Unicorn- The Mystical Reality !.

                                         Unicorn

                                           

Unicorn a term which has travelled far and wide both in distance and times. From being depicted in ancient seals of Indus valley civilization, in accounts of Greek authors who were convinced of the reality of Unicorn living in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them and finally in present global economy where it indicates a privately held startup company, valued at over $1 billion. 

A little brief about this stuff

Narwhal Unicorn Puppy

The inspiration to write this piece is derived from the constant and brutal nagging, I have been getting from Nandini, since the time she came across these intriguing pictures (above) while flipping through the news bulletin. This nagging intensified further much like heavy machine-gun fire of IDF at Pakistan border, when she encountered another set of equally intriguing pictures (below)

 

Rae Unicorn Puppy

The first picture is of Narwhal a 10-weeks-old puppy nicknamed as "Unicorn puppy" due to the extra tail growing out of his forehead, was found abandoned in Missouri USA. As per the reports, the extra tail will not cause any hindrance in regular tasks to Narwhal and since this part does not have any bone within , sadly he will not be wagging his tail.. Alas.. Nevertheless he has become an overnight social media sensation.  

The second picture is of Rae( Ear spelled in reverse order ) name itself justifies the enigmatic attributes of this four legged creature who has been ticked over 4 million times on TikTok, in short period. His Instagram story-line also has drove of followers awaiting for each of her antics.. This golden retriever has only one ear which sticks out right at the center head. It is widely believed that  Rae had some ruff handling during her birth in which one entire ear was lost and what was left, a canal with all the skin of peeled off. It appears that her mother was also little aggressive. As she grew the ear shifted to the center place. 

Calling these two creatures Unicorn, is attributed mainly to their distinct bizarre physical appearance. Since both these are pretty young, it is yet to be seen, how they brace up in the world amid the constant scrutiny of social media; and find a purpose which ultimately helps them in attaining a distinct place in Canine society, and justify this much of attention,hype .. and prodigy of the title UNICORN!

ADD-ON to the story

Little more prodding on this term took me to Greek Mythology Britanica. Unicorn is a mythological animal resembling a horse or a goat, with a single horn at its forehead. As a biblical animal, the unicorn was interpreted allegorically in the early Christian church. One of the earliest reference is in ancient Greek bestiary known as physiologus, which states that Unicorn is a small fierce animal which can be caught only if a virgin maiden is placed before it. Other legend tell of the Unicorn's combat with an elephant whom it finally spears to death with its horn.

Contemplating why our kids love Unicorn so much... Answer is little resounding and emphatic as a horn stuck on your head. There is nothing more trendier than these fables horses which stick more with girl than boys! Few reasons for this craze I could sum up-

Horse code- Kids imaginative growing mind goes bananas whenever they see a real horse. They start imagining a virtual world of their favorite horse with horn at head & big flappy wings

Steady shot- This mystical creature has been standing steady since ages and with each passing generation its cult status grows bigger and bigger. It is kind of a baton which a mom passes to her girl child with a promise from her to continue the legacy going forward. 

Commerce- Now this is the real sweetener.. with the advent of Audio and Video, spread and reach of Unicorn has grown manifold.. Remember the last time when your child forced you to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is magic along with her and this does not stops here.. once the movie get over now she narrates you about the residents of entire Ponyville village i.e. Twilight sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow dash, Pinkie pie, Fluttershy, Apple jack, Sunset shimmer and the list is never ending.  and this is an endless list. And this has been commercialized to a level where you get everything imaginable ie birthday cakes, toys, dress, food, room decor etc of Unicorn world...  

I m taking liberty to take mystical term UNICORN on another level of imagination to build up my theory; on whimsical as well as on literal interpretation of Unicorn word. Point to stress out here -outcome in either ways comes out to be the same .. the story of tenacity, resilience and courage!!

Plot of my theory is based on 2 characteristics, which are physical the aspects that are visually apparent and cerebral which is conceived by intellect rather than the emotions.  

Theory 1 Whimsical 

This is based on Major Epic events which has happened in ancient Bharat & has tremendous significance in traditions and belief system of modern times. Modern Unicorn sect was known as Naga Tribe in Vedic times.

 

Special people of that ear were no less than Unicorn; for 2 reasons 

• Their special physical attributes
• Their uncanny firm belied on self, which put them at special place in our thoughts 

To elaborate on my theory I will name 2 great people  of ancient times who were master of unparallel powers

Ganesha 

                                                        

Ganesha

The one of the 5 most revered god in Hindu Pantheon and who is the first one to be offered prayer before starting any auspicious task. Ganesha has been ascribed with many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati, Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri श्री is often added before his name .

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound of two words Gana, meaning a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva and Isha, meaning lord or master.

The younger son of Shiv and Parvati has very distinct physical attributes which makes him possibly one of the most charming gods. He is blessed with a full grown elephant head and protruding potbelly, a trademark of Naga tribe. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati has five elephant heads. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquired head later on as per few other stories. As per one the most common folklore in North India, the elephant head was a damage control act of Lord Shiva, after he had sliced head of a juvenile Ganesha, who was sitting guard for his mother Parvati at house gate and did not let enter Shiva. Even after making many requests by Shiva for entry in his own Kailash abode, when Ganesha declined his offer citing the promise he made to his mother Parvati  the infuriated Shiva chopped his head in anger.

When finally Parvati came out and saw the gruesome act, she asked Shiva to bring his son back. As a consequence Shiva placed an elephant head at the severed spot and brought Ganesha back to life ..

Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the Deva of intellect and wisdom.

So the unflinching undeterred devotion towards his mother, a quality which is unheard in all 4 Yugas namely SATYUGA, TRETA YUGA, DWAPAR YUGA and prevailing KALYUGA brought glory to Ganesh as god of beginning and he is honored at the start of each and every religious rites and ceremonies.

Ravan 

                                            

Ravan

The son of one of the most revered sages Visharva and Kaieski who was from demon clan is praised for his knowledge and dedication to his purpose. He was a practitioner of statecraft. When he was killed by Ram, and was at his last breath, Ram asked his brother Lakshman to go and learn from Ravan the art of statecraft and diplomacy. 

A purple lump at his navel was result of a curse to Kaieski . This deformity a sign of Naga tribe, was a well guarded secret and remained between people of 3 i.e father, mother and Ravan. Since his childhood he was very adamant, stubborn and a ferocious fighter. He was very ambitious. In order to achieve his goals he never took any chance and gone to any limit. Kubera, an appointee by Devatas as god of wealth, who incidently was his step brother also, was the first victim of his ambitions and had to abandon the Golden Lanka to save his life. Post becoming the king of Lanka, on advice of demon king Sumali;  Ravan performed an intense penance to Brahma; lasting several years. During the penance he chopped of his head ten times as a sacrifice to appease him. At last, Brahma, pleased with austerity, appeared in front of him after the 10th decapitation and gave him a boon. Ravan asked for immortality which Brahma refused and instead gave him a celestial nectar of immortality. The nectar of immortality which Ravan stored in his navel, dictated that he will not be vanquished for as long as it lasted.  Along with this Brahma blessed him 10 heads at a time in compensation to his sacrifice; from that day he was called Dashanan. With his knowledge and panache Ravan gained many boons from Gods and later on became ultimate ruler who conquered not just Bhulok  but Devlok and Patalok. 

Due to the curse from King Anaranya of the Ikshavaku dynasty further acts of Ravan drove him towards insanity and Adharma. As per the curse, son of King Dashrath will kill him.

Turn of events unfolded rapidly and the pinnacle of this story came when Ravan brought Mother Sita to Lanka by using deceit and force! The saga of Ram leading an army of monkeys and finishing the rule of Adharma is a common folk-fore depicted with lot of approbation in yearly stage act called RamLeela in whole of  South Asian subcontinent .

Knowledge if not channelized in right direction can corrupt the mind of the beholder, who meets the end quiet like Ravan, is a major takeaway from his life. This scenario has been witnessed so many of times in modern era also and sadly does not seem to make people mend their acts!

Naga Baba is the term deeply engraved in Hindu religion which has a deep and revered reference in various Vedic texts, which are still a rage among general people during the Kumbh meet. Story of their origin is super natural, as per widely accepted plot the army of Nagas were created as protector of Hindu faith. 

Theory 2 Literal

Originator of this word Unicorn is venture capitalist Aileen Lee, who in 2013 chose a mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful privately held startup companies. 

As per Google there were 465 unicorns as if April 2020. term Unicorn was coined first time by Aileen Lee, there were only thirty -nine companies that were considered unicorns. It was determined that startup founded between 2012 and 2015 were growing in valuation twice as fast as companies from startup founded between 2000 and 2013.

The future is looked with lot of hope and anticipations by a rare class of people. One who have faith, belief and conviction in themselves. Unicorns are daring bunch of people who dream of a spot, which is unheard, unthinkable of and most of all beyond the reach by the all logical means ..

This lot is conscious of their being and have found balance in their life . This new age breed has a tremendous sense of purpose in life . The single minded approach they have, for their goal can be put in equilibrium with self guided ballistic missiles (SGBM). With  thoughts and paths programmed and fed in a system called mind .. 

What the next step is now?  the most critical step; which will determine the final outcome . Pressing the Fire command in the missile . Even if Correct aim taken but not fired with conviction will miss the target !

This creed follows mantra of 3 Fs, which have a very radical interpretations unlike the regular used.. Its  To fly, to fall, to fly again.. 

Along with 3 Fs, 3 more trends helped this wave to run faster and smoother, which are -

Sharing economy

Also known as "collaborative consumption" or "on-demand economy" is based on the concept of sharing personal resources.

This trend has made three of top five largest unicorns ( Uber, Didi and Airbnb ) become the most valuable startup in the world. This habit of sharing services, products was quiet contrary to the established age old human weakness of desire to possess.. The resources were used  effectively and gave optimum productivity in the  shortest period.

E-commerce 

Faster and cheaper was making information more accessible to consumers which spoiled them with choices at the same time it devoid them of patience. They wanted things fast at their doorstep. The emergence of e-commerce companies like Amazon and Alibaba ( both unicorns before they went public) have decreased the need for physical locations to buy consumer goods.

Innovative business model

A new operating business model evolved in this journey which was heavily based on interconnections among people and businesses. This was called "network orchestrators". Network of peers were creating value through interactions and sharing. They may sell products or services, collaborate, share reviews and build relations. Few success stories are (Jio+Facebook+Google+...), (Uber+Airbnb), ( Mocrosoft+Ola), 

What this Leads to...

By now, just like the Epic characters ie Ganesh Ravan or Modern characters ie Paytm Flipkart; what echoes loud, and establishes clearly is ..one should not damn too much about distractions which can be of different nature like physical attributes, adverse conditions, sudden unexpected turn in business situations( COVID-19 is one apt reference) are part of the journey just like other co-passengers; 

Instead one should hold their strengths tightly and play a game of their choosing to Win and Achieve. big or small does not matter ..Goals are Goals

And Yes do follow-

Narwhal@The Toothbed Whale

Rae@The Golden Retriever

OMNAMAH

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Credits/ Forbes Wikipedia CNN.

Reference taken to write this blog is purely for creative purpose and has no economical fallout.