The Exclusive Interview with Hanuman

Interviewer: First I would like to thank you, Hanuman, for agreeing to meet with me for this exclusive interview.

Hanuman: Not a problem, I always enjoy a good conversation.

Interviewer: May we begin with your formative years? At this point in time everyone has heard about your adventures with Rama during the war with Ravana. However, not many know about your childhood.

Hanuman: Sure thing, I have very fond memories. Slight disclaimer, depending on who else you ask you may get different answers. Over the years, so many people have put their own spin on my story. It is nice to talk about what really happened.

Interviewer: Fair enough. It is well known that your father is the god of wind Vayu, and your mother is the apsara Anjana. In your own opinion, who do you take after more?

Hanuman: Both of my parents are a huge influence on me. My powers and immortality of course came from my father. However, my wit and cleverness I inherited from my mother. She always told me that there will always be someone stronger and faster than me, and told me not to rely on my powers only. My father agreed and said that the mind is the most powerful tool. There is no limit to what I can achieve when I put my mind to it.

Interviewer: It is true you showed your cleverness and quick thinking when you infiltrated Lanka. Is there anyone other than your parents to who helped with your education as a child?

Hanuman: Oh yes, of course there is! I got my tenacity and mischievous behavior from my parents. The strategic, decisive, and unorthodox thinking came from my teacher. Well, to be honest he is more than my teacher. Mentor would be a better word. Surya was my instructor for most of my childhood. Although, he did not care for me at first.

Interviewer: As in Surya the sun god? How so? Do you care to elaborate?

Hanuman: Well, when I was a toddler, maybe two or three, I looked up at the sky and thought the sun was a nice juicy mango. So, pushing my fledgling powers to the limit, I grew large and jumped as high as I could, so I could eat it. To say the least, Surya did not enjoy the experience, and he took it personally. My jaw hurt for a little while afterward. Honestly, it could have been worse.

Interviewer: Ha-ha! I dare say no one would enjoy that! So how did you convince him to take you on as a pupil?

Hanuman: Well, at first, he refused. He claimed he was too busy traveling all day, then resting all night. However, I did not accept that answer. I decided to increase my strength and endurance when using my powers, while at same time Surya educated my mind. So, I pushed my mass manipulation abilities to the maximum, by increasing my size to where I had one leg in the east and the other in the west. I held that shape all day, and I always faced Surya, giving him my undivided attention. Fortunately, he changed his mind, and tutored me since I did not keep him from his daily travels.

Interviewer: How long did he tutor you?

Hanuman: Well, it is difficult to say. I have a lot of foggy gaps in my memory.

Interviewer: That can happen when you are over two thousand years old. Could you take a guess?

Hanuman: I guess I would have been about eleven or twelve. I can definitely say the lessons stopped when my powers were bound by the sages and monks. Their spell was so well crafted that I completely forgot that I had powers. Let alone even using them to continue my education with Surya. Honestly, I could not blame them. I caused them so much trouble. All they wanted was peace and quiet to meditate. I never allowed them either one as a child.

Interviewer: Oh my! That must have been so tragic for you.

Hanuman: Not at all! You cannot miss what you don’t know you possess. Besides they did not permanently separate me from my powers. They allowed me to regain them when someone reminded me that I had them. They could have bound my powers forever. My powers are fully restored now. So, I say no harm no foul.

Interviewer: Well, Hanuman, I am afraid that that is all the time we have today. I was wondering if we could do this again. My readers would love to hear your firsthand account of your adventures with Rama.

Hanuman: Of course! I would enjoy that as well.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time, Hanuman. It has been a pleasure.

Hanuman: No problem, anytime.

Author’s Note

Without a doubt, Hanuman is my favorite character in the Ramayana. He is just so cool, and I wanted to write a story completely devoted to him. The source material I used for this story is the graphic novel Sundarkaand: The Triumph of Hanuman written by Tulsidas, with text by Shtam Prakash, and art by Sachin Nagar. I really liked it, because it was the Ramayana, from the perspective of Hanuman. Also, I enjoyed the last pages in the book the best because it gave me more background information about Hanuman. There are several other websites that my professor provided for me. This helped me fill in the information gaps that the Triumph of Hanuman did not cover. They are Anjana's Wikipedia article, Lord Hanuman, the Hindu Monkey God, and Hanuman: Myth, Mantra, and Asana. The added research helped me fix some mistakes I made in the original version of this story. I wanted to know more about what Hanuman was thinking and feeling. I chose to use an interview format instead of a prose style for this story, which is different, but I thought it would be the easiest way to do that. Personally, I am bad at punctuation, and an entire story of dialogue is too daunting for me. I focused on the information from the last couple of pages, because it was about Hanuman’s childhood. That way people who have only read the Ramayana would learn more about Hanuman as a child. I thought the best place to end the interview was when his powers were bound. The reason for that is because when he is introduced in the Ramayana one of the first things is that he gets his powers back. The original story can be read at my blog Epics of India.