Worship - Ala 'Ram Mandir - Babri Masjid' issue!

So with the new BJP govt in the state of UP, inevitably the news revolves around the never ending Indian saga "Ram Mandhir - Babri Masjid" issue.

No, I'm not an expert and neither do I want to ruffle feathers. But I do have the right to voice my opinion though and here it is. Not really on the issue as such, but the entire idea of going to 'Religious structures' to worship a supposedly omnipresent being.

I'm taught to, and have been going to churches on Sundays to worship. I completely understand the logic of a public gathering for worship! But do we need structures exclusively constructed for the purpose of worship? Agreed, the sanctity and the serenity of the worship places help worship. But are they more important than the worship itself?

Oh my mind! The stupidly logical mind. It questions everything.

Can't we gather in a small home to worship whenever we want? Should we gather in such huge numbers, invariably disturbing the general public? And why this public affirmation of worship in the first place? I mean, why should your neighbour even know that you are worshipping the creator?

As far as I know, the word 'Church' of the bible denoted groups of people, not structures built by human hands! And especially when these structure themselves create controversies, should we not just bury them of as unnecessary appendages in the journey of life? Should we be carrying baggages for 500 long years? Doesn't the God of the ages, consider peace and harmony more important than man made constructions?

Dear world, we live for a petty twenty thousand days! Searching for peace, and looking for it in the worship of God is important! But let not our worship, its patterns, its intricacies and the rituals disturb the peace of another man. And that is primarily not what worship is designed for!

The women's day business and the women I wish I had known better!

Another usual day. The dad called as usual as soon as his evening walk started. It is international women's day today, said he! Ya, I read about it, I replied nonchalantly. They don't excite me anymore as much as it used to. Then he said, it was his mother's death anniversary as well! That got me going.

She was one woman who I wish I had known better. 

Working in one of the leading medical colleges in the country or even the world, sometimes makes me lift my collar up. Not a big deal; More than 10,000 people work with me. Yet, there is this sense of belonging to a prestigious organisation with such repute and history. And this woman, my grandmother, belonged to the first batch of MBBS, which Aunt Ida, the founder herself started. Isn't that something?

Many times as I walk through the streets of the small town of sivakasi, I have had people ask me, "Gnanadurai amma peron ah nee(Are you the grandson of Dr. Gnanadurai?). And this almost 15-20 years after her death.

How I wish she had been here now? I would have asked her how Aunt Ida looked like?How hard she worked? What was it to be the lone lady doctor in those parts of South India? Why did she chose sivakasi? Or did Sivakasi choose her? What made her give away the plenty of opportunities to go abroad and live life there? How was it to be married to a maniacal economist? a strict pastor? And more importantly, a writer? How close was she to her brothers, and the sister ( Who was stopped from continuing medical studies, since my gandma could not be married off easily)? How did it feel losing a brother so early in life? 

Oh yes, I would definitely have asked how it was growing up the three children? How different was the girl from the boys? 

I have had questions on how difficult it is to be one of the few women who went to college rather than get married and settle down. I would have surely asked her that. When the world around thought women were not good enough to study, what made her decide to go on? Surely there would have been the societal pressure. Questions, questions, questions! I would have bombarded her with so many of minds crazy questions.

Well, Grandma, the world celebrated women's day on your anniversary! May be just to remind us, the children, the grandchildren and the great grand children, that there once lived a woman who fought all odds, and lived life on her terms, because of whom, in whom, and through whom we all came into existence. 

BJP and the 'Development'conundrum!

Well, we have all heard that word! Haven't we? Development! One man sold that word from every nook and corner of this country. We believed him. Of course, we din't have an option. Yet, I'm still confused on what in that word made us believe in him. Come let us do an analysis.

So I think the definition of development included bringing in more Jobs, which means bringing in more private companies. And that means enticing the companies to set up shops in India. But sadly according to the labour bureau reports the last year has seen the lowest year on year growth since 2009 barring 2012 for which the data is missing.

The other major charge which the now ruling party and all of us had on the then ruling party was the depreciating value of rupee! And the increased cost of petrol, diesel and the Gas. Well, the less said about the prices of these three, the better for the current govt. The sad part is the global prices of the oil contents have come down and yet not ours.

Yes, we wanted the bullet trains, the smarter, cleaner cities. With due regards to the PM, they take some time to come and he has started the process I presume.

Has the corruption come down? May be yes. May be no! No big fish is being caught. But that may also mean the big fishes are escaping the catch.Oh ya I forgot the black money! The election commission has caught 3 times more money in this elections than in the previous elections, which means the demonetisation has not worked well.And in fact demonetisation surely makes people think that the GDP growth is fudged.

The education budget has been reduced! For the first time ever since I started following budgeting. Not that our govt schools have started doing better.

Health care, Well, I have been in that sector now for a few years to know that we are going fast in to a deep pit.

So what exactly was the development he meant? What did that word mean, that attracted us to him?

Market capitalism, which I think is what people wanted out of Modiji and BJP cannot co-exist with the religious fundamentalism ideology of the current ruling party. And elections funded by the capitalistic bigwigs cannot repay us in the kind we want.

Next time when he comes riding on that word 'development'again,ask him clearly what and whose development he means?

May be he meant the development of 'Religious fundamentalism, fascism and bigwig capitalists'.