Even this guy has a cell phone! (in the left basket)

Posted on by

2 baskets.jpg

Swami, as he is described, is on an epic mission – he is carrying his aged, blind mother, Kethakdevi, on his shoulders on an all-India pilgrimage.

The loving son carries two baskets on his shoulders, balanced by a wooden bar … In one, his mother, in the other his meagre belongings.

His spartan possessions include a stove and pots, a couple of rugs, some clothes, a gold-plate wristwatch and a mobile phone. [via the BBC]

“Oh hi. How are you? No, I’m not busy, just out for a stroll with my mother. You know, same old same old. Yeah, she can be a huge pain in the back sometimes, but she’s my mom and I love her. So when she said, carry me all over India, I said, why not, I’m not doing anything until 2013 anyway. But … it’s boring sometimes. And mom doesn’t talk much. So I’m really glad I’ve got unlimited night and weekend minutes on this plan. Enough about me though. What did you do this weekend, anyway?”

2 thoughts on “Even this guy has a cell phone! (in the left basket)”

  1. This is actually straight out of the Ramayana:

    Sravana Kumar, in Hindu mythology is a boy who stands as a symbol of dedication to one’s parents. Sravana was born to a blind couple, quite advanced in age… He carried the aged couple, on two pans of a balance, supported on his shoulder. Once, when while passing through a jungle, his parents had asked him to fetch water to quench their thirst. When he was collecting water in his pitcher, king Dasaratha who was on a hunting expedition, mistook the sound for a deer drinking water, and shot an arrow at the direction instantly pinning him to the ground… Sravana was inconsolable at the thought that they will be left without anybody to protect them. He requests the King to carry the water to his parents, as his dying wish. The old couple drink the water, not knowing that it is not being offered by their son. The king hesitantly, narrates the incident to them, who are mortally shocked. The old father curses the king in grief, that he would one day suffer Putrasoka (the grief of separation from one’s progeny) just like they suffered at the moment.

    That curse leads to Arjuna’s exile…

  2. I can understand that. Sometimes I want to banish everybody with a cellphone as well … (Vedic technology was really really advanced — planes, atomic bombs and cellphones. Wow)