Mahakumbh 29-32: Of confrontations & revelations: Parts 1 & 2

Mahakumbh 29-32: Of confrontations & revelations: Part 1

Folks,

I would like to begin by explaining, with apologies, not just why I am later than usual this Sunday, but also why I am not able to get the whole of my weekly post out today.

These days, I seem to have become a creaky assemblage of periodically non-functioning body parts😉. Keeping track of the healing of my knee is like watching the grass grow. Then, the middle finger of my left hand took it upon itself to embark on a close encounter of the very sharp kind with a newly honed kitchen knife. It is hard to type with a bandaged finger, on top of a stiff knee that makes me get up every 15 minutes and wander around before resuming, so I am going much slower than usual. But do please bear with me as I soldier on!

Part 1: The revelations: First, the revelations (for us, not for the characters), and the confrontations, in which all of us must have revelled, will come next. They were enough for a Take 10, and we can have a lot of fun ranking them!

-Shivanand's garuda chinna: I could have clobbered Utkarsh😉 for bowling this googly, after having the meticulous Greyerson assert to the Cardinal, so eager to collar and sequester at least one of the 7 rakshaks, that he had had Shivanand strip-searched, and had found no garuda chinna. Serves me right for depending on this inefficient chap! Plus, I had forgotten that Utkarsh can turn things upside down whenever he chooses to do so; that is the power of the cursor!

The muster roll of rakshaks: So as of now, we have Rudra as the primus inter parus, Shivanand, Charles and, I hear, Thappadiya Mai, who apparently has the sign on her ankle. I would like the Polish Kuba to be a rakshak too, because of the special connect between him and Shivanand, who saw the kid Rudra in him.

As for Katharine, that whole farcical scene with Charles and Thappadiya Mai seemed meant to demonstrate that she did not have the chinna on any part of her then extensively exposed anatomy. But of course some of it was still under cover😉, and then again, maybe she will do a Persis Khambatta (in the first Star Trek film) and show us the sign on her scalp a la Shivanand! But I think not.

Finally, at the risk of falling flat on my face again, I will venture the assessment that Daadi is not a rakshak either, as she is antagonistic to this whole research into the link between the garuda chinna and the amrit and the Saraswati Kund. And Maya, as she is now, seems unlikely rakshak material, for things happen to her, she does not make anything happen. And the only times her act is convincing is when she is having an asthma attack!

As for speculating about the size, shape, positioning and details of the various garuda chinnas shown so far, I am not even going down that road!😉

To revert, I must say that the bald pated Shivanand looks very menacing: grim, determined and rock hard, with deep set eyes that promise dire retribution to his enemies.

Even without the tonsuring, did you folks notice how clinically and economically violent Shivanand is, as compared to Rudra? He uses only the bare minimum of force, but it is lethal, silent, and speedy, like a commando killing. Watch him dispatch Greyerson's three henchmen before setting the whole house on fire . He does not pummel them or kick them or beat them to a pulp for pure psychological satisfaction. He twists the neck of the first with clinical efficiency and breaks it. He knocks the second one, the worst of the lot, senseless with a single blow and probably kills him by hurling him against the wall. He throws the third down the stairs and, as he steps across his recumbent body, places his foot on the man's cheek and presses sharply. Crick, and the neck is broken.

It is the same with Balivesh's goons at the haveli, though the killings there are more conventional and less commando style. But he despatches all of them, and does not leave anyone stunned but alive, like our 1970s film heroes, so that the chap can recover, sneak up on the hero and clobber him from the back! 😉

NB: What a very conveniently placed 5 litre container of petrol - not kerosene, which is not so easily inflammable -on the kitchen counter! What were those folks doing with petrol in the kitchen? Next, do Balivesh's goons have auto-adhere facial hair😉? Shivanand appropriates the first dead thug's beard and moustache as well as his clothes, and the beard and moustache look like they were pasted on his face with Fevikwik!

Shivanand is very strong, both physically - a moment more and he would have strangled Balivesh and crippled our tale!- and mentally, for otherwise he would never have survived those 24 years in Poland, and in such good shape to0. But he knows how to husband and use his strengths, and how not to waste them on blind fury. He is too spiritually evolved to need the satisfaction of pounding an enemy into a bloody pulp.

It is only when he is goaded beyond the limit by Balivesh, and almost kills him, that he even bares his teeth in anger. But even then, he does not snarl or rage, there is only the silent, relentless power in the fingers that are squeezing Balivesh's throat.

Rudra, on the other hand, being young, prone to wild anger, and less controlled, makes mincemeat of his opponents almost literally, whether after the basketball match at the BHU or anywhere else. He is surely going to send Animesh where he belongs in the same fashion. I must say I enjoy Rudra's dishum dishoom a lot!

- The finding of the second Book: Now this scene was perfect for a mytho-mystery tale.

Shivanand's surefooted (and barefoot! He is surely proof against both mosquitoes and rusty nails!😉) descent into the dry baudi , the quick, flashlit search into cobwebbed nooks in what looks like an underground treasure house of ancient books. The crude, unlettered Pandey and his equally thuggish saat saalas might have been unaware of the very existence of this library, for otherwise they would have sold the whole collection off as raddi!😉

Then, at last, the unhesitating approach to the grandfather clock, the plunging of a hand into its innards, and then, voila! Shivanand holds the Book in his hands. It is not even wrapped in thick cloth, but merely tied around with string.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why, after Shivanand, under the effect of the truth serum, mentioned the Gulabo Mehndi Shop to Greyerson as the location of the second Book, the latter did not have the place located on his own and then did not search it thoroughly himself for the Book.

Balivesh does not know, even now, why Greyerson wanted to go to the Gulabo Mehndi shop, for Greyerson, for all his apparent frankness of late, is still keeping that vital bit of information to himself. Balivesh thus mistakenly guesses that Greyerson wants to meet Pandey.

If Balivesh had known what lay hidden there, he would have taken the place apart at once. But as Shivanand tells Balivesh mockingly, the Alimighty gives shakti only to those who know how to use it, and as far as this Book goes, thank God that is so!

Lastly, how come Sahadev Malla, who has been defying the dengue mosquitoes underground in the same baudi for fully 24 years, has not stumbled on this library either?

-Daadi's intriguing tidbits: There were two very significant points that daadi makes to Rudra.

First, she tells Rudra that the Saraswati Kund had dried up before the 1989 attack by the 'Veshes on the Sri Sant Panth ashram. I had assumed that the drying up was after the attack, and because of it, but now it clearly preceded the attack. A very intriguing point, that.

Shubha felt, after relooking at the shot of the dried up Saraswati Kund , and the very next one of the burning house of the Brahma Nisht Panth family, and with reference to Daadi's comment "Shiva ki nadaaniyon ki vajah se (Saraswatikund) bhi sukh gaya aur sab kuch naash ho gaya" , that it looked a bit ambiguous.

But I do not think Daadi would attribute the vinaash of their whole family and Panth to Shivanand's naadaaniyan. For she thinks that the attack was due to the 'Veshes' enmity towards the Brahma Nisht Panth. Remember she says, Na jaane ki vishay ka badla le rahe the. She does not attribute it to the quest for the amrit, for she does not know about that link.

On the other hand, she does attribute the drying up of the Saraswati Kund to what she perceives as Shivanand's undue and sacrilegious meddling. Jo aastha sadiyon se chali aa rahi thi, use vigyan ki nazaron se bhedne ka paap kiya tere pita ne. Duniya ki nazaron mein aa gaya..

Note the unambiguous paap. Not a bhool, which can be forgiven, but a paap, for which there has to be retribution, ie the withdrawal of the divine blessing of the healing waters of the Saraswati Kund. The drying up can thus be understood only if it was a separate, and thus earlier event unrelated to the attack.

But why did it dry up? Was it a divine warning against Shivanand's calling undue attention to the link between the Saraswati Kund and the amrit?

Second, and even more potentially significant, she mentions that in the course of his researches on the links between the amrit, the Saraswati Kund, and the garuda chinna, Shivanand had been corresponding with several foreigners. Now these were clearly not part of the Cardinal's group, which means there might be a second, "good" group of foreigners involved with all this mystery of the Mahakumbh, who are seeking to bring the rakshaks to the Mahakumbh and brief them about their mission.,

-Katherine and her satphone pal Greyerson: This brings me to the enigma of Katharine, and her satellite phone pal Greyerson. It is clear that she is not part of Prof. Rao's group, even clandestinely, for he is spying on her. That leaves only

(a) that she is really an ally of Greyerson, or

(b) if she is a rakshak, as seems to be widely surmised, she is part of the aforesaid group of "good" foreigners, or

(c) A third option would be a combo of these two, that Katharine is a mole, or double agent, for the second, good group, pretending to work for Greyerson and the Cardinal.

One thing is for sure, she is not what she seems to be. We have to wait and watch.

-The swast Naanu: It is another matter that Devesh Naanu is himself a revelation, the slickest, most confident, most smoothly vicious villain so far seen in Mahakumbh, a maestro in his dark realm. He is fascinating, for pure, unapologetic, undiluted evil is as mesmerizing as a king cobra rearing its head ready to strike.

He is of course sick inside, and his heart, if we could cut it open, would be black and not red! Here, however, we are talking of his physical health, and he is clearly healthy, with his supposedly wounded hands are neat and free of any affliction.

But then why has he been skulking underground in that lair his for all of 24 years? And why has he been floating the false explanation that he is doing prayaschit for having failed to protect the Saraswati kund?

NB: It was noteworthy that while normally there are at least a couple of women in white, possibly poor widows, sitting on the floor in Naanu's room, who help out with the work, there was none of them there when he took off his bandages and revealed the truth to the suitably shocked Maya. I am sure he would never have done it in front of them. This apart, the whole Vesh clan discusses all their nefarious activities freely in front of their retainers, without a care in the world about likely leaks. Probably they are sure that fear closes mouths more surely than duct tape!

-Dark counterforce to the rakshaks: Though Greyerson insists that so far, their research has not revealed the existence of any force more powerful than the garuds or rakshaks, Naanu, chortling with barely suppressed glee, contradicts him bluntly. With a snide reference to Newton's third law of motion, he affirms that though the garuds are very powerful, there are other forces who can stand up to them, and that when these latter got going, they would create such mayhem that even the garuds would be weakened. There were those, like his Guru Maharaj, who could provide guidance in these matters. His Guru Maharaj had told him that when garudon ka sankat bad jai, hum unhein yaad kar sakte hain.

So Mahakumbh is clearly not going to be a mythic tale, like Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings, of small people, like Frodo the Hobbit and his supporters, triumphing over even the greatest evil thanks to sheer guts, doggedness and pureness of heart. It is going to be more of a clash of the titans, of good and of evil. And while they might not top the list of Mahakumbh's dark forces, Devesh Naanu and, to a lesser extent, Swami Balivesh too are clearly part of the aristocracy of evil.

Jab shishya hi aise hain, to unke Guru Maharaj kaise honge? The very thought boggles the mind! I am keeping my fingers crossed for him, and the other dark forces hinted at by Naanu, to be credible, genuinely scary and mythic, not caricatures like those that people other fantasies on TV, and I am pinning my faith on Utkarsh!

The Game Plans: While these are bound to keep changing, their current outlines, so far as they can be made out, seem to be as follows:

-Rudra: He wants to use Maya and her emotional dependence on him to burrow into the secrets of the Sri Santh Panth and of its karta dharta, Naanu and Balivesh. The best way to do this would be to marry her, and Rudra moves to implement this with clear-headed, unemotional ruthlessness, extending to a direct approach to Balivesh.

He has come round to believing Maimuyi's take on Maya, and to sharing her faith in Maya's goodness and loyalty, but he is, as of now, not in the least in love with her (he immediately untangles her arms from about him when she hugs him), and he has no qualms about using her for his own ends. I would not fault him in the least for this. All is fair in love and war, and this is war.

As for Rudra's constant harping on learning the full truth, this can only mean

(a) unearthing the secrets of his father's researches - where he has made a beginning thru Sahadev Malla (incidentally, how does Rudra suddenly drop into that underground area near Malla's hideout? His Daadi was telling him about some ghat, not about the Gulabi Mehndi Shop!) and

(b) digging out the link between this and what the Veshes want from him, Rudra, and why they are so keen to keep him with them in Prayag during the Mahakumbh.

Of course his immediate priorities would be to (a) locate his father and (b) tuck his daadi away in a safe house.

-Shivanand: As of now, he has a single point plan: to find Rudra. Then he will presumably try to get in touch with Malla, study the second Book, and then see how to (a) safeguard it and (b) proceed further re: the amrit.

Balivesh: Right now, to get Maya to ensure that Rudra stays with the Veshes in their haveli , and to this end, he openly threatens Maya that he would have Rudra killed if he leaves them. As for how he plans to use Rudra, there is no clue for us as yet, and I am not sure Balivesh knows that either! Perhaps, if Rudra will not co-operate with them, the threat would be switched to killing Maya, always presuming that Rudra would be shaken by such a threat.

Naanu: To use Greyerson and then ditch him at the last moment and collar all the amrit for himself. His lakshya being only swayam ke liye deerghaayu, I suspect he would not hesitate to jettison even Balivesh, should the need for this arise, to achieve this end.

Greyerson: The exact opposite of that of Naanu re: the amrit. As to whether his loyalty to the Cardinal is absolute, only time will tell!

Well, folks, I cannot do any more now, so it is au revoir till tomorrow, when I will try and post Part 2, about the confrontations, as early as I can! Relax, it will be much shorter than Part 1!😉😉

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Mahakumbh 29-32: Of confrontations & revelations: Part 2

Folks,

Ok, here we go with Part 2, about the verbal confrontations between practically every one of our main characters: Rudra-Balivesh, Naanu-Greyerson, Naanu-Maya (2 instalments), Shivanand-Balivesh, Rudra-Animesh (a bit of physical stuff thrown as a trailer for what lies ahead!) Balivesh-Greyerson in two bits & Balivesh-Maya, plus the interactions between Rudra-Daadi and Rudra-Maya.

I have rarely seen so much of scintillating, high voltage cut, thrust and parry in any other TV serial that I can remember, and these bouts of verbal one upmanship lit up the last week of Mahakumbh like fireworks during Deepavali.

Of course our dark characters, with Naanu up front and leaving the competition far behind, hogged most of the footage and the limelight, but both Rudra and Shivanand gave them a good run for their money! All in all, it was a wonderful display of what can happen when a finely honed script meets finely honed actors.

I am listing these scenes as per my own ranking, and of course yours might be somewhat, or even very different. But I am sure you would all be with me as far as the list itself goes!

1) Rudra-Balivesh: It was sustained, icy aggressiveness meeting quick-footed deviousness and pseudo-benevolence. Both were very effective, but Rudra clearly came out on top, in part because he controlled his anger, so clearly seething just under the surface, and did not let it take over and dilute the sense of dominating the exchange, of being in control, that he was clearly aiming at. And in part because he managed, by posing one pointed question after the other, to move Balivesh from his initial mocking stance - Brahma Nisht Panth ka chirag andhere mein?*- inch by inch, question by question, crowd him into a corner - yeh aastheen ka saanp yahin paala gaya tha -- and push him into defensiveness.

Rudra's eyes were level, questioning steadily and relentlessly but without heat - Aarop nahin, prashna tha- and there was a strange expression in them as he waited for the answers. Like a cat at a mousehole, hoping that the mouse would make a mistake and come out at the wrong time.

Not that Balivesh was going to cave in so easily. He held his own, and not a muscle in his face moved as he explained away the photographic evidence of his closeness to Pandey, as also the "co-incidence" of Maya running into Rudra in Banaras, which he attributed, without batting an eye, to divine intentions!

* There seems to have been much doubt across the forum as to why Balivesh assumes that Rudra knows all about the 2 Panths. Naanu, at his first meeting with Rudra, mentions the Saraswati Kund at the ashram of Rudra's grandfather, but he does not name the Panth. But Balivesh probably assumes that Maya must have told Rudra later about the Brahma Nisht Panth. ___________________________________________________________________________

2) Naanu-Greyerson: With Balivesh on the sidelines, like a much weaker tennis doubles partner, who merely looks on while his far stronger mate takes it all, game point, set point and match point, and finally the match.

More than what Naanu says, it is how he says it that makes a terrific impact. From the word go, he treats Greyerson as contemptuously as his boss the Cardinal used to do in Poland. After an opening sally about the need for him to have dheeraj aur vishwas in the Veshes, Naanu makes it amply clear that this meeting was taking place not because Greyerson wanted it, but because, after 24 years during which he, Naanu, had not felt any need for such a meeting, he now felt that it had become necessary, and so humne yeh bhent karvayaa.

When Greyerson renews his demand for Rudra, but this time not abruptly, like a command, as he had done a bit earlier with Balivesh, but with much placatory explanation, Naanu's response is savagely sarcastic. 24 saal mein aap baap ko nahin tod paaye, and now the son is even more shresth, use kaise todoge aap?

He then treats the bemused Greyerson to a mini-lecture - embellished with a Newtonian reference to show the videshi that the deshis too are savvy about such matters, thank you! - about the dark forces that he can gather to his aid, thanks to his Guru Maharaj. Forces which, he insists, can stand up to the garuds and even prevail over them. Greyerson, skeptical, immediately wants to meet this Darker than Dark Guru Maharaj, noting that the research of his group did not indicate the existence of any entity more powerful than the garuds.

Note that Naanu, who has no intention of letting Greyerson meet his Guru, or get his hands on Rudra till the Veshes have him tied up safe and sound under their control, adopts the classic tactic of Jim Hacker in Yes, Minister. His response, that if the research of the Polish group had been all that thorough, Greyerson would not now be with the Veshes at all, has nothing to do with Greyerson's request and in fact effectively derails it with casual contempt.

Naanu rounds off the rout of the videsh mehmaan at his hands by instructing Balivesh to take him away and brief him about the strength and achievements of the Vesh clan. The supplicant, which is how he makes Greyerson feel, has been dismissed from the Presence!😉😉

3)Naanu-Maya: Now this is a walkover, seeing that Maya is hardly any competition for the smooth menace and supple deviousness of Naanu. But it was very useful as a sort of thumbnail intro to Naanu's depths.

In fact he has no depths that can be plumbed, he is fathomless in his evil. He is like a smooth, coiled cobra, which never even hisses before it strikes to kill. Sandhya was comparing him to Voldemort's aide de camp in the Harry Potter series, the terrible giant snake Nagini. But apart from her shape-shifting abilities, Nagini, who just obeys her master's orders, is an innocent compared to our Naanu!

Naanu never expends unnecessary energy in shouting and scolding, or even raising his voice. In the first confrontation with Maya on Monday, he not only trumped his son by sensing Maya's presence behind the curtain, but also handled her hackneyed, 1980s film heroine style declaration that she would reveal their asliyat to all and sundry (I gritted my teeth audibly when she trotted that out , nullifying the brownie points I had just then given for not dropping that thali with a resounding clang! ) with admirable and telling aplomb. Without turning a hair or raising his voice, he challenged her to do all that and more, put his finger on her one vulnerable point, her having (unknowlingly) led to Maimuyi being murdered, and spiked her guns completely. Baap to aakhir baap hota hai! The coldness in his eyes as he looked after her was chilling.

The next time around, he uses the chess simile to make her realise that for him, in this game of power and the quest for deerghaayu (as I noted yesterday, only for swayam!) there is nothing that he will not do, including sacrificing his near and dear ones if need be. That it is his dimaag that he will use in this game, not his dil ( a non sequitur if ever there was one, for I am sure Naanu was never burdened with this troublesome appendage, a dil!😉)

He taunts her for her claim that she cannot play his kind of chaals. Chaal to tum chal chuki ho, jo humein jeet ke kareeb le aayi.. He knows that she is soft and cannot stand such pressure, and so he piles it on, magnifying her sense of guilt at having, indirectly and even if innocently, led Maimuyi to her death and thus become Rudra's sabse badi gunehgaar. Isiliye, uska sahara bhi tumhein hi banna hoga. .. Han kar do shaadi ke liye, isime sab ki bhalayi hai.

He is far more astute here than the bullying Balivesh, who, in a similar confrontation with a terrified Maya, openly threatens her that if she does not manage to hold Rudra in their haveli and he leaves, they will have him killed. Such fear might work for a while, but then will come a time when she will rebel and shed this fear. But guilt is a stronger and more lasting lever. In one as sensitive as Maya, guilt, even imaginary guilt, does not fade away. It will cling to her and will shape her conduct far more surely than fear.

Naanu knows this, which is what sets him apart from his sons, even Balivesh. He is a true Grey Eminence, of the timbre of the great ruling Cardinals of 17^th century France under the Sun King and his successors, Richelieu and Mazarin. But far, far darker.

4) Shivanand-Balivesh: This scene demonstrates how a man, hands bound and hemmed in by guards, can nonetheless dominate his arrogant, sneering opponent thru sheer mental superiority - Aaj bhi andhere mein rah rahe ho, Balivesh? - and later, nearly strangle him thru sheer physical superiority. I had written yesterday about Shivanand's self control - which is a by product of his spiritual evolution - even as Balivesh struts before him and taunts him about having been a prisoner for 24 years.Though it snaps in the end under extreme provocation, Shivanand does not rave and rant at Balivesh. He merely squeezes his throat. remorselessly and tenaciously, and nearly does him in, leaving him, after he has been rescued, shaken to the core.

Balivesh shows here that under the skin, he is more of Animesh's brother, sharing his penchant for crude, vicious taunting of an enemy, than Naanu's son. Naanu's villainy is silken and sophisticated, and he would never have boasted to Shivanand about his having burnt down their house, with his father and wife in it.

Now, the gang wants Shivanand to identify the second Book from among the lot they have spread out in front of him, and given this, what possible purpose could be served by Balivesh's thus goading him beyond endurance? Nothing. In fact, it leads directly to a disaster, for Shivanand's being left alone with his 3 guards, and his escaping, is a direct consequence of Balivesh's folly.

I think that there is something in the theory I read here in the forum that there must have been a history of boyhood animosity between Balivesh and Shivanand, which must,over time have deepened into active hatred. For Balivesh reacts to Shivanand with a visceral, personal hostility that cannot be explained any other way.

5) Rudra-Naanu: One of the precaps: Now no one knows, given the chaotic manner in which the Mahakumbh precaps are selected and shown, when this scene will actually materialize onscreen, but it was great fun to see Rudra letting Naanu have it with both barrels. He has evidently killed Animesh, is threatening Balivesh, and promising dire retribution, in the form of the total destruction of the Sri Santh Panth during the current Mahakumbh if (and this was pure herogiri!) Maya ko kharonch bhi aayo toh.. Attaboy, Rudra!! 👏

6)Rudra-Animesh: Animesh here is as crude as can be, which is not surprising given his nature, and as wantonly, and foolishly, vicious. He is vile in a stupid and clumsy fashion, and so he reveals to Rudra something that his elder brother and his father would have wanted kept under wraps till the endgame.

To wit, that it was the Veshes who had set fire to Rudra's childhoon home and burnt his family alive (as Animesh believes).

Rudra, whose paara has been rising steadily and visibly ( a reversion to his excessive depiction of fury that had been given up of late, and one which I hope will not recur), slaps him so hard that his head reels, and I am sure this coming week, Animesh will be sent express delivery to Hell by Rudra, using more of the same.

I wonder if Naanu would mourn this doltish son of his, or if he would count his death as good riddance. For he must know that Animesh is the weakest link in their family chain, and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And for Naanu, it is the chain that matters!

7)Balivesh-Greyerson: This was in two snippets. The first, which led up to Naanu's interaction with Greyerson, was devoted to an exchange of complaints, and ended with Greyerson's shrill demand for Rudra.

In the second, Balivesh was fawning all over his videshi mehmaan, and showing off the special tent that had been set up for him. And when the disastrous news about what Shivanand had done to his guards and to the house where he had been kept captive reached Greyerson, he launched into insistent and abrasive demands that Shivanand be found immediately. Here too, Balivesh, promising instant and effective action, seemed eager to placate the frantic Greyerson.

Overall, this only highlighted the difference between Balivesh and his father as far as instinctive authority and the ability to dominate a situation, or an interlocutor, goes. Naanu does not feel in the least inferior to Greyerson, he is sure of himself and can impress that confidence on whomever he is facing. Balivesh can dominate only when he has a very strong hand (of cards), as when he forced Greyerson to come clean about the real goal he was pursuing. Otherwise, he is eager to please. Naanu would never bend no matter how weak his hand might be, but would bluff his way thru by sheer force of personality.

8)Balivesh-Maya: This was slick and well done as far as the lines and the optics went, and was again a no contest, seeing that Maya was beaten, scared, and as limp as a wet rag. So Balivesh could strut his stuff, tell Maya exactly how she should win over Rudra, issue crude threats that Rudra would be killed if she could not hold him in their haveli, and depart with a last, ominous remark: Vaansh ka khoon vaansh ke hi kaam aaye to achcha hai.

But as far as the ultimate effectiveness went, Naanu won hands down in his second confrontation with Maya, as discussed above.

Now for the interactions, as distinct from the above confrontations.

9)Rudra-Daadi: Tu bilkul Shiva ke jaisa hai, par waisa bikul bhi nahin...

Thus might the Oracle of Delphi have spoken. Daadi is no slouch when it comes to such sybilline pronouncements, and here, as it happens, it seems in good part to be wishful thinking. For she wants Rudra to be different from his father in his approach to the family tradition of using the healing powers of the Saraswati Kund to serve the sick and needy.

She had disapproved strongly, as I had discussed yesterday, of Shiva dissecting these holy mysteries thru the use of science, and now she wants Rudra to stay away from this quest. Tum us garud ka rahasya (ke baare mein) na poocho to behatar hoga.. Jo bhi satya hai, in saari ghatnaon ke peeche inhin rahasyon ha haath hai....

Later, at their second meeting, she asks him to carry forward the tradition of his ancestors: Apne purkhon ki seva dharm ko phir se aage badhana hai.

But Rudra is a like a bulldog and he will not let go of what he wants: to unearth the whole truth, find his Baba and also learn why he was brought to Prayag from Banaras, and that too by those who had destroyed his whole family. And not even his beloved Daadi can bend him from his chosen path.

In the passage where Rudra tells Daadi about his life with Udiya Baba and Maimuyi, jo maa se bhi badkar thi, his face works and twitches with the memory of loss and the resurgence of suppressed grief. Daadi puts a gentle hand to his cheek and seeks to console him: Jab koyi jaata hai, to kisi naye ke aane ki tayyari hoti hai.. Brave words, but no one, not even Daadi or his real mother, can fill the chasm in Rudra's inner being left by the loss of Maimuyi.

10)Rudra-Maya: There is very little that one can make of this, except that Rudra, as discussed yesterday, has now come to believe in Maya's goodness, her sincerity, and her love for him. But this does not make him at all romantically inclined towards her - he does not even put up with her hugging him - nor will he let her influence him in the slightest, and he bluntly turns down her plea that they elope and start life afresh elsewhere.

He sees her, as of now, solely as a means to an end - of penetrating and destroying the Sri Santh Panth - and if that goal can be advanced by his marrying her, why then he is more than ready for it. But as shown in a precap during the week, he will not tolerate the Veshes hurting Maya in any way either.

This is caring, and over time, caring can turn into love. It is to be seen if his eventual love for Maya will be one of Rudra's strengths, or a weakness that hampers him in his true mission, of protecting the amrit from the dark forces.

Folks, I am exhausted, and will now shut up shop for the day, something that I am sure you will all welcome!😉 I will be back tomorrow to try and answer all those kind and interesting comments that some of you have posted about Part 1, as also the others that might come in about Part 2. A demain, or kal milte hain!

Shyamala B.Cowsik

oh God! speedy recovery dear Shyamala, we'll read this part carefully waiting for the second, thank you for making effort to write this week too. in contact very sooon

-Shivanand's garuda chinna: I could have clobbered Utkarsh😉 for bowling this googly, after having the meticulous Greyerson assert to the Cardinal, so eager to collar and sequester at least one of the 7 rakshaks, that he had had Shivnand strip-searched, and had found no garuda chinna. Serve me right for depending on this inefficient chap! Plus, I had forgotten that Utkarsh can turn things upside down whenever he chooses to do so; that is the power of the cursor!

As for speculating about the size, shape, positioning and details of the various garuda chinnas shown so far, I am not even going down that road!😉

Rudra, on the other hand, being young, prone to wild anger, and less controlled, makes mincemeat of his opponents almost literally, whether after the basketball match at the BHU or anywhere else. He is surely going to send Animesh where he belongs in the same fashion. I must say I enjoy Rudra's dishum dishoom a lot!

Shivanand's surefooted (and barefoot! He is surely proof against both mosquitoes and rusty nails!😉) descent into the dry baudi , the quick, flashlit search into cobwebbed nooks in what looks like an underground treasure house of ancient books. T he crude, unlettered Pandey and his equally thuggish saat saalas might have been unaware of the very existence of this library, for otherwise they would have sold the whole collection off as raddi!😉

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why, after Shivanand, under the effect of the truth serum, mentioned the Gulabo Mehndi Shop to Greyerson as the location of the second Book, the latter did not have the place located on his own and then did not search it thoroughly himself for the Book.

But why did it dry up? Was it a divine warning against Shivanand's calling undue attention to the link between the Saraswati Kund and the amrit?

He looks like an incarnation of Nagini.😲 Even Balivesh looks less evil in comparison. His face reveals his surprise, confusion, shock and anger. But Naanu is unscrupulous viciousness personified.

Shyamala ji,

Super read. Thank you for untangling the emotions shown . Have a house heavily loaded with guest.Will come back to enjoy your post AGAIN tomorrow..

Lovely take Shymala...

^ Awesome take on Mahakumbh last week episodes by u, Shyamala Di! 👏

Shyamala, the post was worth waiting for, Once again you delve deep into the episode and bring out a lot of clarifications and questions too.

Grerson is a class idiot, and poor man is like a fish out of water in the Mahakumbh, not that he was any smarter on his home turf, as you pointed out, he had a rakshak in his hold for 24 years but did not even know that...

poor poor Maya, she is the little girl lost in this show where all women are strong!!!

Do take care and get well soon. Look forward to Confrontations and Revelations Part 2