Here’s a simple test for the person who is claiming to be God. Give him a wildcard entry to Kaun Banega Crorepati. Let’s see if he clears the fastest finger first round. If he doesn’t let him go back to his job (if he still has it). If he does, at least the money will cure some of his delusion.

“You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it’s going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.”

This interesting paragraph from the book I’m reading currently Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance makes me think of the religious fundamentalism that is sweeping, not just India, but the world over. Be it Hindu fundamentalism, including the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena, or the Islamic organizations like Al Qaeda and JEM who perpetrate violence in the name of religion. They talk about their undying faith and belief in their respective religions and their holy books. They urge people to follow those traditions and make anyone who doesn’t follow these traditions their enemy. They say all of their tradition is being replaced by ‘western culture.’ Come to think of it, it does this show their lack of confidence in their own culture? Their goal of an Islamic state or a Hindu rashtra gets diluted with the spread of western influences. Is this why they resort to fanaticism?

Reference: Bull’s biltong

The moment Ravi Shastri said on TV that he was eating beef, I knew that it was bound to build up a controversy, if not by the fundamentalist parties, then by the over-enthusiastic news channels. Poor Shastri should have realized the ‘cost’ of enjoying that juicy piece of meat on national television. Of course, these people are just trying to hog the limelight which in itself is becoming more and more common in the country nowadays, what with new and strange records being attempted and broken. Anyways, what my point is that the people who filed the case wouldn’t even know what biltong is if Shastri hadn’t described it.

I’m just hoping that the Jains of the country don’t go up in arms. Eating potatoes, onions, garlic etc. is forbidden in their religion. And by chance, if someone is seen eating a juicy vada pau on television, God help him. Mr. Ramadoss, are u listening? how about a blanket ban on these vegetables too for the sake of peace in the country?

PS: On a related note, here’s another South Africa delicacy (Bunny Chow) which I sampled more than once with disastrous after-effects on my stomach. Only if I could get a recipe for the same. Search, Google, search…

Down on the earth, people may be killing each other in the name of religion. But up there, it seems that everything is in harmony among the Gods of the different religions. In an interval of less than a week, they have conjured up a ‘miracle’ each to appease their followers. In the beginning we had the sea water turning sweet, attributed to Allah as one of his great miracles. Not to be left behind, just a couple of days later, we had the Hindu deities develop a sudden predilection for milk and started gulping them down in spoonfuls. And today, the Christian community must have felt a newfound wave of faith by the news of a statue of Mother Mary weeping.

Is this an indirect message of the Gods for the people of their community, urging them to have faith? Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine them playing a game of some kind. “Oh I’m going to try to make the sea water sweet. What about you?” “Me, I’m going to drink up some milk. And you?” “Oh I don’t know, I feel like crying.” Or is it that the competition up there too has increased and they seem to be jostling for space in Heaven? “You want to stay up here, you better show some miracles down there.”