The crane was inconsolable. After all, the event it had witnessed was traumatic, to say the least. It became difficult to narrate to Ram what had transpired. Like Jatayu, the crane was an eyewitness to Sita getting abducted by Ravan. It stammered and somehow managed to describe the event. The crane was sceptical about Ram trusting the narrative. To prove its point, the crane showed its feathers.
‘Sita cried her heart out when she was abducted in the flying chariot. Teardrops that fell on my black feathers turned themwhite,’ the crane explained.
Ram needed no proof. By now, he was aware of every detail of the unfortunate event. Ram regretted the price the crane paid in the ghastly episode.Before he embarked on the rescue mission, Ram blessed the crane with a boon that it would be free from work in the months of monsoon, when it’s difficult for the crane to hunt.
However, the boon failed to elate the crane. Surprised at the worried-looking crane, Ram asked, ‘You don’t seem pleased with the boon?’ The crane hesitated before it blurted out, ‘O Lord, somebody has to hunt for food. If I don’t work during these months,then the onus will be on my female partner.
I’ll be forced to survive on what she brings home. It would lead to I getting ridiculed in my society for surviving on my wife’s leftover food.’
Ram smiled reassuringly as he explained to the crane, ‘Remember this fundamental fact that we’re all equal. As Sita is my equal, all wives are their husband’s equal.
Not an iota less. So, where is the shame in living on the food they bring? Instead, isn’t it a matter of pride?’
The crane found Ram’s statements rather odd. After all, the society had conditioned its thinking in a certain manner.
It had never heard of such a concept. But no matter how radical the words might have been, mulling over them made the crane see value. With understanding dawning on the crane, it smiled and accepted the boon.
While a medieval storyteller could understand and acknowledge the eternal truth that both men and women are equal, wonder why the archaic, patriarchal mindset continues to remain prevalent in majority of ‘modern’ folks?
Let’s honestly accept this indisputable reality that all genders are equal and work towards changing the outmoded, lopsided and extremely erroneous equation.