"DINOSAURS, ONCE, RULED THE EARTH"

Pic.: Aparna Khanolkar Sheth

Two days ago, I had been to the Times Litfest, which was being held at Mehboob Studios, in Bandra. In one of the halls, two lady-authors were doing the reading from their newly-published books. When my wife and I walked in, the session was half-way through. We had not checked about names of the authors or their books before walking in. So, for quite a while, we sat there inside, clueless as to who they were!

Then, the clue happened! During the question-answer session, a middle-aged lady from the audience stood up to tell one of the authors how impressed and inspired she was by the unbelievable simplicity shown by the particular lady-author. “Your dad was our Prime Minister for a decade… Yet, I can’t believe one can be as simple as you are!”

“My God, she is Dr. Manmohan Singh’s daughter!”  Both my wife and I were now shaking our heads in pleasant disbelief, too…

Ms. Daman Singh, daughter of our two-term P.M., Dr. Manmohan Singh, was that lady-author doing the reading from ‘Strictly Personal’, the book by her on her parents!

Hands down, both my wife and I, too, were impressed and inspired… Suddenly, the session came to life, for us!

If one, ever, wanted to know what ‘being grounded in life’ meant, he or she had to see and hear Ms. Daman Singh… It was humbling, to say the least!

Mind you, I am not interested in any party politics when I make this statement, here.

Dr. Manmohan Singh doesn't rule us, anymore.  In recent times, he has been criticized and ridiculed more than he had been praised for his contribution for the economic growth of our country. But, his daughter’s simplicity was a clear testament:

“Look friends, the Sun will set on every empire! So, why walk around like a Princess? Yes, when  the King himself is unsure of his throne?”

My friend, Sushil Shankar, loved the emphasis I had laid, in my last two blog-posts, on the phrase – ‘Let’s not play God’… He wrote to me, today:

“Sir, there is a scene in Jurassic Park - part 1, where the Dinosaurs turn around and there is a banner which falls on the Dinos… It says, "Dinosaurs once ruled the earth". Somewhere I felt it’s a message for humans:  the powerful dinos got wiped out, without a trace; so, if we humans think we are powerful and start playing God, is there a possibility that humans can get wiped out without a trace? I don’t know… Nature can select and deselect anything and anyone, I suppose.”

On the surface, it may seem, that, Sushil was writing, here, in a different context…

But, frankly, I can see no difference, at all!

GERALD D’CUNHA