Divinity intervened

They say charity begins at home. I say taking home some charity is not bad. But some prefer to keep it simple, say, by doing no charity at all, even if they possess enough to feed a super-sized island accommodating at least a million! Sometime back, I came across this piece of news where a certain person of high political value donated a very expensive crown for a divine idol. The next moment, I realised that I had to be helped by a friend from falling out of the chair because she had just blurted out the worth of that crown. If religion were to be personified, then religion in India would proudly proclaim — ‘been there, done that…and for ages!’ Religion has spread its creepers like ivy and has entangled various issues — discrimination being the most jarring thing. I remember reading Colonel Gerald Wellman, an officers’ training instructor, saying once: “We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.” I remember being flabbergasted for the next few seconds and then, breaking into laughter. Amused and amazed, as I have always felt since childhood because of reading about untouchability, this was some enlightenment indeed! Just another day, on my way to office, I realised that five out of seven men in front of me in the metro train had some sort of religious mark on them. It was the most popular one in India — the sacred thread. Marking a man is one way of seeking penance. I chanced by this documentary called Zeitgeist a couple of months ago, courtesy a friend, and till this day, I cannot be more grateful to her. The documentary helps remove the shroud of the unrealistic cloud covering our sensibilities. While penning down the last word of this article, my mind reiterates a few words from that documentary — ‘If you are looking for a story, then it can get no bigger than religion!’