An EpicKatha for Janmashtami
The front door opened with a bang.
Sid marched in, threw his school bag on the sofa and kicked off his shoes with enough force to send one of them skidding under the centre table.
Ananya looked up from the book she was reading.
“What happened? You look really calm and composed?,” she chuckled as she asked.
“Haha, very funny,” said Sid angrily.
“So something did happen,” Ananya teased.
“Nothing happened,” said Sid and sighed.
Ananya just kept quiet and looked at Tatha.
From his armchair, Tatha lowered his newspaper just enough to look over it. Sid ignored both of them and headed towards the kitchen.
“I’m hungry,” said Sid, immediately changing direction.
Tatha watched him disappear into the kitchen.
“Stress eating already? Then it must be serious,” said Tatha exchanging glances with Ananya.
A few minutes later, Sid reappeared with a dosa rolled up in his hand.
Ananya was waiting. “Well?”
Sid sighed and said, “It’s the Inter-School Innovation Challenge. We are competing with Orion International!”
Ananya whistled, “Woah. No wonder.”
Everyone knew Orion. They had won the competition three years in a row. Their students seemed to build robots for fun, code things before breakfast and make science projects that looked as if they belonged at ISRO.
“One of their boys came up to us during lunch today,” Sid continued, “and said, don’t worry, you’ll still get participation certificates.”
“Ouch,” said Ananya.
“So Arjun and I got into a fight with them, said Sid.”
“A fight-fight?” asked Tatha.
“No! An argument,”clarified Sid.
“And now?,” asked Tatha.
“Now nothing. They’re going to win anyway. Half their team has been doing robotics since primary school. One boy’s dad actually builds software or satellites or something,” said Sid, dejected.
“Those are quite different occupations,” said Tatha.
“Whatever. The point is they have everything,” Sid exclaimed.
“And you have nothing?” asked Tatha.
Sid counted on his fingers and said, “Two motors that keep overheating, one sensor that behaves according to its own mood, cardboard, Arjun…”
He paused. “…and Neel, who left our circuit in the science lab.”
Tatha nodded gravely, “A formidable team.”
Ananya giggled. Sid glared at her.
“I’m serious. Sometimes you can tell who is going to win just by looking at where everyone is starting from.”
Tatha smirked and asked, “Can you?”
Sid recognised the expression immediately. Both children turned towards Tatha with excitement. Ananya almost squealed, “Don’t tell me you have a story for this situation too?”
“Of course I do,” said Tatha.
He settled deeper into his armchair.
“And this is a fully filmy masala story. A tyrant who had the world under his feet, a prophecy that he would be killed, a hero born in prison, lightning and a thunderstorm, a raging river that had to be crossed at midnight, a giant serpent and a father who just believed!”
He paused dramatically and continued, “…and a newborn baby.”
Sid stared at him in disbelief, “That’s all in one story?”
“All in one night, actually,” said Tatha.
“Okay,” said Sid, sitting up. “This is already better than the Innovation Challenge.”
Tatha smiled and started his narration
The King Who Had Everything
Many centuries ago, Mathura was ruled by Kamsa. He was powerful. He had a palace, an army, enormous wealth and subjects who obeyed him because they feared him. As far as Kamsa was concerned, there was very little in his world that he could not control.
Devaki, his cousin, was very dear to him. When Devaki married Vasudeva, Kamsa himself drove their wedding chariot.
The streets were filled with celebration. Music played. People cheered.
And then, suddenly, everything changed.
A divine voice rang out.
“Kamsa! Devaki’s eighth child will be the cause of your death.”
Kamsa was terrified. Within moments, the man who had been happily celebrating Devaki’s wedding drew his sword. If Devaki had no children, he thought, the prophecy could never come true. Vasudeva stepped between them.
“Spare her,” he pleaded. “We will surrender every child born to us.”
Kamsa agreed. But he wasn’t willing to take any chances. He imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva.
One by one, children were born to Devaki. And one by one, Kamsa killed them.
Six children. Six times Devaki and Vasudeva hoped. Six times Kamsa took that hope away from them.
The Child Kamsa Never Saw
When Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time, something extraordinary happened. Through divine intervention, the unborn child was transferred from Devaki’s womb to that of Rohini who was living safely away from Mathura. To Kamsa and those around him, it appeared that Devaki had lost the child. But the baby was safe. Rohini later gave birth to a boy. He would come to be known as Balarama.
“Krishna’s elder brother!” said Ananya.
“Yes,” said Tatha.
“So Kamsa thought the seventh baby was gone? And the baby was actually growing up safely somewhere else?” exclaimed Sid.
“He did,” said Tatha.
But Kamsa’s greatest fear was still ahead.
The eighth child. He tightened the security around the prison.More guards kept watch. And Kamsa waited.
A Very Bad Night for an Escape
Then came the night. Dark clouds hung over Mathura. Rain lashed the city. Thunder shook the skies. Inside the prison, Devaki went into labour.
And at midnight, her eighth child was born.
Krishna.
For Devaki and Vasudeva, the joy of seeing their child must have been mixed with terror. They knew what would happen if Kamsa found him. But according to the ancient telling, the divine child revealed himself to his parents and instructed Vasudeva.
“Take the baby across the Yamuna. Go to Gokula. There, Yashoda, the wife of Nanda, had also just given birth. Leave the child beside her. Bring her newborn daughter back to Mathura.”
Vasudeva looked around him.
At the locked prison doors. At the chains. At the guards outside. And then at the tiny baby in his arms.
Sid raised his hand. “I have a question. How exactly was he supposed to do any of this?”
“That,” said Tatha with a smile, “was probably Vasudeva’s question too.”
He had no army. No weapons. No escape plan. No chariot waiting outside. And even if he somehow managed to get out of the prison, there was still the Yamuna. Swollen by the storm. In the middle of the night. With a newborn baby.
“So what did Vasudeva do?,” quizzed Ananya.
Tatha leaned forward. “He picked up his son.”
That was all. He took the first step. And then something extraordinary happened.
The chains that bound him loosened.
The prison doors opened.
The guards fell into a deep sleep.
Vasudeva stepped out into the storm, carrying Krishna in a basket. Rain poured around him. Thunder cracked across the sky.
And as he walked, Sheshnaag, the great serpent, appeared and spread his enormous hood above the basket, sheltering little Krishna from the rain. Vasudeva continued towards the Yamuna. When he reached the river, he stopped. The water was wild. It surged before him. Behind him was the prison. Ahead of him was a raging river. There seemed to be no way forward. Still, Vasudeva stepped into the water.
The Yamuna rose around him. He walked deeper, holding the basket high above his head. Step after step. And then the raging river allowed him passage.
Vasudeva crossed to the other side.
The Great Baby Exchange
At last, Vasudeva reached Gokula. The household of Nanda and Yashoda was asleep. Beside Yashoda lay her newborn baby girl. Quietly, Vasudeva placed Krishna beside her. Then he lifted the little girl into his arms.
So Vasudeva retraced every step. Across the Yamuna. Through the storm. Back into the prison. The doors closed behind him. The chains fastened once again. The guards awoke. And then the baby cried.
Within minutes, the news reached Kamsa.
Devaki’s eighth child had been born.
Kamsa Discovers He Isn’t in Charge
Kamsa rushed into the prison. But instead of the baby boy he had feared for years, he saw a little girl.
Devaki begged him, “She is only a girl. Please spare her.”
But Kamsa was too consumed by fear. He grabbed the baby. Before he could harm her, she slipped from his hands. The child was no ordinary baby.
She was Yogamaya.
She appeared before Kamsa in her divine form. “The one you fear has already been born elsewhere.” she thundered. And then disappeared.
Imagine Kamsa at that moment.
He had an army.
He had guards.
He had locked Devaki and Vasudeva inside a prison.
He had spent years waiting for this particular child to be born.
He thought he had controlled every possible way the prophecy could come true.
And yet… the child he feared was no longer even in Mathura.
While Kamsa stood helpless in his palace, trying to understand how everything had slipped past him… baby Krishna was sleeping peacefully in Gokula.
Tatha stopped. For a few moments, neither child said anything.
Then Sid slowly said, “So let me get this straight.”
Tatha nodded.
Sid continued, “Kamsa had a kingdom. An army. Soldiers. And he even knew the prophecy in advance. And the parents were chained and kept hostage.”
“And at that point Krishna couldn’t even sit up by himself.”
Sid leaned back against the sofa.
“So technically, if you looked at where both sides were starting from…”
Ananya stepped up and announced, “…Kamsa should have won.”
Tatha picked up his newspaper, “That seems to be what Kamsa thought.”
Sid sat quietly for a few seconds. Then he stood up and said, “Fine.”
“Fine what?” asked Ananya.
He said, “I’ll fix the motors.”
Ananya teased, “And the sensor?”
Sid answered, “I’ll figure it out.”
“And Neel?,” teased Ananya.
Sid smirked and said, “That may need divine intervention.”
He reached for the phone. “Or we could call school first and see if someone can collect the circuit diagram.”
Tatha unfolded his newspaper and said, “That seems like a sensible sequence.”
Sid began dialling. Ananya followed him and teased again, “By the way, Orion still has a 3D printer.”
Sid shrugged. “Let them. We have brain power,” he said.
“And two overheating motors,” Ananya reminded him.
“And YouTube. And ChatGPT,” she added.
Sid grinned. “Exactly. Let’s first see what we can build.”
He looked at Ananya and laughed, “Then Orion can worry about the participation certificate.”
Just then, Tathi’s voice came from the kitchen. “Who wants hot dosas?”
Sid abandoned the phone instantly and yelled, “Coming!”
Tatha shook his head.
Some odds, he thought, were simply impossible to overcome.
Happy Janmashtami.
Epickathas 
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