God's own country...yeah right

-
Every religious place in India I've been to so far in my life has the same typical setting. You have a series of shops selling traditional art, bracelets, rings, chains, camera rolls, the lot. The next thing you notice is the sheer number of people relying on tourists to provide them with some sort of livelihood. Why should it be so? I mean there are countless number begging for alms whereas another set wants to make money by offering you a tour round the place, explaining the history (which may turn out to be entirely fake!). Just as you park your vehicle, you are surrounded by people who expect you to behave like some "firangi" and shower them with money. And let's not forget shall we that these sights and experiences are savored after driving on highly broken, pot hole ridden roads.

Now that the welcome is complete, you step into the place and are greeted by the usual smell of rotten, degraded edibles, half burnt incense sticks, long queues where the person behind you is using your shirt as a handkerchief etc etc., I would like to stress at this point that I am not an atheist, in fact I strongly believe in god and if you ask my friends, they would tell you my trademark philosophical dialogues! However what I don't understand is the sheer amount of heritage and importance each temple has to offer. While enlightening us about the significance of why the deity is in a particular shape or form, every explanation sounds satisfactory. In that case, there is no end to the number of temples you need to visit in your entire life. If every place is so important then isn't it sufficient to visit one? Also, the "honorable" priest is not perfect either. To adapt to modern times, multitasking, such as chanting the mantras and speaking over the phone is a common sight. And how can I ever forget the divide they create in the presence of VIPs. Loads of such questions pop up when you think about it.

This is definitely is not a "heat of the moment" thought and has nothing to do with the vast number of temples I've been to lately. Rather it can be regarded as an observation. So the next time you visit a temple, do try to notice some of things I've tried to explain here and let me know if you feel the same.

CURRENT BOOK: Micheal Schumacher, Driven to Extremes (James Allen)
CURRENT SONG: Tanhayee, DCH

Comments

Nagendra S said…
Religion has been called the biggest mass hysteria of all time. Nobody has been able explain it perfectly. Guess we are all just looking for answers in one way or the other!
February 15, 2010 at 12:40 AM
Tejus Subbanna said…
It's true that religion is unexplained but the way it is practiced or preached is questionable.
February 16, 2010 at 10:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From 'Have To' to 'Want To'

-
Ok, so this was a long time in the making.  One of the suggestions I got to keep fit was to start running everyday, or at least 4 times a week. It did not necessarily mean I had to torture myself or even blame myself for skipping a day or two. The idea behind it was to inculcate a sense of discipline that a gym would probably fail to since going to a specific place to be in shape gets boring after a while (probably). Running takes away the certainty from the equation which means there is always something new to look forward to.  Research has time and again showed us that we think a lot better when we are on the move. This explains why some of the greatest minds always took long walks while introspecting or just walking their peers through their ideas. To be honest, none of this made any sense in the beginning. A typical couch potato, I would refuse to step out for a breath of fresh air instead, utilising the time to re-watch some Dragonball Z, which could definitely have waite...
Read more

Of Stories, Conversations and Home

-
One of the best stories I've heard so far goes like this. In an island of great prosperity, there once lived a group of people who were self sufficient. While the elders went fishing in the morning or worked in fields, children went to school and in the evening, they would gather to talk about the day, celebrate their food, play, sing and dance. It was a harmonious environment that the so called 'modern' world would die to achieve. One day, a bunch of people in suits arrive in a bid to promote their business in this hugely prosperous land. The pitch goes like this - Instead of just fishing enough for your family, why don't you try to catch more and export them, make a ton of money, build a great port, send your children to schools around the world and put yourselves on the map? The locals go - Ok, so what next? To this, our man in the Armani cut suit says - After doing all this, sell all your boats, leave behind all the unnecessary things you bought when you w...
Read more

How Hard is it to Apple, Apple?

-
As someone who is curious about success stories, I laud Apple for their comeback in the computing world with the iPhone. Before you dismiss the article as a fanboy Writeup, my two cents would be to give it a read. This is a vague follow up to my previous post on how Blackberry and Nokia let me down with promI sing starts, but unsustainable ideas.  Without doubt, the iPhone is one of Apple's greatest achievements.  Most credit their marketing efforts to lure customers into buying them, making it a major source of revenue with iPads slowly declining in demand and iPods turning to legacy devices exclusively for fans or kids who cannot be handed over an iPhone. But this article shows how great marketing can only succeed with a great product and unified vision of a company.  While the Mac continues to innovate in it’s own space, there is little to no doubt that with the advent of Windows 10, the PC market is going to boom in the coming years and Microsoft’s reinvigorated focus...
Read more