Setting the context of this series of blogs:

I am not sure if I have been hearing from people right from my childhood, that Ramayana and Mahabharata are our holy books and the main characters in these holy books, like Rama, Krishna, Sita, Hanuman are gods; or it is just the way I have understood.

I am not sure if both are actual happenings that has been woven in a story format and these characters existed; or these are stories that have been told to us, to send certain messages to us.

There are people who support either school of thought; and there are some who don’t support either. However, I am going to stay away from discussing on this, in this series of blogs.

Having set the context, let me continue further..

I was reading Valmiki’s version of Ramayana which has been written by Cho Ramaswamy. I have heard a lot about this book and also Mahabharata written by Cho Ramaswamy. Cho Ramaswamy is (to say ‘was’ does not come to me) a writer, a theatre artist, an actor, amongst perhaps a few other roles he plays. He is well known in Tamil Nadu for his political satire.

To be honest, though I have heard of his books on Ramayana and Mahabharata quite many years back, I have not come around to reading it. I started to read Ramayana recently and have NOT been able to keep it down.

I am neither able to continue reading at a stretch because as I read, my mind then shoots out questions or takes me back to some real life experiences; and both seem valid enough, to warrant a screeching halt to the rustling movement of pages 🙂

I truly don’t know whether to credit the articulation and the writing style of Cho or to be amazed at the way the Epic Ramayana has been written by the different authors – Valimiki, Tulsidas, Kamban. It is preferable to do both, I presume 🙂

Each blog will be a chapter, with this one being the introduction. The chapters will be on what I understand from this Epic, raising my own questions and thoughts while drawing a parallel to day to day living.

At this point in time, I am not really sure of the number of chapters that I would blog in.. I am though sure, that they are going to be eye openers in more ways than one, both for me as a writer and hopefully for you as a reader 🙂

I am excited and look forward to writing this series of blogs on The ‘Epic’ Learning. As I visualise the chapters being written, I can see this unfolding like a book, with many a chapter :-). Some wishful visualisation!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂