Few days ago one of my relatives organised a Grih Pravesh(a ritual Indians do before shifting to a new home). Much to my unwillingness, i was invited. I had to go because my parents thought since my relative and i live in the same town, my absence will be seen as contemptuous and they will not turn up in case anything happens to me. You know no one can match the foresightedness of our typical Indian parents in these matters.
So I went there halfheartedly. I was received by a person who has read nothing but pages of ignominy in his entire life. He looked hapless and frustrated as usual but tried his best to conceal it. I don't remember if i ever saw him in his savage avatar but if you got to listen to his deeds, they are nothing short of horrendous stories of which one can only imagine. It is strange to see that a smile can be such a beautiful mask to such an animal. No, i don't loathe him but you know your actions define you. Whatever why am i talking about him?
Back to the story, i reached at their apartment and ritual was already in progress. There were many people and much of them were looking uninterested. If you are curious and want to see a great number of people uninterested at the same time,it will sound abnormal but i suggest observe an indian ceremony that includes a lot and lot of relatives. See, here is the problem. People will come to celebrate your doings, but they are mostly unhappy inside. How can a celebration can be celebrated without happiness, core happiness. To the extent i understood my society, i felt that relatives are the people who can't digest your success, happiness. Exceptions exist. Like me, people have appeared to keep their relationship smooth and no one was concerned about the achievement of buying an apartment. There was formality all around. You can count me in the ilk of such relatives and if i resist this you can label me untrue. I leave this to your discretion. But these are not those thing that irritates me, what irritates me is something bigger.
As i entered the front room, a pandit(who guides the worshippers) was chanting mantras. I observed him for 20 minutes and nowhere in that time his face suggested that he is performing these rites out of his sheer faith in god. He is performing this because he is born Brahmin, his ancestors have done same, he is master in remembering mantras and this is the best way to earn in minimum effort. Later i came to know that he has made ₹5000 for three hours of rites. What a clever profession!
The same goes with my relative who under the guidance of pandit(read con) was involved in complete bull shit believing that these havans and pooja will avert all the lurking misfortunes. In the mean time they were persuading him to cut it short because it was already midnight and relatives had to go to their homes. I was shocked. What kind of pooja is this that at the beginning you start with zeal embedded with devotion and gradually you get bored and want it to complete as soon as possible. Must be a formal one which one does because of two factors. Firstly because of deep rooted fear in sub-conscious mind that without worshiping god it will be inauspicious to enter into a new home. Second point is also related with fear that if they don't do so how can they face relatives who will say nothing but ill about them. You know people these days are quite fearful. They are god-fearing,relatives-fearing,society-fearing and this list never ends.This havans and pooja,like other ceremonies were just a formality which were embellished with fake devotion. And this irritates me.
You see these days i am becoming more cynical toward religion,caste and all those thing which are linked with god one way or another. I want to write more but this blog has already gone in lengths so let me call it a day.
Will be back very soon. Thank you.
So I went there halfheartedly. I was received by a person who has read nothing but pages of ignominy in his entire life. He looked hapless and frustrated as usual but tried his best to conceal it. I don't remember if i ever saw him in his savage avatar but if you got to listen to his deeds, they are nothing short of horrendous stories of which one can only imagine. It is strange to see that a smile can be such a beautiful mask to such an animal. No, i don't loathe him but you know your actions define you. Whatever why am i talking about him?
Back to the story, i reached at their apartment and ritual was already in progress. There were many people and much of them were looking uninterested. If you are curious and want to see a great number of people uninterested at the same time,it will sound abnormal but i suggest observe an indian ceremony that includes a lot and lot of relatives. See, here is the problem. People will come to celebrate your doings, but they are mostly unhappy inside. How can a celebration can be celebrated without happiness, core happiness. To the extent i understood my society, i felt that relatives are the people who can't digest your success, happiness. Exceptions exist. Like me, people have appeared to keep their relationship smooth and no one was concerned about the achievement of buying an apartment. There was formality all around. You can count me in the ilk of such relatives and if i resist this you can label me untrue. I leave this to your discretion. But these are not those thing that irritates me, what irritates me is something bigger.
As i entered the front room, a pandit(who guides the worshippers) was chanting mantras. I observed him for 20 minutes and nowhere in that time his face suggested that he is performing these rites out of his sheer faith in god. He is performing this because he is born Brahmin, his ancestors have done same, he is master in remembering mantras and this is the best way to earn in minimum effort. Later i came to know that he has made ₹5000 for three hours of rites. What a clever profession!
The same goes with my relative who under the guidance of pandit(read con) was involved in complete bull shit believing that these havans and pooja will avert all the lurking misfortunes. In the mean time they were persuading him to cut it short because it was already midnight and relatives had to go to their homes. I was shocked. What kind of pooja is this that at the beginning you start with zeal embedded with devotion and gradually you get bored and want it to complete as soon as possible. Must be a formal one which one does because of two factors. Firstly because of deep rooted fear in sub-conscious mind that without worshiping god it will be inauspicious to enter into a new home. Second point is also related with fear that if they don't do so how can they face relatives who will say nothing but ill about them. You know people these days are quite fearful. They are god-fearing,relatives-fearing,society-fearing and this list never ends.This havans and pooja,like other ceremonies were just a formality which were embellished with fake devotion. And this irritates me.
You see these days i am becoming more cynical toward religion,caste and all those thing which are linked with god one way or another. I want to write more but this blog has already gone in lengths so let me call it a day.
Will be back very soon. Thank you.
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