Revelation #StoriesFromTheTrunk

Diana, while coming back from work, picked up a bottle of champagne and called Mrianne, her collegue and her confidante. Mrianne was on a long leave for she was working for her personal project which she wasn't supposed to be working at, in the office. Diana wanted to meet Mrianne for she knew that her life was changing, bit by bit, and for good. Diana had broken up with Ron on a 'trivial matter', a 'trivial matter' - Ron's term, but for Diana it was a question of survival. 

   She had valued choice and freedom all her life, she had grown up on those terms, she had chosen Ron over many- many dear things and all that, without a moment of regret. But this morning, when she was talking to Ron over phone she knew she'd be calling Mrianne over for a glass of champagne. Not that she wanted to celebrate, she simply wanted to put an end, not with the purpose of starting afresh, just with the purpose of putting an end. 

   She had taken that decision the moment Ron had spoken his very first words on the phone that morning, she loved his voice but hated the authority he spoke with, she loved the way he spoke, but hated what he spoke. She started to think about all the possible ways she could have given him a hint that he had any power over her. She lost track of Ron's words, and dismissed the idea of giving him any hints that might make him feel like he has power over her. It was too strong a word for her and too strong an idea. The idea of an individual having power over the other amused her 'how could he possibly think that it is all right for him to talk to me with such authority' she thought to herself, until now, she had completely lost track of what Ron was saying. She knew for a fact that she had to put an end to her misery, she did not speak with authority with him and he wasn't supposed to do that either. She knew she was going to end it.

   While Ron spoke on the phone, she smiled , for her it was like a revelation. She thought of all the stories she had heard about, read about. Stories of love and war, of men and women. She laughed and stopped herself from dramatizing her own life while Ron spoke on the phone, she found Ron still speaking continously on the phone while she imagined calling Mrianne over. 

   She had already started to like the change in herself, so much that she smiled while making breakfast for herself, rewarded herself with extra honey on her bread, shook her head with amusement, called herself muddleheaded and left for work. The day seemed shorter than ever and before she could even realise, she was on her way back home, calling Mrianne. 

"Ashamed of being a Hindu, not."

 India has a very long and lengthy history of communal violence but at no point of time have I felt ashamed of belonging to a particular religion, and why should I? Is it not a well known fact that life is sacred and no religion makes it okay for an individual to take another individual's life?

    I was never ashamed of belonging to a particular religion, what has however surprised me time and again is that there survives a human being who so completely, so blindly follows one religion, worships one God and still has the time and the energy and the heart to hate another religion, conspire against it and kill others not of his type.

   What harm can a building do? You build a temple, a mosque, a church, employ a priest, a man of the God who talks about Him, read from the holy books and interprets them for you - people visit these building and buy religious commodities from other people and the holy man too makes a little amount of money and runs his family. In this scenario, if people get what they want, a place for their peace of mind and others make their livelihood, would I be wrong in suggesting that it's a business and would it be that strange? Would it not be a yet another, well known fact ?

   Who are these people then, who are benefited by burning down the houses to rubble, who are these people then, who are so insecure about their religion that they are creating hardships for the others, what incentives, what gifts, what gold, what glory, what have their own religion given them that they are so much against the other person's God?

   If Fortitude( dhairya ) , Forgiveness( mahopeksh ) , Restraint( gupti), Purity (pavitrya ) , Control over sense organs ( samyam) , Intelligence ( avgam ) , Knowledge ( abhiyam ) , Truth( satyat), Absence of anger (akrodh) are the ten characteristics of Dharma, how exactly are they, the Dharmvirs, those who follow the principles of Hinduism.

   If according to Mahabharta, "..that man is a wretch who is not fulfilled with jealousy at the sight of his enemy's prosperity" are not all these men wretches?

  If these people inflict violence on other people, cause harm to them and if they don't follow the principles of their own religion, why should we associate them to Hinduism or any other religion for that matter?

   These are the hypocrites who wish to use the religion they are born with as their weapon for their selfish purposes, for money and needless to say for power. These could be the illiterates who have not  understood their religion themselves and the lessons of hatred have been passed to them by the rich and the powerful, the jealous and the wretches, these could also be the small children, the young minds who do not yet understand the purpose of religion in their lives, could these also be the pseudo - religious youngsters in their 20s or 30s who have been manipulated, shown a dream, promised land and other resources in return of their 'duty' to the religion, by these wretches?
 
   Sometimes, these are the needy, working for the rich and the powerful, an example of which we saw in Kashmir in 2010 where locals were paid Rs. 400 - 6 US dollars - 5 Euros - per week to pelt stones on the security forces - Why would people choose consciousness over hunger?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/A-stone-pelter-in-Kashmir-gets-paid-Rs-400-a-week/articleshow/7173104.cms?referral=PM

   When Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away is stuck on an island, alone and  thousands of miles away from his homeland, he rests his faith in a non-living thing, in a football. That non-living thing acts as an embodiment of the belief he had in himself and helps him get through the difficult time. That is what religion is all about, resting our faith in something or somebody, it's about getting one through his rough days, rough times, it isn't meant to be used as a reason for violence. Religion is not about violence, it never was. I know because my grandmother has never uttered a word to me about communal violence.and she has read and understood the principles of Hinduism herself.

    In spite of all the efforts of the elderly and the spirituals in my family I don't often offer my prayers to the God, if there is any. I don't go to temple, don't fast and neither do I sing religious songs but I know for a fact that I am a better Hindu than any of those who are and have been behind the communal riots in Ballabgurh, in other parts of this country or abroad and so, if there is anybody who should be ashamed for their religion, it must be them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/05/30/ballabgarh-riots-muslim_n_7475094.html
  

I Took The Ladder

27th May, 2015


There are days when more than one thing goes wrong and today, was just that day. Even those who don't believe in signs and in the universe tend to doubt themselves when things like these happen. One starts to think and re-think about the rules of the universe. When I got up after writing my exam today I realised that the universe has been trying to tell me something, I am sounding like Rohda Byrne, I know, but these incidents, in themselves didn't make sense, really, but together, they did.

#Sign1 - The stupid law of gravity acting smart. 

Spilled a glass full of mango shake on my clothes just before leaving. 

#Sign2 - The realisation that my next buy should be a compass. 

My motor skills suck and that's no secret but my uncle's motor skills weren't working  either, he got confused and we ended up using the best navigation available, the roadside-navigation-service-providers, the-choor-choor-naan-guys. 

#Sign3 - When hard luck struck real hard. 

I entered the university, walked till the centre and waited there for 15 minutes for the exam to start, just when I was going to enter, I checked the list and realised that the rooms have been changed. 

#Sign4 - The sucky motor skills of the lift. 

Went to the next centre, took the lift for the third floor, pressed the button '3' two hundred crore times, it took me to the basement, yeah.  

#Sign5 - Laddar to the rescue. 

Reached the centre, sat on my desk and realised that I'll have to climb a laddar, cross a bridge, go straight from the roundabout and then take a boat from between the forests and walk another mile to reach the desk -_- The space between the bench and the desk seemed more than the distance between Jack and Rose after Jack's death. 

Sign6 - Feeling sinking in.

Somehow after changing my position 20 crore times, I adjusted and realised that two of my new pens weren't working, I had to fill 30 odd pages.

Sign7 - Killed my vibe. 

The half sleepy invigilator made eye contact with me as if I was doing something shady and by then the feeling had possessed me, completely. I knew for a fact that it's not my day and I should probably just sit quietly, write my paper and get out of the hall as soon as possible and so I did. Rationality is something I have always believed in, but it's my brain which acts funny sometimes, or is it that my brain is programmed in a way to draw meaning out of everything  everything?