I have recently shifted to another book in order to cultivate reading habits. This book is also by the same author, named "Usual Tales from the Mahabharata by Sudha Murthy." This book has many fascinating stories. I have completed two chapters of this book. Both chapters are "The man who became a woman" and "The ring of memory". The second chapter was quite interesting. In the second chapter, I came to know about Maneka, a beautiful woman who came from heaven, sent by Lord Indra, in order to distract the penance of Sage Vishawamitra.


The story of the second chapter goes like this... When Lord Indra sent Maneka in order to distract the sage Vishawamitra, Maneka started her duty and, after a lot of effort, Vishawamitra opened his eyes. As he saw Maneka, the exquisitely beautiful woman, he fell in love with her. Both started living together, and Maneka gave birth to a baby girl later known as "Shakuntala." When sage Vishwamitra came to know that Lord Indra had sent Maneka to distract him, he said to her, "You have distracted me from my penance; from today onward, I will never come back to the house. Take care of this baby girl." Vishawamitra left the house promptly. Maneka was very upset and had tears in her eyes. She thought, "How can I go to Heaven along with the baby? Humans are not allowed there." She left the baby girl under the shady tree and said, "Ohh...baby, whenever you need any help, just remember me; I will always help you," and she went to heaven. The sage Kanva was going towards a nearby river and heard this baby's crying sound. He followed the source of the sound and found that there was a baby girl along with some birds, who were entertaining her. He took her with him to his ashram and cared for her like his own child....The rest of this story will be covered in the upcoming days.