This lock-down, shutdown, shut-off, staying away, staying put, isolation, or the Quarantine-state-of-being, is beginning to make me feel the symptoms of quarantine-itis, isolated, shut off, shut down, separation anxiety-driven, Q-fatigued, and altogether not with it, and downright out of it.
This doldrums led me to pondering about the Universe and its underpinnings, which many have strongly advised me not to do, but I did it anyway. 😉
And I stumbled upon an existential question. Please allow me to pose it to you.
If you were born in the Indian subcontinent, and did at least part of your schooling there, you would know this:
That the Great Sage Valmiki wrote the great epic Ramayanam, in the icy elevation of the Himalayan ranges, high over the beautiful Kashmir Valley, in 1500 BC, at the peak of the flourishing epoch of the Indus Valley Civilization.
The volume is very long. (‘where were you all this time? reading Ramayanam?’ you may have heard echoes of this.)
It is written in Sanskrit. My own positing, based on zero empirical data, is that Valmiki may have been a Kashmiri Pundit. 🙂
Now, Kashmir is up in the very northern sphere of the Subcontinent. Without going into reciting the whole Puranam, let me get right to the heart of my question.
Ok, Sri Ram, the central character in the Vedam, was in exile in the forest. Long story in and of itself.
Sita, His beautiful wife, who was the ‘colour of gold’ according to a poem I had to memorize in elementary (swarna varnathe poonda mythili manohari), was literally kidnapped, possibly because of her ethereal beauty, by the great giant of a king, Ravanan of Lanka.
(Sita took a ‘step out of line’ against strict orders not to, crossed the ‘Lakshmana Rekha’, ‘took a bite out of the apple’ so to speak, another long story in the making).
And she was transported to Lanka where Ravanan reigned supreme.
I’m sure you’re still with me.
So now Ram, who missed his wife beyond measure, devised a plan to rescue Sita from the clutches of the evil one, and safely bring her back.
This he would do, with the help of his favorite companion, Hanuman, the monkey God.
So the only thorniness to all this is, there is this ocean sitting between the two lands.
So Ram and Hanuman, with the help of the mighty chipmunk, (yes, even this small critter’s contribution was notably validated by his Master, Sri Ram), set out to build a Causeway between the southeastern-most point of India and the western-most part of Lanka.
So far, so good.
That ‘tip’ or point is today known as Ram-eshwaram, which is located in the Tamil Nadu State of India.
This is where the intrigue starts.
My question: how did Valmiki, who is doing ‘Thapas’,(retreating from worldly affairs), up in the North, way up in the high ranges of the Himalayas, 1500 miles from Kanyakumari, or,
Ram, whose kingdom extended in and beyond Ayodhya, again in the Northern Indian State of Uttar Pradesh,
know back in 1500 BC,
that the shortest point between these two terminuses would be Rameshwaram, which is jutting out into the Indian Ocean?
Did they have GPS? Compass? Google Maps? Telescope? AAA atlas? 😊
Please conjure up and send me your answer. It can be Earthly or Otherworldly or Vedic.
I’ll compile them into anther follow-up blog (don’t sigh!) without, of course, revealing my ‘sources’.
The one giving my favourite answer would get a palaharam from me.
There will be no incorrect answers.
Stay distanced, masked, safe, well, happy, and above all in a Supreme God’s care…
Mercy
mercy's musings 
As much as I would like a palahaaram, I do not have any suggestion to satisfy the demand of your very intruiging existential question. However, I couldn’t help but notice that you are a malayalee, and that too a believer. What also spurred me to leave a response was your literary proficiency. Not only are you an engaging author, but just from a quick glance it seems you have been consistently churning out quality content for years.
I just wanted to commend you, though I’m sure you are told repeatedly, on your linguistic ability, the pride you have in your keralan heritage and your unashamed passion for God.
Glen,
Needless to say it out loud, your letter gave me a huge lift. I don’t know how to say it without blowing my own horn, but yes, I’ve been commented upon on my writing. I’ve loved reading and writing from a very young age. it’s a long story, one unto itself. I’ll blog about it some day.
In the meantime, how did you come across my post?
Cheeran is a Kerala name, Thrissur, if I’m thinking correct. Are You in Kerala right now, or abroad as in the US?
I’m from Central Travancore, Kattanam, to be precise, near Kayamkulam. But my husband and I have resided in Boston for, well, a long time.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to add you to my email list.
Before I let it slip, your letter itself had a certain lit quality. So the complement is more.
We were raveling when I came upon your response, which caused this delay.
Best..
Mercy
Very grateful to hear back from you. Apologies if I overstep, but my reticent nature would be displeased if I continued a personal conversation on a public platform. I write this assuming you will receive this email to a private inbox.
Please, there’s no need to feign humility. Your writing is worthy of commendation so it’s no arrogance to accept awareness of your God-given ability.
I stumbled upon your blog page rather randomly. Wanting to establish who wrote the song “Mahal sneham mahal sneham”, google presented one of your posts (a tribute to your father) as a matching search result. Having read the post I was firstly impressed by your penmanship, and secondly intruiged by your background and heritage.
You are right in stating that Cheeran is a Keralan name. One which I am proud to own, in light of the legacy left by the patriarchs of my family. Unfortunately and ashamedly, I am not all too well versed in the distant history of my family to deny or affirm your speculation about Thrissur. We could have migrated from Thrissur many generations prior, although I can tell you with certainty that home for the past 3 generations has been the land of rolling hills and emerald forests, namely, Wayanad.
I don’t live in India, however. Nor have I ever set foot in America, although I hope one day I might. I live in one of the only remaining kingdoms in the world. I suppose that is sufficient information for you to guess where that may be. Would be a delight to be added to your mailing list. And thank you for your comment, I am no writer but I certainly have an admiration for literary art.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Kindly, Glen