What do I do with my Ravan?

When I asked a philosopher
‘What do I do with my Ravan?’ – the philosopher
Spoke familiar words
Dripping with familiar ideas
Reaching familiar ends
He told me to abandon the evil
Within and around
He also told me to celebrate
That day as the world celebrates Dushera.

Then I asked a politician
‘What do I do with my Ravan?’ and the politician
Folded his hands to do a namaste
Gave me a beatific smile
Looked up dreamily and asked me to
Vote for him
In the next elections too
Stay away from burning effigies
And happily watch Ravan burn on Dushera.

I looked at the paper-doll Ravan I was holding
Found the colours fascinating
And the ten heads simply too charming to
Burn and forget
So I pretended I was killing him
And then hid him out of sight
Hoping all the evil within and around
Would no longer trouble me –
I hope I take my Ravan out only once a year!

Arvind Passey
06 October 2011

A few shots of a symbolic killing of Ravan…

Sumiran doing a heath check-up of Ravan before he is killed symbolically!

Pavni telling us that Ravan can be harnessed as a strength too…

Power that becomes destructive needs to be identified and held captive

It is time to shut you up, Mr Ravan… you’ve hollered enough!

Slice the the evil within and around… mercilessly!

Aim with perfection and let evil times pass away noiselessly! (This does sound more environment friendly, doesn’t it?)

Evil can sometimes pretend to be tasty… eat it, gobble it… and let the acids battle with it!

Remember… evil is strength that doesn’t know where it is headed to…

Power goes to the head… and then it is time to bring it down…

Ravan can be anywhere… you will need to search for it with the eyes of your consciousness!

If left untethered, Ravan can slowly overwhelm your inner and outer being…

Recognize that Ravan is also wisdom gone haywire… and pull this mask off

Ravan knew intuitively that he would need to himself embrace thorns to get moksha… and he did!

We humans know we have the ability to silence any Ravan… within and around… however, we must also know that it has to be done again and again…