To me ie..

Religion was and is a scarce word for me. It to me, means of god, who besides being accommodating and very adjusting, is also just, fair and kind hearted. Just like (I would like to believe) me. This is not to say I am god or anything but that my belief is what lies within me and makes me strong, gives me hope and consolation that tomorrow when I wake the world as I know it, will still be there.

We are a generation that is very proud of the fact that we expand boundaries are we move forward. So then how is it, that all around me I see my colleagues, some friends as well, seek religion in an unholy tainted light and are extremely proud of it.

The age-old argument, that no religion ever condoned death, killing, looting and pillaging under the name of religion, is not even deemed of a mention here. Education has drilled it into our pithy brains but with a habit to learning to rote from that young an age made sure that you learned it but not imbibed it.

Perhaps because many misconceptions of other religions not being cleared lead to so many misconceptions of intolerance. But in a religion as old as mine, when painted in fanatical light, also looks just as much ambiguous.

Today I am surrounded with people who border on fanaticism and these are educated people, who in school were taught equality and brotherhood is a civil right and something every human was born to bred in. Some of them are my friends and as much I hate to say so, I am ashamed they think like this. I would have like to believed the I associate with like minded people but that is not to be.

Fanaticism comes coloured in all kinds of hues, including saffron and green. At that point, which religion is shouting itself hoarse it does not matter. Innocent people die. And whichever faith agrees with this dogma cannot be called as a faith to remember god by.

I did not pay attention to politics till I realized how much it is tainted with bloodshed from communal disharmony. And for most us, as the second to third generation of Independent India, divide and rule was a policy employed by the British. But they were outsiders who exploited us for their end, right?

Today’s politicians are doing the same thing but to make matters worse, they are Indians themselves. And we are foolish to play into their hands. They interpret non-existent lines in existing books and use that as an excuse to damage archives that can never be restored.

They get their votes for the next election but for a future generation a piece of history is forever lost. But who cares right?

A lot has been written about Gujarat - its mindless violence, the supposed ethnic cleansing, the convenient attitude of the law, the politicos, the mafia, how they were one – I can go on and on.

But when an MBA working in a multinational in Mumbai turns around and calmly announces “it was needed”, it becomes difficult to decide who has committed a more heinous crime. Because that same MBA will tomorrow pass the same view to his children and their children. These children will read about destroyed documentation over imaginary lines and destroy some more, not allowing this vicious circle to end.

I am not a fanatic and I don’t need to be one, to be one with my God. And I hate being pushed into a corner so that I should justify my beliefs. My education so far has taught me that as long you live your as your values teach you, do your duties nothing and no one will interfere between you and your faith.

But as days pass and more and more of my friends turn to religion for salvation and may be even hope, they are perhaps compelled to demand justifications from every one else. There is phrase I came across in school “nau sau choohe khakar billi haj ko chali” which perfectly suits the incidence I am talking about.

Not that there is anything wrong with becoming deeply religious but if u becoming deeply religious means you mock some one else’s belief or even belittles him, it just makes you small.

But over night if your faith can restore itself so firmly, what about all those people who have been living and following the same faith every day? How come they have it so well balanced while your scales tip dangerously towards being a fanatic?

At the end of the day, it is a faith that keeps you moving forward and that is the best part. That some one is looking after you and keeping a check on you. How should it matter that your faith and your friend’s faith is different. It makes his faith no less effective or different. He too believes in the same things – but just chooses to express it differently.

One of the recent popular and much talked about books say “after all my friend, the Bible did not from heaven by fax”. This is true of most religious texts. And while they are interpretations, they do tell you how to live your life to the fullest while blending your faith into your daily life. But one text does not make the others null and void.

There are still instances of wonderful secularity in my sight where a Muslim boy is brought up by a Hindu aaya and together they daily visit a Christian shrine. The boy, fluent in three languages, is small and perhaps still to form his opinions. But, as his father puts it, either he will grow up extremely secular or extremely confused.

For his sake and mine, I hope, it is the former.