“Janaka told her to bring happiness into marriage, rather than seek happiness from it.” “Be the best you can be, in the worst of circumstances, even when no one is watching.” “What we possess is temporary, but what we become is permanent.” These and many such interesting lessons emerge from author, mythologist and leadership consultant Devdutt Pattanaik’s writings. His latest book The Girl Who Chose talks about the choices we make in life. The acclaimed author who has always been at the forefront of exploring and breaking paradigms, when it comes to looking at mythology in the country or for that matter management as well, retells the Ramayana in a friendly, easy to read manner.
The book highlights how women have always had choices. Even if they did not exercise any, it was a choice they made. The story told keeping in view Sita as a focal character gives a refreshing perspective, one which we have never been told earlier. When asked about what was the idea behind retelling the Ramayana, the author states, “I realised during a workshop that Sita makes five choices in the Valmiki Ramayana and that she never blames anyone for the consequences of her action. I found this very modern. I wondered why no one had highlighted it before. We are too conditioned to see Sita as a whimpering victim and that needed questioning.” It also brings forth a fundamental truth — every choice made has its consequence too.
Devdutt believes that myths of the world are maps of the human mind. They reveal how different cultures approach life and help us understand different societies. About his research for the book, he reveals, “It is all there in every retelling of the Ramayana. We just don’t see it because the story is not framed that way. That’s the best part.”
Sharing how he made the book relevant in the modern context, Devdutt adds, “Choice is not easy in any society — modern or pre-modern. It has consequences. Not all good. Dealing with it is always tough. Sita’s life serves as a good guide to be at peace with whatever life throws at us. Mythology has always intrigued me and what I like about it is that it reveals how humans think. We think no differently from people who lived hundreds of years ago.”
