The Painting comes to life Once upon a time there was a rich man (let us call him B) He was interested in learning, philosophy etc but had become somewhat indulgent and effete over the years. His outward behavior seemed clownish (rather than boorish etc) though he did not mean to act that way. One day, he decided to take a ride in his car to a spot that was away from the city. He reached a spot which densely wooded with a temple in the far distance. There was also a tree near the pond. The driver told him that the pond had almost mythical dimensions and that it was very deep. The place seemed a sacred spot. B asked the driver to take the car back and come in the evening. He was alone contemplating the beauty of nature when suddenly, he was surrounded by some women in khaki shorts. They were physically strong and robust and attractive and of ages ranging from 30-50. It turned out that they were a mixed group consisting of forest guards / officers, some officers and constables and prisoners from the local prison a some revolutionary naxalites (who believed in the power of the gun to bring about change ) and the bodyguards of a young and upcoming idealistic politician. It turned out that they were all dissatisfied with the current setup and wanted to bring about change. As part of this exercise, they had joined a local NGO of which he was also part of (as he realized later). They had all parked their bikes some distance away and had been playing football when they saw B and decided to have some fun. They showed him a painting depicting almost the same scene except for a deer. It turned out that they had been given this as part of a psychometric test and had been asked to come up with a story. He had become excited seeing the presence of so many women and yet strangely tongue-tied. He managed to reply in a giggling fashion “It is the same scene like what we are seeing except there is no deer” They were all tipsy since they had had a few drinks. They found the answer so ridiculous that they decided to have some more fun. It turned out that they had full knowledge of all his love affairs since his youth and would not release him until he confessed about them all and which one he loved most. He said he could not really name any one person. They questioned his integrity at this point and he looked a bit crestfallen and replied sheepishly that he was reminded of Falstaff. One of the women Tonsured him and applied a substance that made him look like a deer with spots and all and put horns on his head (all with just 1 hand and leg) inspite of all his attempts at resisting. Desperately, he tried swinging his horns when one of rode him and trapped the horns and sawed them off leaving only the stumps. Some of them had a laser with which they could have cut open or vaporized the skin thus releasing him. It so happened that suddenly lightning struck and the stumps were enough to act as conductor and the liberated heat fused B to the deer skin thus confounding matters immensely. He was in tears and begged them to release him. At this point, they had also started feeling sorry for him but found it extremely difficult to do anything and were afraid of hurting him. Most of them (except one woman) who would stay behind with him decided to go to the police station and get help even at the risk of getting arrested. The lady who had stayed behind had a laser and uttered a few mantras while at the same time aiming the laser at the soft underbelly of the deer skin (the butt!) Miraculously, the deer skin was torn open and she could extract him. She also applied mehendi (henna) all over his body to cool him. She took him swimming. Then they lay on the grass. Both of them shed tears that spoke of all the 9 emotions (“navarasas” ) of classical Indian aesthetics. After that, she put his head on her lap. After a few hours, the rays of the setting sun opened their eyes. They realized that her colleagues had not yet returned. So they went to the nearest police station where they had all surrendered themselves and bailed them out. They decided to go to the site again. In sheer ecstasy, he gave a new interpretation of the painting. “The painting depicts that all of us have a secret / sacred space within our being where we have to nourish ourselves. The pool is our pool of consciousness with its stories , memories , histories, images etc and deep mysteries that speak of unknown dimensions of past and future. The tree symbolizes the organic growing nature of mind. The horns of the deer symbolize self-similarity (fractals etc). the spots of the deer not only speak of the phenomenon of pattern formation as outlined by theories of turing etc but also the idea that there can be a pattern in defects with a beauty all its own as evidenced by literature, history etc (within limits of course !!!). The temple symbolizes all that we hold sacred in our consciousness which we should nurture and take care of”. The stones on the path to the temple symbolize that failures are the stepping stone to progress” He also narrated the following poem : The mind tree, like a river Flowing underground through the subconscious, under a cracked earth, creates reflections Perceived by the mind’s I, Which, through its bird-eye and fish-eye of a mythical “meenagaruda” Populates the consciousness with infinite number of star like images, thoughts, memories, each individually beautiful and memorable , but also modulating and reflecting the others , like indra's net which pours through the crevices, cracks and singularities in the body and creating a magnificent , transcendental image in the heart , strange attractor of all thoughts, at once supremely divine and yet lovably humane, of a beautiful but angry goddess in the same mood, but more controlled and yet more sterner and more punishing and punitive than goddess kali , Smiting what seems like a humiliated buffalo demon but seems to metamorphosize Into a child or rather adolescent shiva. Each infusing consciousness in the other, Shiva for having hurt the goddess The goddess a curious expression of hurt with a ghost of a still to be born smile playing on her lips , Possibly the beginning of sympathy and even love and affection And thus the eternal dance of the heart, mind, body and soul, both individual (who are stardust) and cosmic, Continues…. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- The women were so delighted with his narration that they decided to make him a visionary and advisor in an organization (combination of corporate, semi-govt and NGO) that they were trying to set up on the lines of the kingdom of vijayanagar. He was also made the priest of the temple.