Learning frpm the pigs

My friend who was married off to a rich family, just after high school. She is now a proud mother of three, planning to marry off her daughter as soon as she turns 18. But I believe they’re liberal as per their standards. And I think so because thkids wear their headgear rolled up like a turban and she reposts ‘wailing Palestinian kids’ in her instagram story every other day.

Last day she puts up a post on how ‘not only pigs are unhealthy to eat but also people eating people get certain straits of pigs’. 

I asked her if her post was based on some scientific stidies?

‘But don’t your Bible says so?’

‘Every Semitic religion says the same things. It was based on the knowledge the people had at that time. Today we know pigs is healthy as any other food.’

Eating or wearing something based on you stupid belief is your choice. But claiming exclusivity and judging people who think differently based on your belief system is ridiculous

No religious text is a carta blanc. It should be treated as a point of reference

A small obituary on Mar Chrysostom

ഈ കൊ‌റോണ കാലത്ത് Normalize ആയ ഒരു ആശംസയാണ് RlP. എല്ലാ ദിവസവും whatsapp മുതൽ facebook വരെ ഈ ആശംസയുടെ കൂമ്പാരമാണ്.

പക്ഷേ തിരുമേനിയുടെ വിയോഗം ഒരു വല്ലാത്ത വിഷമമുണ്ടാക്കി.

പള്ളി പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളിൽ സജീവമായിരുന്നപ്പോൾ കേട്ട രണ്ട് കഥകൾ, പിന്നീട് ആ ഭ്രമം തീർന്നപ്പോളും വല്ലാതെ influence ചെയ്തിട്ടുണ്ട്

ഒന്ന് അദ് ദേഹം പണ്ട് കപ്പയും കട്ടൻ കാപ്പിയും ഉപയോഗിച്ച് കുർബാന കൊടുത്തതാണ്. പുറമേ ലിബറൽ tag അകത്ത് നല്ല ഒന്നാന്തരം conservative ആയ സഭയിൽ ഇത് ഒരു വല്ലാത്ത ചർച്ചാ വിഷയമായി.

ഇന്ന് കൊറോണ കാലത്ത് കുർബാന അനുഷ്ഠാനം ഒരു വിവാദ വിഷയം ആകുമ്പോൾ വളരെ മുന്നേ reform ചെയ്യേണ്ട ഒരു practice ആയിരുന്നു എന്നു തോന്നുന്നു.

അതു പോലെ influence ചെയ്ത സംഭവമാണ് പണ്ട് അദ്ദേഹം പൂജപ്പുര ജയിൽ നിവാസികളെ അഭിസംബോധന ചെയ്തു നടത്തിയ പ്രസംഗം

'ഞാനും നിങ്ങളും തമ്മിൽ ഒരു വത്യാസമേ ഉള്ളൂ. ഞാൻ വലിയ കള്ളനായത് കൊണ്ട് ഞാൻ ഇതിൻ്റെ വെളിയിൽ നിൽക്കുന്നു '

ഒരു 'കുറ്റവാളി'യോടുള്ള യാഥാസ്തിതിക സമൂഹത്തിൻ്റെ തന്നെ കാഴ്ചപ്പാട് മാറ്റുന്ന ഒന്നായിരുന്നു ഈ വാചകം.

ചുരുക്കത്തിൽ നിവർന്നു നിന്ന് കാലത്തിൻ്റെ മുന്നേ സഞ്ചരിച്ച മഹാൻ

അയ്യപ്പന്റെ ക്രിസ്മസ് കേക്ക്

തിരുവനന്തപുരത്ത് നിന്ന് 20 km ഉള്ളുവെങ്കിലും സൗകര്യങ്ങളുടെ കാര്യത്തിൽ ഒരു ദശകമെങ്കിലും പിറകിലാണ് ഞാൻ ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്ന സ്ഥലം.

അതു കൊണ്ട് ഓഫീസിലേക്ക് ക്രിസ്മസ് കേക്ക് സിറ്റിയിൽ നിന്ന് വാങ്ങി

കാണാൻ ഒരു മാരക Look ഉള്ള കേക്ക്. എല്ലാവർക്കും Merry Christmas ആശംസിച്ച് ആദ്യത്തെ കഷ്ണം ഞാൻ വായിലേക്കിട്ടു. ഓരോരുത്തർ വന്നു കേക്ക് വായിലിടുന്നു. 

അടുത്തതു കൂട്ടത്തിൽ തടിയന്റെ അവസരം. അവനിങ്ങനെ മടിച്ചു നില്ക്കുന്നു. ഇനി Diet ആണോ?

പെട്ടന്ന് അവിടുള്ള ചേച്ചിയുടെ നിലവിളി 'അയ്യോ കഴിക്കല്ലേ '

ഞാൻ ഒന്നു ഞെട്ടി' എന്താ പ്രശ്നം'

'മലയ്ക്കു പോണൂ സർ'

'മൊട്ട കഴിച്ചാൽ അയ്യപ്പനെന്താ? '

'അതല്ല ഇനിയെങ്ങാനും'

Kerala had this ability to differentiate myth and reality. Now myth is slowly being fused into reality.

Religion cannot replace Science or literature. But today religious texts are glorified as greatest science or literary texts

Encroaching Gods

Years ago many of us thought science, education and development would pose a serious threat to religion. We saw empty churches and priests begging for food, but it was not to be. The religion in turn has proved a serious threat to humanism and civilization.

Today we see an erosion of humanism and rationalism from our thought process. Instead various religious dogmas creep into every space of our lives. We have various religious speakers blaring through in our living rooms, palatial places of worship filled to the brim, huge religious festivals which ensures a few people are sent to heaven in stampede. The satire is not to be lost when we realize that the increased religious fervor has not made the world a better place at all.

 

An even disturbing trend is seen when the governance and state machinery is encroached by religion. Not so long ago the chief minister of a state made a huge donation to the tune of crores to one of the richest temples in the country. Now here, we didn't see much protests or intellectual discussions. How illogical it is to think of wasting tax payers' money for some non existent mythical beings? And to consider this happening in a part of the country where the marginalized are presented with noose of a rope rather than a few thousands of rupees to repay their debt.

 

Religion and castes are important agenda for the political parties today. Today we have children growing up in India with a  narrow mindset and view towards different faith and characters. If you don't believe me check the Facebook friends of your kids and make a rough calculation on number of friends who doesn't belong to his 'class'. Or 'belief'.

 

A few weeks ago, my friend insisted on witnessing a a religious procession. The belief is witnessing the procession grant your wishes. I agreed to witness the spectacle. People were lined up on the sides of the road. Police were deployed for the smooth flow. As the procession approached I was stunned to see throngs of small children accompanying ahead. They were very small and not used to walking long distances. I wondered if the parents would have allowed these children for a peaceful march concerning issues on society.

 

More recently I have been to a pilgrimage centre, happening to be a small church in Kerala. There a holy image is displayed once a year when throngs of people risk stampede to witness the spectacle. I saw people rummaging wastes to collect containers to carry back holy oil.

 

Nonetheless , very recently the capital city celebrated its annual festival of Pongala .Even basic amenities were closed as women lined up in the streets under hot sun to offer Pongala. In a city faced with draught, tonnes of litres of water was wasted. Small and tired children were happily dehydrated to earn the pleasure of the Goddess. The state machinery itself spent crores of rupees for the spectacle.

 

I happen to hear a Panditji speaking the glory of the Goddess. Strangely irrespective of religion the basic  idea of benevolent God is same today. Still, the Pongala Goddess is angered over only one thing- CRITICISM.

 

I am cutting this boring, stupid post short. I want the few of you, who read this to analyse how much of your thought process and decisions you make are based on religion.

Miracles and Rationale

Just the last night a friend shared a facebook post on a miraculous siting somewhere up in northern Kerala. I read the article with some reservation, as it appeared to be from someone faithful. I stopped myself from putting anything negative on the post. Why incur the wrath of Gods!

  At different points in our lives, questions will be asked on our belief system. Be it in people or in God. And it is not so easy to come out strong through that
Years ago when I was too naïve and innocent about the world, we had a miraculous happening in our town. At an English school run by an Anglo Indian couple, some Muslim kids spotted Jesus in their classroom during the lunch breaks, while the Christian students were out for their daily prayers. This led to some huge spiritual chaos as the news spread like wildfire. My chest was puffed with pride as one essential question of ‘ Whose God is real’ seemed to have been answered. I went around, with a puffed chest, telling my Muslim friends about the spiritual encounter of their counterparts with MY God  

The school organized a two-week vacation Bible school and miracle crusade. The Bible classes for kids were in the mornings and the miracle crusade in the evenings. The classes were led by a handsome American guy who taught us Gospel songs in foreign accent and the miracle crusades by the miracle worker from Tamil Nadu   I started enjoying the whole programme- the accented Gospel songs and the crusade.

I never had an opportunity to watch a miracle crusade from close quarters before. This was an opportunity for me to witness the action from front row. Since this was a programme mainly meant for the kids, there was no much scope for any terminal illness. The illness, at its worst, would be a fever. But then there were may wearing spectacles. ( Back then we watched a lot of video games and ended up wearing specs). To my utter surprise there arose, many whom I knew, claiming they could see without their specs. The preacher called them to the front and asked them to read their Bible without their glasses. There arouse a collective gasp. I had pretty thick glasses too, which I wanted to get rid off. I shut my eyes tight and prayed hard. And then I opened to see the world was blurred still. I consoled myself saying, maybe my faith wasn’t strong enough.

  But then I witnessed a curious thing. The same guys were wearing the glasses the next day. That was my first ‘shake of faith’. I struggled to comprehend the events just seen. It went for a even violent shake up the next day.

I happened to be sitting next to a guy during the session. He had the tattoo of a cross on his hand. I don’t know why I noticed the tattoo at that point of time. Towards the end of the session this guy gets up and goes to the podium, claiming that the cross mysteriously appeared in his hand while praying I was surprised and shaken.

That point in my life turned out to be defining in itself. As the years passed I started viewing things more rationally and I read more liberal literature  

The last day my folks were talking about a Catholic Charismatic building coming up. Probably, people wouldn’t have to travel far away for the spiritual encounter. The whole infrastructure and money associated with such a unit is huge and we will have to appreciate the people working behind this I have known a few people who had this spiritual encounter resulting in a physical healing and there so many people who haven’t had the privilege to. There are many people who had to go through a relapse after some brief ray of hope.  

I am not being judgmental about the whole thing. But it would do no harm, if we use a more liberal approach on our views about our own religion or religion of others.
The last day I visited a church known in the name of a martyr from 1st century. I walked around the church and there were no hint about life and times of the saint, but offertory boxes all around

The woes of Pongala

Sree wouldn't have imagined such strong repercussion when he posted his thoughts on Pongala and the innumerable difficulties it brings to the citizens. This snowballed into a barrage of abuses with him being termed as anti-national, anti-hindu, sickular etc. Sree did the wise thing by simply removing the post.

It isn't uncommon these days for the people getting more and more hyper-sensitive about religion. The people have becoe aware and identify with their religios and cultural beliefs which inturn helps them to identify with their nation and fellow citizens. In a way it may be good to prevent a slippage into anarchy, while it becomes more and more difficult to identify yourselves with a neighbour of different ideas and beliefs.

India has always been a religin f spirituality, religion and Gods. Men of power realized that the easiest way to rule is to divide. Back then, in an agrarian society where mutual co-habitation was necessary for survival certain differences were tolerated for survival. Even then the society was not free of racial tension rifling ino riots.
Today in a scenario where individuals become independent in terms of his survival, he can coin his own thoughts irrespective of neighbour. But in an urban setup where physical spaces are less and information sharing takes place in a crazy speed throughout the breadth and width of the society, impact of religion and race could be catastrophic.

A decade ago Pongala was a local festival of the city where women spread out to few kilometeres to cook in the open air. In the eveining it was a prety thing to see the women crowding on public buses to rerach home. Even before that Pogala was a festival the rich household sent their servants to celebrate
Thanks to some marketing gimmicks of the temple and adoption by  the media to develope this festival as some sort of cultural wonder plus world record fete, it got hold of public imagination. The film stars flocked into cook pongala in frnt of five star hotels. Various associations started even bigger cooking fetes  of breakfast and lunch for the poor darlings. Then the sad truth that Devi would show her displeasure if you don't cook rice for her has made this a huge exhibition of vulgarity. People has  to tolerate this show for the sake of national integration and secularism. All the shops and hotels close down. In the evenings over enthusiastic youths thrust cheap sodas into the faces of tired fat aunties. And all the garbage is cleaned out of the city by burning it all up.

Secularism is not tolerating bullshit