Answer is in the question! This time it’s all about Sita. It is about seeing the Ramayana from Sita’s eyes. The more I learned about her through the scriptures, the more I was fascinated and felt an intimate connection. Sita is such a delicate balance of strength with serenity, sensitivity with sensibility, beauty with brilliance, courage with compassion, so ethereally brilliant – yet approachable. The more you know her, you cannot but love her”.

For instance, Sita converses with sparrows and sunbirds, flora and fauna with enviable ease – whether at Ashoka Vatika or in her humble hut. Narasimhan’s observations on Sita’s environs would make a zoology student envious. However, her metaphors tend to be onomatopoetic, making the read more pleasant.

On being Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar’s sister

To a query by this writer, “the fact that you are the sister of a world-famous guru, did you have any problems or handicaps prepping for the book?” the author says: “Having a Guru is what opened my eyes to the deeper meanings hidden in the stories. My father would tell us these stories when I was younger, and I would also have so many questions. Later, when I heard Gurudev speaking about the wisdom beyond the events, a new dimension of understanding opened up for me, which I have tried to share in my narration of this endearing epic. The wisdom makes the stories practical and relevant even today.”

In an interesting tidbit, it is revealed, King Janaka was very particular about the education of his daughters Sita and Urmila. So, the learned king organized a grand debate and discussion among brahmavadins – wise sages. The winner of the debate would be awarded 1,000 cows. As a result, many celebrated scholars from distant lands arrived in Mithila. Among the participants were Rishi Yagnavalkya and Brahmavadini Gargi.

“Sita was drawn to Gargi, who was clad in a simple sari … and adorned with a tulsi mala.” Following the friendly back-and-forth repartee between Yagnavalkya and Gargi, “Sita said, ‘O revered one, from what I understood of the conversation, I feel that there can be no loser in a debate on the Brahman. Either you have shared knowledge, or you have gained supreme knowledge. So it is a win-win situation.’

We are all aware that the character of Sita is the epitome of everything good – noble, beautiful, peerless – as portrayed in the Puranas or even now contemporaneously interpreted in local sabhas.  But was Sita without blemish and any fault whatsoever?

Illustration from Sita by Pratibha Kumari

Are our ancient texts overdoing this description? Is this not an exaggeration? Narasimhan says, “Rama and Sita played their roles as human beings. Even for an avatar, when they come in the form, some limitations can be perceived as flaws because the form is limited. It will have pluses and minuses. Our whole journey is from the form to the formless, from the gross to the subtle, finite to infinity. And this is an inward journey. Yet, even in the form, they were strong and handled situations according to the need of the hour. Today no one has to lift a bow, but the challenges are different.” But she quickly adds, “it is the brilliance of the mind that stands out in the way situations are handled by them. See, these epics are there to spark contemplation so that you can reflect and imbibe these higher qualities in your life. The scriptures say kavya sastra vinodena kalo gacchati dhi matah. The intelligent ones invest time in the epics, arts, and culture when you take an interest in them – it is already a sign of a mature and refined mind. And when you become a gunagrahi, focused on the positive aspect, then there is so much to learn and imbibe that will enrich our lives. For example, Rama has ten good qualities and one flaw – but even the perceived flaw was only for loka kalyan. So refining our understanding is the key to unlocking the hidden secrets in these epics.”

Deft Turn of Phrase Appeals

A certain familiarity has to be assumed when reading Sita. We are fortunate to be part of today’s technology with a liberal mindset that encourages the flowering of the mind through metaphysical explanation since this ancient epic is challenging to describe with modern paradigms and parameters. Narasimhan’s deft turn of phrase as she edits at appropriate places adds to the suspense and goads one to continue reading. This, even though many of us have read the story earlier. Undoubtedly, an intriguing blend of philosophy and history as perceived by the author, meditation teacher, and singer has been handed down without question.

However, when you ask her, “Did you feel you had an obligation to necessarily tread on the beaten path as documented by earlier commentators without sounding irreverential?” she responds: “It was not a sense of obligation, but I thoroughly enjoy and respect the sincerity and devotion with which the earlier scriptures like the Valmiki Ramayana and the Ramacharitamanas have been written. However, my book is a perspective from the eyes of Sita as I have understood her.”

The book tells how Sita constantly admired the Shiva-Dhanush whenever she stepped into the room where the Mithila King Janaka’s Bow was housed.  Any particular reason why Sita wasn’t allowed to browse too long in Janaka’s Bow room? Says Narasimhan, “Sita moved into a transcendental state of consciousness in the presence of the bow even as a child. This is the reason they watched over her while she was with the bow.

Sita felt that she was a part of that divinity. She felt a sense of belonging with everything. For, in that space, you begin to understand a little of this deep mystery.” The Brahman runs everything on earth, but it cannot be explained; we know from the book. It is like good cooking, even without knowing the recipe.

That is something all mortal cooks can relate to, excellent natural cooks!

(Raj S Rangarajan is a freelance journalist based out of New York)