Oars of Straw

Straw turns into a doughty boat for Kangana Ranaut at the end of Queen, Bollywood’s latest coming-of-age saga. To be fair, the ingénue does not turn into sophisticate as much as an utterly adorable young woman unafraid of swimming against conformity.

“Can such a missy suffer from a shortage of shores (Kaise hoge kam kinare),” the lyricist asks, “when she herself is her own shoreline (Khud hi toh hai ham kinare)?” That’s when you pacify inner conflict and come to terms with your fears and dreams. That’s when you become your own guide: why should you ask others for directions?

We shall find some way through the waves here or there (Auron se kya/ Khud hi se poochh lenge rahein/ Yahin kahin, maujon mein hi/Dhoond lenge hum). This was also the essence of Buddha’s advice in his very last sermon, “Appo depah bhavah (Be a light unto yourself)!” The Master lay on his deathbed and Ananda, his closest attendant and disciple, sobbed inconsolably, “What is to become of me? I have yet to attain enlightenment,” he moaned.

“The world will become absolutely dark. You were the light and now you are going away… have mercy on us.” The Buddha opened his eyes and said, “Be a light unto yourself. Be a refuge unto yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge… hold fast to the Truth as a lamp and reach the highest refuge.”

The Master’s very last words (“All things must pass”) contained a perennial truth even as they served as an exhortation not to waste our time and life in futile sorrow and self-sabotage. This is what every princess has to discover to reach the Queen within.