Monologues on God, Religion, Identity etc. - 2

Things started to change and transition was almost sudden but in truth it must have been gradual. I am not sure if anyone can change his/her principles and beliefs ingrained over years of existence in a matter of days or weeks or months.

I guess the truth is that I was never really convinced about religion in general and the interpretation of religion and God that I had grown up adhering to. I never understood why we had to walk around the Sanctum Sanctorum only an odd number of times and never even number. I never really got a convincing explanation. My mother didn't really know the answers to these questions. I was perplexed as to why one had to break coconuts or promise to break coconuts if something turned out the way they had wanted. This seemed like a bribe to me and bribing to me was a crime.

For me God and Religion were means to keep Man humble and accountable to the society at large so it seemed quite an anomaly when I read that the Tirupathi temple was getting a large amount of black money. Could God be appeased by black money?

Monologues on God, Religion, Identity etc. - 1

Been meaning to be more regular with my blog posts. I wonder if its a testament to the direction the world is moving towards... the testament being how I am more regular on Twitter than I am with my blogs. There is no creativity in me. There is nothing new that I feel like contributing. Truth is there is not much I can contribute to the world at large.

A man asked me a couple of weeks back if we are consumers or we are contributors... I told him we are both. But that isn't why this man has been brought up in this post. I will tell you why he has been brought up. This same man, thanks to the seat he was occupying at the time, proceeded to ask a few of us are take on religion and God. I told him what I have told quite a few people and bored many others with... "I dont believe in Religion and I am yet to find God!"

The question that followed was, so you dont believe in religion and does that mean the millions of others who do are idiots and who are wasting their time... the only reply I could come up with was that I am the idiot who has not been able to find a religion that I can believe in.

I was not always like this... I have to confess... I used to be the one who lit the lamp everyday... took a bath, lit the lamp, said my prayers and off I went to school. This was a daily routine till some 5 years back. My dad was an atheist ( his line was - I believe in God, but I dont believe there is God. I was confused too when I first heard this line. To make it easier for me to understand he said - Communism exists, there is communism in the world, but I dont believe in Communism... and along these lines I believe in God, but I dont believe there is God... how I wished he hadn't tried to make it easier for me to understand ) and so was my brother, I think.

Needless to say, my daily routines and my weekly visits to the temple made my devout mother really really really really happy. Then things started to change....

C'est la vie

Who is the better one? He who is extra sweet, out of pity, to a person suffering from AIDS... or he who insults and treats the person suffering from AIDS just the same way as he used to before being in the know.

Is the one who is proud of himself for sharing a bus seat with a leper as prejudiced as the one who loathes the leper?

If God exists and is watching us all, what matters to him more - the money that goes into the temple's coffers or the money that goes into the beggar's bowl?

If the Holy Koran could be changed during the time of the crusades to include Polygamy and let one man have more than one wife to ensure that there are successors to carry Islam forward, why cant it be modified again, now that the crusades are over?

If Indians and Hinduism gave the world the Kama Sutra and Khajuraho, why do Ram Sena make war when they can make love?

2008 - a retrospective tag cloud

Seiyur, rockets firing on the ground, sun rise over the backwaters, Star Vijay, racism at Sydney?, India win at Perth, resignation, out of first job, hunt for second job, whiling away time in Jah's room, kicking Jah and Perusu's ass in go-karting, Djokovic and Sharapova lift Oz Open, bro turns 20, Valentine's day with Shankar Mahadevan at Techofes 2008 and a few good souls from college, Castro resigns, Castro comes to power, Musharaf loses election, Democracy in Pakistan?, India wins tri-series, Gold Medal, Sup's wedding, Second Job, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Channa gideeni, Als' wedding, hyderabad, Concord, Analytics, Indya.com, Starboxoffice.com, IPL, Chennai Superkings, Rajasthan Royals, Mak's bro's wedding, Munnar, Wimbledon finals, Nadal, Bangalore blasts, Ahmedabad blasts, turn 24, Beijing, Phelps, Dark Knight, Bolt, ABHINAV BINDRA, India's first Individual gold, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar, auto rides, diagrams, Harry's wedding, big bang, project management, Yuva and Nit's wedding, Barack Obama, recession, examinations, Kiki and Sandhu and Castrol thread, Lewis Hamilton, VISHY ANAND, Chandrayaan, mom and dad turn 25, Sachin 12000, Jumbo retires, Dada retires, India beats Oz, Mumbai attacked, Basle, Yercaud, Erode, Bakrid, India win at Chepauk, SA beat Oz, Train to Chennai which starts at 11

Another year of existence...

Washing underwear and toasting bread... that's how I rang in my new year of existence. Not quite the thinking man's favourite pastimes but the 2 activities did give me time to look back at the year that was. Nothing like toasting to get you reminiscing.

Year 24 was the year I took up my first job, it was also the year I had my first job shift. A year that saw me, surprisingly, being rather strong through losses and a year that got me a few treasured gains. New friendships formed and old friendships grew stronger. Some relationships forayed new paths, pleasantly surprising me.

The year began with a lot of promise, in a new job... and the year ended with me living alone in a new city, in another job, with misplaced pride in facial hair and ending where it began... with a lot of promise.

Living by yourself and surviving does give you a sense of satisfaction, of course its a lot easier when you are surrounded by good people. Its also nice in a way to have something to miss and when you are away from family and friends you tend to have something to miss.

Regrets... there were many. To learn from regrets and to not repeat them will be a challenge for the coming year because year 25 has begun, and it promises to be filled with the only constant in life - change!

To the coming year, with all its challenges, with all the defeats that will make all the victories mean that much more, with all its joys and all its separations, I stand awaiting.

Getting fodder for this blog is the first challenge!