Ravana lost as he never had a Samsung Tab

Samsung-Galaxy-Tablet-750

No, King Dasharatha wasn’t really tech-savvy but he wanted his sons to be well-versed with the tech-arts of the day. He had made sure that they learn all the relevant martial arts, imbibe the pathways prescribed in the religious texts, and be strong in body and mind. He himself was a rather like a proactive CEO of today and could go on with the daily routine of managing a kingdom without getting ruffled.

But that day was to be different. The winds howled, dark clouds gathered over the palace in Ayodhaya as Kaikeyi, one of his queens, began her rant… but just then there was a flash and Indra, the Lord of the Gods stood there with his eyes blazing.

‘What you are about to do is going to be quoted by history forever,’ he told Kaikeyi, ‘but before you say what you want to say, I have a test for you.’

Kaikeyi remained silent. ‘Your will shall be obeyed,’ answered Dasharatha without looking up.

‘I am sending your kingdom into the 21^st century… and I want you to live there for 14 days reliving all important events that will happen here in the next 14 years,’ and saying so he looked meaningfully at the wily queen before continuing, ‘I need to know the details of a new machine that people there now have.’

Indra also ordered a shower over the city and everyone was asked to drink this rain water as it was no ordinary rain. This was laced with a divine formula that automatically but temporarily filled their minds with 21^st century terminology, language, and knowledge!

He was gone just as suddenly and the king noticed that they were no longer in their palace but in a much smaller house that the residents called a MIG Flat. This was in a place called Ayodhaya Nagar in Delhi. He also saw a large box appear in a corner with a note saying: “Give one Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 to each of your family members. Important courtiers and citizen are already given one.”

Thus Lord Rama held this miracle of the 21^st century in his hands and sagaciously quoted from the Upanishads: ‘Tell the truth and live righteously.’

Shatrughana being the youngest and the sharpest at understanding and decoding mysteries took not more than one hour to come back and announce to his tech-struggling family: ‘This is a tablet and it has almost everything we need to survive. We can make notes, listen to music, talk to each other even when far away, find information about things we know nothing of, and even read books!’ he paused for a while as if trying to recollect any fact he may have forgotten to mention and exclaimed, ‘Yes, we can also take photographs and make videos.’

They were soon busy exploring the various facets of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 when Dasharatha announced: ‘I am hungry.’

Rama: ‘Yes Pa, I’ll order some pizzas from the corner shop. You know I can do this on my tab here.’ He swiftly did some net transaction, looked up with a smile and said, ‘The pizzas will be here in 15 minutes.’ He then got up to explain a few other interesting features that he had by then stumbled upon. ‘You can listen to songs, read an e-book, chat with known and unknown people through google talk, surf the internet for information that no one has ever bothered to teach you about,’ he paused to ensure that what he said was grasped, and then continued, ‘this tab is unique as it is supported by Split View which would make an addition to system bar. It places an up-arrow in the middle. Tapping on it opens a dock of six applications—Task manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen memo, Calculator, Music player. These mini apps can be run over any applications without stopping them. This is what we call True MultiTasking.’ Saying this Rama looked around with a victorious smile. In his heart he knew he had found a winner as he could now adapt this ability to monitor eternally both Heaven and Hell even as he went about his duties on earth as a mortal!

Now this team from Ayodhaya was warming up to the tech beauty of this marvel!

Sita excitedly said: ‘I can set up a waking alarm, never be lost about what time of the day or night it is, and also get the right weather report to help me decide the best time for making pakodas!’ Lakshamana jumped in saying that he will be able to play his favourite songs while watching a video to help him tone up his abs! he also added that he loved the camera facility and it’s portable high quality 10.1” 149 ppi screen. Even their father sagaciously remarked: ‘Twitter gives me the latest news sometimes even before the print press catches it. And anyway, I can read the complete newspaper too as the online version is almost like its print counterpart.’

They all agreed that this Tab that weighed a mere 565 gm was indeed the Android marvel that would’ve been welcome in the past too!

Dasharatha then googled for Ramayana and read out this passage with a fair degree of pride filling his heart: “…the Ramayana (the Itihasa), provides the sanction for Ramayana (the Dharma shastra), and the Adikavya provides the canvas for projecting the Dharma shastra. Of the three aspects, it is the Dharma shastra that stands out. Valmiki depicts Rama as the embodiment of Dharma – Ramo vigrahavan Dharmah. Dharma is often portrayed as an ox. “Vrisho hi Bhagavan Dharmah.” Siva rides on that bull. It has four feet – Tapas, Saucha, Daya and Satya i.e., austerity, chastity, charity and honesty. Valmiki depicts his hero as perfect in all the feet of Dharma.”

It was later during the day that Kaikeyi reminded Dasharatha of his word of honour at the time of their wedding that her son would be Dasaratha’s successor to the throne. This was a top secret conversation taking place in modern times but unknown to them Lakshamana was recording it all on his Tab! He found this feature full of adventure as he loved the tenets of espionage and real wars. No, he never told Rama about this but he knew that his elder brother knew what was going to happen and why. However, Lakshamana wasn’t bothered about this facet of history any more the moment he stepped out of their humble Flat to explore the city of Delhi.

The two brothers along with Sita went out in search for Shakti Sthala. The google maps on their Tab said that they had a long distance to walk and that they also had to cross the treacherous ridge which was famed for a lot of criminal activity… and a crime is exactly what happened there. Sita was kidnapped by the notorious Ravana gang here at the top of the ridge.

Rama had gone in search of the elusive light that flashed by and Sita wanted to see what it really was. This was actually the glint of the headlamp of one of the motor bikes belonging to the Ravana gang. This gang travelled on bikes and were ten in number. They wore Tees with ‘RAVANA’ painted in large letters and as they created a ruckus wherever they vroomed to, they came to be known as the Ravana Gang! Their leader had noticed Sita and had, that instant, decided to kidnap her… and to his glee, Rama was foolish enough to go in search of a mere glint! All he did was to shout out Lakshamana’s name through his voice modifier to lure that brother too to go deeper into the forest on the ridge… and he could see that Sita was now ready to be pounced upon! However, before leaving her there, Lakshamana had very intelligently placed a camera focussed on where Sita was and had handed the remote to her. As she was being kidnapped, Sita simply pressed the remote a few times… and later it was Rama’s Samsung Tab that came to her rescue. This was the magic of honeycomb! It could import photos directly from the camera and into the tablet. He was able to do this right there without delay! And then he muttered: ‘Wow! This is indeed a wonder of modern day!’

He had identified the culprit but how on earth could he find where this gang went to… or where the gang had taken Sita to? He sat thinking when Lakshamana again came to his rescue by suggesting that he waste no more time in thinking and helped him write emails asking his monkey friends for help.

Rama started typing but this wasn’t at all like using a bow and arrow. Fortunately, it was then that he got a skype call from his father who being informed of his dilemma, advised him to use Swype as this was a fast way of writing on touchscreens! He told Rama that instead of hitting each letter individually (which can be an annoyance sometimes), a person need just swipe a finger across the virtual keyboard without lifting it from the screen and write 50 words a minute! ‘The software uses unique algorithms and a word-matching search engine and database to detect words in your finger’s path,’ Dasharatha informed helpfully.

This was how Hanuman and his entire Tab-literate monkey force was contacted and their assistance assured… and they spread all over Delhi and in no time emailed him a detailed map of Sita’s whereabouts. Samsung Tab made even monkeys behave, so to say!

Sita had been taken to a place beyond the frothing water body to a monstrosity built with stone slabs in the distant Noida! The monkey reports called this place Lanka though strangely it seemed to have a lot of elephant sculptures spread all over. Yes, it did seem to be the abode of a powerful entity and Rama was a bit perturbed. It was only when he got vital communication that Sita laboriously created on the Polaris office application on her Tab that he breathed easy again. He knew Polaris lets you view and edit various types of file formats like Powerpoint Presentations, Word or Excel files. Rama was able to see important details of Lanka on the PPTs that Sita mailed to him. Thus Sita was able to handle all this info as Polaris has a huge clipboard memory which allows one to store upto 20 text and images for a better editing experience!

In their hurry to reach the elephant-adorned abode of the Ravana gang, they had all left their Tabs back on the ridge and only Hanuman’s machine was there to help them. There wasn’t much time to lose and there were a lot of pictures, strategic inputs, vital texts to be read and analysed. At the same time, Hanuman wanted to do some browsing for the best maps, Lakshamana wanted to email for support and a few monkeys wanted to practice their shooting skills on the games included. Samsung’s Touchwiz UX provided an interface giving them numerous options to customize their home screen to place all important shortcuts using Live Panel in addition to using various mini apps over the applications already running giving a rich user experience. What mattered was that the Samsung Tab with them was able to lift itself beyond the pressures of such intense multitasking and help all of them achieve their targets.

There is an interesting incident where Rama discovers yet another facet of the Samsung Tab with him. It is well known that all except Hanuman were against welcoming Vibhishana, a Rakshasa and a brother of Ravana. After hearing all, Rama said to Sugriva: “O Sugriva, fetch him, I have given him refuge, be he Vibhishana or even Ravana himself. Once one takes refuge in me, him I protect from all beings, that is my vow.” He not only accepted Vibhishana, but was also ready to welcome his arch enemy Ravana himself. This is Rama. We all know this story but what we do not know is that Rama himself learned this art of acceptance from the way in which his Tab managed to accommodate all sorts of demands and still move ahead with aplomb!

The war between Rama and Ravana was interesting. Ravana was, as informed before, a gang of ten well-educated ruffians who wanted to have their way… always. So they rode on their bikes creating a nuisance for all other commuters at all times. No one really liked them but no one could really fight them. This was, Rama concluded, a major sore issue of the 21st century! As his war strategy, Rama had emailed his monkey force to surreptitiously fit brake-jammers on the gang’s bikes and had them connected to a remote switch on the internet.

As this mighty force of biking Ravana confidently chugged forward, Rama started activating the remote switches one by one… and this was quite simple as the Samsung Tab with him had flawless connectivity which could never have failed anyone! As the bikers dropped by one after the other, the heinous laughter of Ravana got dimmer and dimmer until the main biker too stopped dead barely metres from where Rama stood!
Seeing the great Ravana so humbled, the crowds applauded. Let me inform you here that Lakshamana has recorded the entire war on his Tab.

Thus the war between Rama and Ravana was fought ferociously. Rama finally addressed Ravana: “You have done mighty deeds in your lifetime. Many a doughty warrior has been vanquished by the strength of your ability to create a gang and act with such a focus. But today you are exhausted. You have no conveyance or aims. Go home, rest well and be a better man. You have no other alternative.” Ravana bowed his head and entered his new avatar of a wise man.

Rama then tweeted a few important observations and even put them up as his status on Facebook:
“Enmity ends and my purpose has been served. He is related to me as he is to you.”
“Let us all be good men. Let us be as multitasking and as effectively connected as this Tab in my hands!”
“Each day brings with it a new technological marvel and we need to choose the best to be victorious.”
“Ravana needs to know that mere education is not enough. What we also need is the humility to serve our fellow-beings well.”

Rama then smiled to himself and prepared his report that he intended to hand over to Lord Indra later before being transported back to the original Ayodhaya. He did not tweet nor updated on Facebook nor included in his report even a word of his personal observation that Ravana lost mainly because he never had the superior backing of this miracle called a Samsung Tab with him. This was the reason why he was always a few steps behind the strategically planned manoeuvres of Rama and his friends.

‘Some secrets,’ he whispered to Sita, ‘had better remain with the Gods.’ It is only through this blog upload, that I have today decided to let you mortals know the real story – you decide what is true and what is not! It is up to us to remember the strategic importance of the new Samsung Galaxy tab 750.

…and I am really unable to resist the temptation to write that if Duryodhana had this machine, the Pandavas would have had a tough time living incognito for their one year of exile! But that is a different tale in different times.

Lord Rama with his Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 Product Specifications

Arvind Passey
12 September 2011