Preamble for Abhydaya- Annual Management Fest of IFMR, Chennai

Abhyudaya- The Dawn of Wisdom

Gripped by the wrath of Kalinga’s disaster
A melancholic Ashoka remembered his master.
Into the dark woods he spurred his steed,
Crushing on its way every herb and weed.

Fresh human blood coated his armor,
His men had killed all, soldier to farmer.
Obnoxious questions filled his disquiet mind,
Had he left his humanity far behind?

If only he had thought before waging the battle,
Like a starved panther in a herd of cattle.
His mind plagued with sights of gory arrest,
He galloped on his horse through the ominous forest.

The trees finally gave way to a sunlit meadow,
As he halted his steed before the hermit’s ghetto.
When Ashoka dragged himself to the door of the hovel,
The hermit was tugging at a root with a broken shovel.

Looking up at the emperor the hermit sighed,
Ashoka fell to his feet and painfully cried.
“O Master I hath committed a sinful deed,
Plundered my values, manifested my greed.

Purge me, O father; purge me of my sin,
Relieve my conscience of this remorseful din.”
The sage lifted the raja with a gentle smile,
Wiped his tears and spoke for a while.

“Cheer up your highness today’s a glorious day,
After years of ignorance you’ve found your way.
A long night of prejudice comes to an end,
Your life stands on the verge of a sublime bend.

Abhyudaya it is called, the dawn of light,
A dawn of wisdom, of learning, of glory bright.
It is an Abhyudaya of realization in you life,
That puts an end to your incognizant strife.”

These words hence became Ashoka’s life and mission,
To adopt simplicity, and imbibe erudition.
The lifeline of existence, he had realized,
Was to be an Abhyudaya of wisdom in people’s lives.

Theme for Abhyudaya- The Annual Management Fest of IFMR, Chennai.

Abhyudaya-The Sunrise

Like a blazing comet through morbid space
A tragedy hit the mammoth empire
The heirless king lay breathless in bed
Not a cock crowed on the temple spire.

The palace gardens plagued with people
Stared at the throne in disbelief
Lifeless bodies, gruesome visages
Yet to accept tragedy’s grief.

“Mercy O- Heavens!” the empire plead
Shriveled faces, hands raised to the sky
Spare the king, our lord, our father
Was the woeful plea in each tearful eye.

No concoction, no weed, no potion
No leaf, no herb had worked
No mud…no root, no paste,
All medication his body shirked.

The court was mute, the ministers dumb
A blasphemic quiet suffused the limitless empire
No diagnosis cured the raja’s ailment
No prayer there was to make him respire.

Subjects mourned, villages cried
Was there nothing that could save the emperor fair?
Beyond the loss of the valiant monarch
Loomed the absence of a descendent heir.

It was a long night, moonless and gloomy
Of the sound of silence and pervading doubt
It was a sinister night of baleful suspicion
Not a fly knew what the dawn would sprout.

As the horizon turned crimson and the sky grew red
A footstep was heard in the emperor’s porch
The courtesans and doctors glanced at the doorway
They saw a sage and a kid with a flaming torch.

The kid draped in saffron walked up to the bed
Rubbed oil from the torch on the raja’s lips
The sage guarded the kid with a nonchalant smile
As the audience saw him administer the drips.

It was a strange night, a queer one indeed
The kid worked on the ruler amidst the mourning cries
As the first streak of sunlight entered the bedroom
The pale raja weakly fluttered his eyes.

The stupefied audience stared in disbelief
As the royal palace bathed in golden sunlight
The monarch had risen, from his bier
It was a sublime end to a satanic night.

“Your heir resurrects you,” muttered the hermit.
“The dead queen abandoned him a decade since.
He brings this morn into your life
Welcome Abhyudaya, the empire’s new prince.”

“It is the dawn of hope, dawn of light
To the rescue of doubt comes knowledge bright
From the chirping of birds to the smile of meadows
The sunrise rejuvenates every speck in sight.”

Having said this, the saffron hermit disappeared
Even today his last words pervade the empire’s air -
“Be an Abhyudaya of joy in people’s lives
Proliferate vitality, shun despair!”