Finding God

No, this is not an article about God. No, this is not a spoof on God. And yes, the title was meant to be read like 'Finding Nemo' or 'Finding Dory'.

Recently through a new game that I have adopted, I involved myself into quite a survey on the NH8 highway connecting Delhi and Gurgaon. The game involved finding any reference to Lord Krishna (image or text) during the one hour journey that i took everyday on the same route from my home to office. Well, I started onto this game with just fun and some faith. I only thought that in a country like ours where God is more feared than prayed to, it shouldn't be hard to find the reference. I had no idea that this vague game would turn to a survey stretching over more than a week and now translating to a blog post.

From most common to rarest in nature -

God is omnipresent or so we are told. Yet, I think people believe that Lord Hanuman is lost somewhere. Most people like to keep idols or plastic mutations of his look-a-like in flying pose in their cars. This is only given competition to by Lord Shiva who is remembered through the writings 'Om', 'Om Namah Shivay', 'Shiv', so on and forth. If we take a whole count of both image and text included, Shiv ji would win. If we take a separate count, Hanuman ji would win the image/statue category. Well, i don't think this should be much of a concern since Hanuman ji is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva himself. Hence, in a way the award goes to the same super being.

Following them closely are people they loved most. In text form, Lord Ram has to be quite significantly seen. Now, I am sure that we don't really understand Ram. I mean, we are taught he was great and a God incarnation and thus, we bow are heads and fold our hands and pray to him. But do we really know him? As a person - how did he become so beloved and maryada-purshottam? Yet, whenever a child goes to school in India and is taught any language, he or she makes sentences using Ram as the person. No other name strikes. Same goes to the people who own cars. Naam toh likhwa liya, par Ram ko na dhoondha... na paaya. 

In the image/statue category, the runners up position is taken by Ganesh ji. Now, every time you go buy a car, if you are a Hindu, the car vendor will himself give you a Ganesh idol to place in the car. This number gets impacted as some people want fancier or different idols and also, Hanuman ji id modelled into a flying miniature which is tied to the rear view mirror and present along with others Gods. Also, Ganesh ji doesn't have any stickers and very rare textual appearance.

Overall, it would be difficult to judge whom to place ahead of the other. So, lets call this a tie.

Third place is occupied by Lord Krishna. I didn't imagine but my game was quite easy once I started playing. Quite a few people adore their cars with multiple representations of Lord Krishna - picture sticker, name, chant, name reference under a bow which has to be a symbol of some religious guru. There are lot many images of his childhood form, his peacock feather or his murali. Even in text form you can find his name in quite a few places.

In my journey, I am also bound to find atleast one car with Lord Durga sticker. A very few cards will have the waheguru symbol and even fewer cars will have the cross hanging from the rear view mirrors.

Apart from these inferences on popularity of Gods and Godesses, there are two other important inferences that i derived from this little experiment.

Firstly, the cars I see daily are almost the same except that the number changes. Like there is a car with 'Kapoor' green coloured sticker on the hind window. I see it often but not daily. Thus, we can safely conclude that almost the same bunch of people are using the road everyday during the same time of the day. Also, this group can thin or thick as they wish. In General, I see more cars without any God reference increase gradually.

Second and the important inference is that most of the cars that have God images or name stickers or statues are with yellow number plates or to put it formally, are the commercial vehicles. Forget buses and trucks but most of these are taxis (thanks to Ola and Uber). Now, as a passenger I would feel concerned if I am to travel with a stranger on the NH and the car has so much God on it that it practically screams - only God can help complete this trip safely.

I am not sure but since I have used God and names of Gods so much, hopefully this post might be pretty successful.

If I were to lose all my five senses, except one, which one would I choose and why?

Okay… I know that I don’t really blog such kind of things and this would be my first attempt but this was the topic given to me at the Just-A-Minute competition conducted at my college during our annual fest this year. First of all, I take this big platform to thank Hemanshu Joshi… who not only convinced me to take part but is a very nice person to know and a wonderful secretary. I am glad that the committee came to you and Arun, of course, who is equally a gem! Thank you guys! :)

Now….

If I were to lose all my five senses, but one, I would choose to keep my eye sight. Quite honestly, I feel my eyes are really pretty and I would never want to lose them. Furthermore,

"All things bright and Beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful…

The good Lord made them all!"

The God has created a wonderful and beautiful world for us. I don't want to lose my eyes and miss any part of this mystical creation of the Lords'. I also plan to donate my eyes after I leave, so someone else could have my pretty eyes and also see this wonderful world.

Moving ahead… I may not be able to touch someone but I can see them in front of me. I guess that is sufficient. I already know the fire would burn me, I can see a fire and judge that. I don't need to burn myself each time.

I may not be able to talk to you but you can always write to me and if I can see, I can read what you want to tell me. Also, I might not be able to talk to you but I can write back (but hey, speaking is not in the five senses, is it?) and then you can read what I want to say to you.

I may not be able to hear your voice and figure out how you feel but I can always see you smile or frown and act accordingly. Voice can be manipulated but your expressions cannot be.

I may not be able to taste something and tell how it is but I can see the colour and have a fairly good idea of how it would be tasting. I can see the look on the face of someone smelling it and figure out if they like it… I can see how you look when you taste it and know if you like it or not.

Now, I don't say that the other senses are replaceable… It is just a simple perspective, which btw, won me the first position. So just thought I would share!!

29 states?

I don’t know if you heard the new joke on facebook but its "If Congress rules over for another 5 years, even Google will not be able to search India"…

I know that I myself called this as a joke, but like said by someone great "One's tragedy becomes other's comedy"… just in this case, the joke is also on the citizens of India and its also us that we be ignorant and laugh. But if I may take a moment and urge every Indian citizen to be a little more responsible and give the state of our country, a serious thought.

I have taken the 29 states - Telangana thing as just an opportunity for discussion but it is not the only topic of concern today. There are several of the same or higher intensity.

But first let's try to see how grave a situation the Telangana matter is.

I was browsing facebook and that is how I came to know that any such thing is happening. Right, I accept that its my fault to not read newspapers that I am never updated, but the thing of surprise was that my family or friends, who knew this, they never considered it important enough a news to even inform me. My mother would go on lengths discussing the family matters and my friends got all the time in the world to discuss which movie is better, but like there wasn’t a moment with either of them to even inform me this. And when I asked my mother, there wasn’t a single speck of worry in her tone. It sounded as if the most obvious thing to happen, was this.

I mean, seriously people? Is Chennai Express breaking all records of Salman's movies, a bigger deal than that? Don’t answer me, just ponder over it. And also on the ratio of the number of people who would have given the previous one a thought and the number of people who would have given the later one a thought.

Like every great citizen, even I blame the Government for displaying such lack of wisdom. But well, we all know, what they are displaying has nothing to do with wisdom and lots to do with 'continuing their rule without opposition'.

Don’t take me wrong people - I am NOT ANTI-CONGRESS. Yes, there was a time when I was pro-BJP but that was before former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, retired. As of now, I don’t even believe in Arvind Kejriwal. All these people are one and the same. Even in the long run, I suspect if Arvind Kejriwal will turn out any different. And I wont even blame him. Indian politics has just become a scheme to cash out. The fight is just who gets the ticket and the rank is based on who is able to suck more out.

Even writing this, I feel ashamed. It is not the case that people don’t realize what is happening, it is just that we all like to sit where we feel cozy and just discuss that the country is going to dogs.

There was a time when my friend and I decided to write out a blog and press on the political issues of the country. Yes, we didn’t get much to write it but today I reckon that it would take a lot more than a few blog entries to awaken the nation. A lot more!

As in - we are living in a country where any so-called-terrorist can issue a warning to watch out during the Independence Day? Try doing that to the 4th of July and you will see how the USA literally slaps you. And this is not only USA but every country that got dignity - which will be every country but India.

Every day the Indian soldiers are killed on the border without any war… Its like the Pakistan Ministers have no longer any control over their army for at one place we are talking about making peace but on the other they are just killing the people.

I would really like a moment here - I am NOT ANTI-PAKISTAN. It's not Pakistan who is responsible for it but the country is again as unfortunate as ours and landed in the hands of the wrong kind. Sad part was that Pakistan was unfortunate right from the time of partition and so we can see that the politics in their country often even involves assassinations and what not? But don’t worry, we are definitely on the same path… and its just a matter of years where all the treacherous people will do their dirty work out in the open.

I really find the partition the most deplorable thing that has ever happened to India as well as Pakistan. The partition not only divided our lands, changed our identities and made us weak enough to seek shelter from our former rulers and their kind; but it also split one power which if had stood united, would have made wonders happen. And trust me people, I am not lying. The worst thing that really happened to us was partition and just to make matters worse, the Governments decided to break the unity among people based on religion. I have known a few people from the other side of the so-called-line and they are as humane as you can think. The people over there are also suffering, rather owning to their political conditions, they are definitely enduring worse than we could think; But isnt this how we all always have been?

Even before, the Indian sub-continent, when stood united, had endured a number of invasions from outside and never, let me just stress - NEVER did we even oppose. We were always the patient people who believed in hardwork and never in exploitation of any form. This is the sole reason that we survived and sailed out successfully from the years of attacks. And history witnesses it, never in India, there have been wars or depressions like in the rest of the world.

We are still the same, but now its just people have targeted us; used us to gain power; and chosen us to display their power as well. With all terrorism and Chinese crossing boundaries, I am scared of what future might reveal to me in a number of years.

As horrifying it is to deal with the forces from outside, there are chthonic monsters within who are constantly eating us from within making us hollow and leaving us weak.

Another example to cite the same would be the reaction our Government has to offer to the Nirbhaya-rape-case accused. I don’t recall the name, but there is another heart-shattering story of a girl whose face was ruined by acid by some guys who would tease her and then when she opposed, I just mentioned what noble thing they did.

Is the Government like blind? Or wait, here the target is definitely not the Government, but the judicial system - STOP COMING UNDER INFLUENCE OF THE POLITICIANS. Have brains? Use them… and if you don’t, trust me you are in the worst possible place!

These are just two cases and there are several more I am not writing about, and even more that I don’t know about and several others that don’t even get in the Police registers. Are we heading from a male-dominant country to a male-only country? For at the rate the crimes against women are increasing, have guys become such uncontrollable lot? There is no decorum left at all? And even the Policemen are committing are committing such crimes.

As a girl, I really want to ask everyone who keeps their ears open - just for I am born with a XY pair, am I to fall prey to such a fate in my own country?

"I am an Indian and all the countrymen are my brothers and sisters" - this is what they taught me at school but if a girl like me is pleading for justice, not a single brother or sister is there to help her. I mean total hats off to the Government and the judicial system that even after a nationwide protest about what happened to Nirbhaya, they have been very much successful to keep their ears shut and just count their money.

Let me just one small question - where are you going with all the money? I mean, I hate to break it out upon you but we come on this planet with a body but we leave behind even that when we depart. And with all such money you are never buying a safe future for your children, you are just buying them lots more hatred from the people you have so much squeezed the money out from.

I am not going to write about this topic, for being an Indian and a girl, I feel an anger building inside me whenever I think about it; think about what has become of the human species and what have they done to this beautiful creation of human - Earth and especially to India.

This article will never really end if I keep writing. There are endless issues if you see - the negligence of the Government on the Uttarakhand floods. Trust me guys and girls, they were floods. A number of villages have ceased to exist. And forget about the number of people dead AND ROTTING THEIR ON THE SO CALLED HOLY-GROUND INCREASING THE CHANCES OF A PLAGUE OR ANY OTHER DEADLY DISEASE TO KILL A FEW THOUSANDS MORE. After all, over-population is the major problem in India and it is so nice of our Government to give us a chance to fight it so effectively. [There should be a big GAALI here, but I want my blog to be neat enough… so..]

And yes, the falling of rupee. Let me just say - *speechless*.

Sorry people, I am not here to blame anyone. A small Government is never powerful enough to achieve all these just by itself. Its our lack of responsibility and ignorance that has made it powerful enough. This article is just to shake you up a little and let you see light. I really request you, if you are reading this, and even if there is a small thing that you can do right, I beg you, please do it right. Small rights will eventually make a good difference in all our lives. I beseech each and every individual to see the light and just for once, think not about Shahrukh-Salman but about what you owe to this country… the land that has been your identity, source of your food and everything you have known………….

Is 'God' dead?

Hey there,

Well first of all, I have no intentions to ever hurt anyone or any feelings. I don’t feel to write this to any specific community or people, I mean general.

Honestly, I believe that there is only one God. There is one ultimate supreme (that's why he is called so :P) and that we all, like we speak in different languages, we have learnt to call him or remember him with different names. That doesn’t mean that he is different to me than he is to you and that he would ever prefer his one child over the other.

God is definitely like a father who is always there, constantly guiding us, helping us, making us stronger and a better person to walk this planet… Now, is he?

Watching the Supernatural Season 05 (which is cool, if you take it from me), I can't help but ponder over this question.

With what recently happened in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand (India) where 10z of 1000z of people who went to pilgrimage, one of the prime most temples of Lord Shiva in India, they were killed by the devastating flood and high tides, which swept away lives, property, automobiles and even entire villages in itself. Now, that place remains unattended to. There were several rescue operations but none of them good enough to save people. Yes, people were saved, but help arrived atleast after 3 days. People were forced to live in hunger and helpless… lying there and watching there loved ones die or wandering helplessly to search someone lost.

And what about the families that have been entirely swept away? There is no record of such people… there is no one left to even bother about them. And this is just the "human" count. There would be a number of cattle, poultry and other animals like cats and dogs which lost their lives. Maybe even foxes and hyenas, which are rather common in those places.

Now, thanks to our wonderful Government, the bodies of the dead are still lying there, rotting. Only the bodies which remained in the temple premises have been thrown outside it. Rest, they are all decorated there, probably as a reminder to what has become of humans?

I ask, all these people, each and every one of them… were they all this bad and this corrupt to have such a fate? They went to pilgrimage and now as they are dead, don’t they even deserve a decent CREMATION? Hello GOVERNMENT?? Are you even bothered?

Sorry, I got a little overboard, but that was just an example. There are several such incidents that take place over and over again, in different parts of the world. People, when I ask them the same, tell me that we are near to the 'Apocalypse'… Really?

What is Apocalypse? The End? Some say that’s an entry to the beginning… Others say that there is a lot of evil penetrating on the planet and the Apocalypse is the solution to eradicate it.

Well then, how did this evil come into being?

Again, quoting Supernatural, God created me! If I do a sin, God is the one who made me like the way I am and so he certainly must have foreseen me doing such a thing. Then why didn’t he kill me there and then? Why let someone be a sinner? Or maybe, he could have improved me.

Definitely God's one of the most divine creations is humans, and we are blessed that he has given us so much to be thankful about but then we arent perfect. And if he watches over us, doesn’t he get hurt when his children hurt each other.

I can definitely guarantee that there is no person on Earth who hasn’t hurt another person ever. And hurt? Remember the 16 December Delhi Rape Case? It was beyond insanity. Even animals mustn't be that crude.

Why does God sit silent to see this? Now well, you will say that the flood could be a way of his to punish… but again back to what I said… was each and every victim of these floods guilty enough, corrupt enough to get that fate? And yet we still have the Rapists and other even worse people locked up in our Jails for years and will be there for years to come, all in peace and leisure. There are sinners who have done worse, in larger scales, yet they plead innocence and are often even given freedom while people like Sarabjeet Singh, die horrible deaths!
 

Dear God,

If you are listening, as I believed that you do listen… Why or rather how can you see all this and stay silent? Either you want to end this world, and that too ruining it to the last bit or you are a sadist or worst of all, you arent there anymore. Maybe you have taken a long vacation or you are dead!

If you are on a vacation, people need you. Your children and you should really be back…

And if you intend to burn this Earth in your wrath for whatever be your reasons, I just don’t understand you. If I even write few lines on a piece of paper, I think twice about it before letting a crease come on that paper for it took my effort and most of all heart to do that thing.

Please God, don’t do this!

And no matter what Supernatural got to say, I wont believe that you are dead or even that you can die. You are just angry for some reason and I wish you would stop being angry and make us see right. That's always an option… ;)