Dedications

Always thought the issue and problem was ‘my God is better than yours’ whereby we have evangelists from every religion preaching how good their religion and some even stooping as low as to prove how their religion or God is better than the others. This rot has brought the world to such a level where today religion has become root cause of all problems we are facing, and it is not restricted to one religion as we would like to make ourselves believe. Sexual scandals in the Catholic Church, Guru’s who preach Hinduism involved in scams and sexual slavery, acts of violence glorified by the Jews and Muslims, and the list is endless and to make it worse is the difference of opinions within the religions itself within its various sects or divisions.

In my childhood I remember the Church used to have a ‘crib competition’ which is even prevalent now where families would depict the birth of Christ, by erecting small cribs at home with small statues, of Mother Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, and with animals around showing the poverty in which Christ was born in a stable. The innocence and the real purpose of the exercise is long lost, where it was meant to reflect and build the crib in your daily lives, and the crib competition was just to build on that message, and improve the fervor in our homes, and have Christ and his teachings as a central part of our homes. Instead today it is more a display of creativity and wealth and cribs are built like as if we are competing for a race. The whole essence of Christianity is lost in the process and needless to mention after the competition even Christ is lost as the crib is dismantled and statues packed and stored in some attic.

Been immensely fortunate and blessed to have an education in a very secular environment and having lived in a cosmopolitan neighborhood, religious festivities of the neighbor’s religion were longed for and participated in, as one family. Then the whole concept of neighbor or neighborhood is no longer there, as many don’t know who their neighbors are, besides maybe the immediate neighbors, and many don’t want to know who their neighbors are. In my days walking into any neighbor’s home was just like walking into my home and many a times even sit share a meal with then if I happened to walk in at a meal time. Today walking into another room within a home is a formality. With fellowship and love within families and neighborhood diminishing, gets me wondering what God or religion we are celebrating and competing with? To make it worse the increase of hatred within families and society is on the rise.

God and religion is now regaled to competition where at Bakri Eid it is a display of many goats or how big a goat is sacrificed; for Diwali it is display how much crackers (money) can be blown up in smoke; at Christmas it is which spirits will be downed and the spirit of Christmas is anyway down. The heartbreak is the latest competition of which Ganpathi idol is the biggest and the best. Can understand which is the biggest, but which is the best? How can one Ganpathi be better than another? Why are we making a competition of God and religion? The say life is a rat race and one needs to compete to stay on top, but is God in the race too. All I can do is make my petition and prayer to the rat, on whom Lord Ganesh is known to ride and carrier of prayers to Him, to drive sense into mankind and have them compete in charity, love, peace and harmony and not compete with the size of His idols.