“I am outside Chirec public school”, i explained in a passive aggressive tone over the sweat covered phone. I could hear my words echoed from the other side “i’m also outside Chirec public school”. Unless there was a portal to a parallel universe, i knew i had come to the wrong address. I was in an unknown city and had put my trust in google maps to be my guide. Guide me, it did. In my haste of finding solid ground and meeting a friend after four years, i had completely overlooked the possibility of two schools by the same name existing in this grand old city. I’ll blame it on sleeping in a bus with hands and legs folded like an amateur contortionist. Perks of being tall in india. I had aching limbs and was delusional from the sun burning down on me at 6:30 in the morning. It would have been 35 degrees at that time. I looked up at the sun. I looked down at my phone. I looked at the annoyed mumbling security guard outside the school. I smiled. He smiled. He murmured through his smile “pleasant day, today”. I nodded. Smiled once again and set out to find the real Chirec school.
My phone’s whatsapp message tone hadn’t stopped buzzing throughout the morning. I found the alarm tone to be Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata compared to that. Ever since the group messaging feature had been introduced, i have not known peace. A dozen groups adorn the walls of my whatsapp window. If i had a rupee for everytime somebody send a silly cat video or a silly joke which they felt was funny after getting drunk at two in the morning, i’d be rich. Rich by my standards at least. I’d be even richer if i had a rupee for everytime one of my old friends got nostalgic out of nowhere and started regurgitating the thoughts of a glorious past we had spent in college and school. As i looked at my whatsapp chat window i couldn’t ignore the 108 messages in a group with my family members. I thought somebody died or somebody got married. Eitherways it was sad news, i thought. To my great surprise it was a verbal joust between two of my uncles. The topic of discussion, you ask? Religion!
I consider religion to be the root of all evil that mankind has had to suffer. In a country which was split apart decades ago in the name of religion, sentiments run high, emotions run fluid and devotion runs deep. Thank god we did not use our logic and common sense to divide the country. That would have been worse. I slowly ran my eyes through the conversation at hand. It was an educated one. Well for a religion oriented conversation at least. That doesn’t say much though. To put it across in a nutshell, two of my uncles with varying views, with regard to the number of times one should pray in a day, was having a go at each other and their philosophies. The reason why i say they were going at each other is because of the personal attacks that was being dished out. The only thing i’d fight so vehemently for is to defend my favourite ice cream flavour. Which by the way is belgian chocolate from haagen daazs. Ironically, they are just a fake pretentious belgian ice cream brand which is actually from the US. I digress. Well they had valid points. The arguments were supported by what seemed to be documentary evidence. Yet there were so many inconsistencies. I wanted to take a side. But i couldn’t. I felt both possibilities could be true. There could be multiple Chirec public schools. They did not see that. They were so convinced with the outcome and their own point of view that they never asked themselves whether they could be wrong. In this age of religious shaming, a little blind faith goes a long way. In both directions. I have always wanted to understand the truth. I am sure all of us have. But unlike the Chirec public school imbroglio, i could not just walk away from one and go find the other when it comes to religion.
Religion should be abstract. It should be personal. It should be for the good of mankind. But it’s not.
“Is not religion all deeds and all reflection, And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, ‘This for God and this for myself; this for my soul and this other for my body’?”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Religion is absolute. It is a public declaration and it divides people. My religion is all that i am and all that i have. And hence, i cannot identify to one predefined religion alone. I’m one part muslim, one part buddhist, one part sikh, one part floydurist and one part laser lotus level seven. When an application form asks me for my religion, i write muslim. What got me there was my mom’s unshakable faith. What kept me here was the teachings of the prophet. To love all. To be kind to the weak. To respect the elders. To respect all. To love thy neighbour. To love all. To avoid causing any harm to any human. To place happiness above money. Those things made absolute sense to me. When i look around i see people drunk on religion unsure of the underlying principle, ‘to do good for man’. Even from a very young age we did things not from the fear of god or hell. We did those things from the love of god and that of the fellow human. I believe in the concept of god, and that god made man in their own poor self image. But women are a different case altogether. We can all agree, god took their own sweet time in creating the fairer sex.
Yes. God is there. I don’t know where exactly. Maybe next to the actual Chirec public school. Maybe on my football field. Maybe on the paths i walk and the paths that i avoid. I don’t know how he or she works. I dont know whether he or she needs to work. We are travelling through the infinite space in a carbon based existence. We torture each other and kill each other in the name of personal beliefs and imaginary boundaries. When the whole world goes up in a shit storm and i still don’t know what i’m here for, it’s good to avoid responsibility and think of god as this mystical being who is just playing a simulation game. Maybe one day i will find my true purpose. Maybe one day i will find god. But for now, i will go find the Chirec public school.
Analogikal 
Leave a reply to Vivek Cancel reply