Mahisashuri Vs. IOIOI Moon Life, Insurance and Prudential Corp.

Author’s Note:

[I saw a Durga Puja pandal some time back depicting Mahishashura being poked with a trident by the goddess Durga in rage for his apparent invasion over the disorganized three worlds for clarity in administration knowing fully well that this was a no-no.

I subsequently watched, quite recently, the movie version of this scene and there was some rather plump babe poking the merry hell out of some poor southie actor and the subtitles ran something on the lines like thus, “If you will not live and let live in chaos of the Devas babudom, then you will die under the shakti of my filing system or trident” or some words to that effect

The poor pumped up southie actor is then poked at again and all hell breaks loose and the earth swallows up all the offending rebels, including the poor southie and a host of extras

Now being a lawyer who spends some time handling death and disability claims cases I inevitably found myself viewing these depictions from a different perspective.

It occurred to me that Mahishashura was quite a ripe specimen of manhood or rather ashura-hood and that trident did look a trifle unwieldy for the purpose of poking, leaving aside all references of symbology and rather heavy tridents in the hands of kinky babes with a death fetish

By comparison I was remembering attempting to hit my errant brother with a bamboo stave about the same length for a similar misdemeanor and I had difficulty even touching him, much less poking him hard enough, that dratted boy. And it's not like I was practicing everyday with it unlike Jet Li, planning for just an eventuality of my bro deleting a weeks worth of drafts and petitions from my computer.

I therefore concluded that Mahishashura at his age and level of fitness was being the subject of an injury or worse the victim of some sort of fraud and coercion resulting in his unfortunate demise.

I decided to research this enigma and with the assistance of legal mythology Professor Angshamun Rabo of the University of Patal Lok, I came across little before known information about Mahishashura. In fact the professor actually discovered a legal judgment wherein Mahishashura’s wife sued for accident benefits arising out of this very incident. The Honourable Justice Gojo, of the Swarglok High Court rendered this judgment]:

Gojo J.:

The plaintiff Mahisasuri brings this action against IOIOI Moon Life Insurance and Prudential for accident benefits. A brief summary of the salient facts is in order.

The plaintiff, the wife of the victim, claims that the victim was 46 years old and a a liberator by occupation. He was not always into this work but one day while he was being psychiatrically counseled for the unfortunate demise of his kith and kin by the accursed Devas, he manage to channel his energies into the plight of the three worlds and the apparent mismanagement of the same and undertook a mission for seeking a solution to the same.

That, the said victim did register his organisation in Brahma’s Court and that upon receiving the necessary jurisdiction and powers for the proposed upliftment and clarification of the state of affairs of the three worlds, the victim did so undertake the said project with utmost vigour and dedication

The Devas resisted initially but after a bit of gentle coaxing from Mahishashura, which included the doling out of various writs and PIL’s leading to forfeiture of privileges and barring enjoyment of the apsara’s. Upon such, the Devas mellowed and agreed with and allowed the victim to proceed with his intentions for decentralization of authority and delegation of leadership for greater transparency and optimum efficiency in management of the three worlds.

Unfortunately the Devas soon reneged and approached the tripartite appellate court of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. That the said bench did so advise the appellants to consider creation of a new post, namely the Deva Aid Group, bearing in mind the recently adopted anti-gender discriminatory practices and policies as well as the tendencies of the feminine gender towards organisation and clarity, and thereby appointment of a female bureaucrat, fulfilling the quotas so adopted, for dealing with the issue of Mahishashura and his planned upgradation of administrative practices.

The same was so seconded, nominated and ratified and set into motion.

Various departments contributed to this new approach of solution of the problem of “operation clean up”, the name of Mahishashura management project and assigned various committees and sub-liaisons for the effectiveness of the new post, including the Bench’s prized and feared filing system, the deadly trident of misplaced, misnamed and simply lost sections.

So, armed, the said bureaucrat did go to war against Mahishashura and his proposed reformation, relocation and responsible management team.

Just as things looked hopeless Mahishashura still stood at the helm of his works and defended his stand most magnificently. It is of significance that Mahishashura stood to his principles and defended them at all times and I shall deal with that issue shortly.

When the plaintiff’s husband, the aforementioned victim did so see the havoc caused amongst his team members and project leaders, he was appalled at the breach of trust by the Devas and their reneging upon the agreed upon change in management. The Devas offered a secret cut out deal to the victim, which were actually a compendium of "Thou shalts" and "Thou shalt nots", which was roundly refused, though the new post and the holder were much appreciated for the forward thinking shown by the Devas.

No one is sure exactly what Mahishashura said but his second in command one, Ghatashura did hear a soft "AiiiiiYo".

Mahishashura was then provoked and a sting operation launched against him, in the form of the deadly filing system of the famed and trident, due to arrival of which, the victim was substantially disabled. Though taking recourse to various forms of escape and administrative bottlenecks, he finally met with his unfortunate demise at the hands of the newly appointed head of the Deva Aid Group

By chance the victim had taken out death and disability insurance and so the present plaintiff applied for benefits. The defendant however sent back this letter to his wife (exhibit 6):

"Dear Mahisashuri,
After carefully reviewing your application we must decline benefits. We thank you for choosing IOIOI Moon Life, Insurance and Prudential Corp. and we hope to be of service again. Remember, with IOIOI Moon Life, Insurance and Prudential Corp. you are in our hands."

The plaintiff subsequently launched this action.

The defendant denies the claim on a couple of grounds. Firstly it claims that Mahishashura when applying for insurance did not disclose certain material information.

The application form (exhibit 12) asks at question 41," Do you ever engage in any of the following:

Mortal Combat games;
Mount Meru climbing;
Bungee jumping;...
Sorcery."

It is noted that the plaintiff ticked off "No" to all of the items. The defendant claims that Mahishashura in fact engaged in sorcery in that he had performed a number of tricks, including turning himself into various forms and committees during his final desperate encounters with the newly appointed head of the Deva Aid Group. Had it known this IOIOI Moon Insurance and Prudential claims it would have declined coverage, as this was a material misrepresentation of facts.

I disagree. This act was not sorcery. Counsel for the plaintiff referred the Court to the authoritative definition in White’s Law Dictionary. White defines "sorcery" as an act of magic performed by a "sorcerer", which is in turn defined as a man wearing a conical hat with stars and moons on it and performing feats of magic."

There is no evidence before me that Mahishashura in performing the said trick ever wore a conical hat with stars and moons on it. The only evidence of any hat at all worn by the plaintiff’s deceased husband is that of a large crown bearing a large letter "M", besides a lot of jewellery.

The plaintiff’s husband, the victim in the instant case accordingly does not fall into the sorcerer category.

The defendant then argues that the insurance is for injury caused by an "accident" and not a pre existing ailment. It claims that Mahishashura was not really killed by the trident filing system but rather he suffered from mortality, as is the cause with all creatures, before even consideration of his project, which led to his unfortunate demise as in the normal course of events.

There was evidence given by an investigator, one Chugalshura son of Nakashura, who testified that while at the initial meeting with the new head of the Deva Aid Group, that Mahishashura said, "Oooh Boy, I am but a man."

Even if Mahishashura did have some issues with mortality, does this change the nature of the occurrence? The evidence is clear that Mahishashura was able to perform all of his duties before that faithful evening. It is obvious that the trident filing system did cause his death

Nor do I buy the argument that coverage should be denied as Mahishashura was the author of his own misfortune by willfully undertaking the project of reformation of the Devas babudom and initiating reforms for clarity in management with greater emphasis on change in administration teams and therefore the incident was no accident, emanating rather from his deliberate act.

As counsel for the plaintiff has demonstrated, Mahishashura in getting angry and throwing the Devas out of administrative duties within his job description as a liberator and manager. Clause 18 of the job description (exhibit 43) in fact reads as follows: "In addition to the foregoing the employee may occasionally have his wrath wax hot and he may discipline the people using any reasonable means as may be necessary."

I find that the action of the plaintiff’s husband, the deceased in the instant case, came within the ambit of his duties. He did not in my view over wax.

This leads me to the final question, namely, is the plaintiff disabled from substantially performing the essential duties of his occupation?

His duties are wide, ranging from judging the people to trouble shooting to creation of new projects for the greater benefit of his people. The victim was frequently asked to appear in the presence of his people and lead them by example. In doing this he finds that the things go better for his people. The minute he is not around, the ashuras start taking a beating, as happened when his upon his demise, the babudom of the Devas is back in full swing and there is corruption, inefficiency and irresponsibility to the prayers of the common man for averting the chaos of the three worlds.

It is obvious from all the evidence that Mahishashura is disabled by being death as defined by the policy and that his wife is entitled to benefits. The plaintiff will have her judgment as claimed plus interest plus 50,000 gold coins (swarna mudra’s) punitive damages as the insurer acted insensitively by suggesting throughout that Mahisashuri was playing games. If the monies are not paid within seven days Mahisashuri is free to use any means she chooses to recover. And if I were the claims' manager of IOIOI Moon Life Insurance and Prudential Corp., I would not give Mahishashuri another chance at reviving her husband’s NGO for reformation and projects for clarity in administration.

- - Judgment accordingly