Ravi’s Rants

You may not have heard of Ekalavya.

Ekalavya, as remembered by ancient East-Indian mythology, was a poor boy from the jungle. His dream was to become the greatest archer in the world.

The only way to do that was to learn from Guru Drona, one of the great warriors of all times. Drona, who was the archery tutor of the royal family, of course wanted his favorite disciple, Prince Arjuna to become the greatest archer of all times.

When Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as his disciple, a disappointed-yet-undeterred Ekalavya went home, and went on to practice archery in front of a statue of Drona he built himself.

Years later, Drona and Arjuna run into a young boy in the forest, who is such an amazing archer that he is able to pierce the smallest of pebbles from thousands of yards away with his arrows. Troubled by Arjuna’s jealous anger over seeing someone so much better than he, Drona cunningly demands Ekalavya’s thumb from his right hand, as his “Guru Dakshina” (tutoring fees), for having used his statue and hence learning from him “indirectly”.

An unflinching Ekalavya cuts off his thumb without a second thought, and hands it to Drona, thus making history, while letting Arjuna regain the status of the “greatest archer ever”.

I, Ravi Jayagopal - am Ekalavya.

And my Guru Drona is from Texas – one of the greatest writers of all times, a brilliant marketer, a great philosopher, a wizard with words, known as the Wizard of Ads.

I dedicate this blog to my unwitting, involuntary Guru, who doesn’t have a clue that I have been secretly learning from his works for years now; that I have most of his books; that I have his statue built in my mind.

I just hope Roy H. Williams does not come to claim my thumb.