When Winter Wept!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The year 2019 was desperately waited for many reasons, but for Game of Thrones fans, it was the year of their lifetime. They anticipated the most and waited for it with their whole heart. No emotion or words can describe how passionate someone becomes when he gets a chance to understand the whole series. When the theme music plays with the showcase of the wheel, heart pumps with joy and emotions overpowers reality. The first TV series which became the talk of the world and people started taking credits for not watching it. The reason was always being outnumbered amongst GOT lovers and being pure jealous about its popularity. Thousands of fan theories, dedicated videos, articles, websites, mentions, and logic with two years of utter madness brought GOT fans together again when they prepared themselves to see the final season. “I read about it cause that’s what I do,” said Tyrion of House Lannister aka The Dwarf aka The Imp. To make him right and not to miss slightest of things I myself completed 7 seasons to prepare for the Eighth one. As the final episode of the phenomenon ended today (19th May 2019) I thought to dedicate this article to my fellow GOT lovers. Some complains. some emotional messages and a lesson.
Love, Romance, Admiration, Promise, Wars, Enmity, Hatred, Jealousy, Betrayal, Politics, Shocks, Chills, Goosebumps, Surprises, Joy until now Game of Thrones gave us everything. The show was a kind host for 1 hour each Sunday and all the fans used to forget everything while enjoying them. With a lot to take from the show, us fans forgot it also can give us Disappointment. They never did that until the new season arrived. If Ned Stark`s death fueled the show to become the best, Night King`s death made it the worst. Episode 9 of season 1 and Episode 3 of season 8 wrote different futures for the show. The directors and executive producers of Game of Thrones created a huge monument. By cementing brick to brick and linking passages to passages they laid its foundation on the best-written fantasy novel ever. The whole decades of hard work are completely ruined by one season`s donkey work. Lack of writing and understanding from the producers made the whole show a burden on its fanbase.

A still from the show (P.C. HBO)

If Game of Thrones was a character of its own, I can think of the only one which matches the whole comparison. Lord Eddard Stark! A great achiever, a nobleman, won wars, rebelled for justice, protected family name, never bent his knee to evil, did everything to protect his family and finally executed by Ser Ilyn Payne for foul treason. It was never in his hands to choose his death. Just like his character, Game of Thrones earnt a lot of praise and fans treated it as a religion until David Benioff and D.B. Weiss executed the show. Just like the mute knight, they slit the throat of the show by their own hands. The sad part is it was in their hands to give it a painless death, but they chose to torment instead. When Tywin Lannister asked Arya Stark what killed your father? She replied with only one word, “Loyalty!”. I, as a fan and a lifetime admirer of the show also feel my undivided attention and loyalty to the show makes me more disappointed than others. I even liked some of the fans theories more than I liked what those producers served this season. The whole writing was off place and they ended the whole journey in a hurry. The whole stage was set for them but instead of owning it these brainless writers did everything they could to give a worthless ending. Their contribution to innovative writing is just like Rickon Stark`s contribution to the whole show. Till George R R Martin`s books were useful they were phenomenal, the moment they rushed to put their own brains in it, the show touched its new low.

This season I believed the lack of depth in writing ruined great characters like Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, etc, who deserved so much better after a decade of hard work and their life while fitting up to those characters. The way Cersei was projected in season 8 was a mere disappointment. Cersei, portrayed by Lena Heady is one of the best characters ever in small screen history. Drinking wine by the window and coherent aspiration to have elephants were her only two contributions to the show this season. I could sense Emilia Clarke who portrayed the character Daenerys Targaryen seemed uncomfortable the entire time during the buildup and her character did not deserve the ending that was penned for her. Jon Snow, the fan favorite man uttered only two words the whole time, “My Queen”. That’s it? The show never stopped disappointing fans this season. By leaving a neglected Starbucks coffee cup or a plastic water bottle in the finale or resurrecting Dothraki army without any logic after killing every one of them in the previous episode. There were many loopholes and strong characters getting butchered with illogical writing skills and impromptu artifacts.

While the disappointment is understandable, but the loss is incapable for the fanbase. The show has ended and part of me feels as if something has died with it. No more discussions about theories, no more anticipations, no more curious readings and no more early morning desserts too. All I can think of now is the 10 years, this show was part of my life. Unlucky to realize but it will remain one forever. Like, everyone, I am going to wait for the spinoff, but nothing will give me satisfaction the way GOT has given. Dany`s gone, Sansa is the Queen in the North, Arya is on an adventure and Jon has returned to the land of Ygritte. Emotions all around painted the bid of goodbye in real high. A lot happened in the final episode but when I close my eyes and think about it, all I can see is the reunion of Jon and Ghost. The way Ghost craved for love was so innocent that any heart would stop for a moment. I smiled and became thankful for the wonderful journey I had with Game of Thrones. That’s the impact this show has on me. Still, I can’t believe it has ended and won’t be there to wake me up early on Mondays. There will not be the eternal music played on my ears nor the juvenile excitement will make me joyful, but I have treasured the memories which will be cherished always. I have lived in the fantasy land myself and I am very much grateful for it.
All of us hate the way the show has ended but there are two lessons which GOT has taught us well.
No death is painless, and No great stories have happy endings.

And, my watch has ended. . .


Wordpress: When Winter Wept! By Lokesh Sankar Rath

Twitter: Lokesh Sankar Rath

The Darkest Hour By Lokesh Sankar Rath

Dt 5/5/2019, Bhubaneshwar, Photo Courtesy: The Indian Express

The year was 1999 and I remember a cyclone was about to hit Odisha. I was only a child, but I have vivid memories of the panic my state had gone through back then. Being from Nabarangpur that is very far from coastal Odisha nothing much I could feel, but I strongly remember the aftermath. I was creating a habit to read newspapers regularly and I strongly believe that was never the right time to do so. Seeing news was not less than any horror movie. Flashes I remember still crackles my spine with chills. I understood the depth of the wrath and I saw people in my small-town going bananas over the disaster. I remember jeeps with loudspeakers asking for donations and the long queue of families to donate whatever they could. I saw people who needed donation were the one most eager to donate from the crowd. People donated blankets, shawls, mufflers, sweaters, and carpets. They also had a big donation box where people would put whatever they had in their pockets. In nearby temples rigorous Havans/Yagya happened where I saw passionate priests chanting their lungs out in order to reach the almighty. The whole globe came forward to bail Odisha out of the situation. Corners in Bhubaneshwar would still discuss the darkest days of the state. I really prayed for this to be the first and last cyclone hit any place, yet again after 20 long years, I got to witness even a worse one.

Fani! The super cyclone whose wrath has pushed Odisha 20 years back landed on Puri with a speed of 215KMPH and the disguised god of destruction kept on dancing on the holiest place that is the belief of every Odia family. Bhubaneshwar, the capital city is back to 90s with a loss estimated more than a billion till now. From flying trees to flying vehicles, demolished architectures to ruined monuments, terrified public to neglected animals, the temple city saw it all. During this time all connectivity lost. No mobile network, no electricity, no water, a twelve-hour lock up for all staying in the affected place. The cyclone tore the city apart and wrath finished dreams of millions in a few hours. It wasn`t less than a horrifying situation for people to witness the darkest hour in their lifetime. The whining of wind, breaking of glasses, screaming of infants and most importantly the sound of their own heartbeats; they heard everything in the time frame. All they could do is to remember their only belief Lord Jagannath, who himself was busy defeating the wrath of the cyclone.

Many seniors say, 99 Cyclone was the cruelest punishment ever given to Odisha. I believe so as more than ten thousand people lost their lives and around a million got affected majorly. It was the new Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik who came into charge and tackled the situation with his zero political experience. He might have zero knowledge in politics but was already a great human. His work was praised by many veteran leaders across the globe. He kept on doing the greater deeds and never realized he was about to complete 19 years as Odisha`s chief minister this year. On the contrary, it has been two decades but still, the wound of Odisha is not healed yet. We fought bravely when Phailin, Hudhud came. But the effect was very less compared to what cyclone Fani caused. Devastation happened but we never bowed down to the tragedy and kept our head held high. We never realized mother nature keeps punishing her strongest child. Fani came and we have faced it too. A record number of evacuations happened in less than 24 hours. The state government has set an example for the whole world to see how to tackle such situations. Shelters got created and he never allowed a repeat of 99 cyclones. Lives lost but the death toll is still in double digit. The biggest gift all Odias have is unity. All are tied with a single thread in the name of Lord Jagannath and believe it or not that is the proudest thing for anyone born in the place.

The picture of the no.1 smart city is not at all pretty at the moment. Imagining about Puri is unthinkable right now. There are uprooted trees everywhere, shattered slums, destroyed properties, and havoc in people. They are struggling for basic needs such as electricity and drinking water. In this hour of need, other neighboring states came forward and joined hands with our government to make Odisha get back to its own feet. Workers working in insane speed to provide reliefs and provide help. Odisha, whose rich cultural heritage is dented now needs support from their own people the most. It is believed that an unwanted curse triggers if you leave your homeland to achieve career aspirations. But when people stay outside, they learn and realize most about the duty towards their homeland. You remember your home first then your mother when you stay outside. At this DARKEST HOUR, our state is relying on us, the daughters and sons to make it rise and shine again. We always have believed in such humility as this is something that we get to learn on a very early stage being Odias. Let’s not bow down to a tragedy that has dented our desire to become a prosperous state. We overcame 1999 Super cyclone together; we must overcome from this one now. 

Let’s join hands and contribute to our chief minister`s relief fund (https://cmrfodisha.gov.in/). You can simply click on “Cyclone Donation” or the payment can be done through other Android/IOS apps like Paytm/Google Pay/Phone Pe etc. Contribution cannot be restricted to monetary donation only, share about it as much as you can through various platforms. Come forward and let the phoenix rise from its ashes. Jai Jagannath.