S’ik’cular India.

India got its name from Indus valley civilisation (3300 – 1300 BC), probably one of the well known and developed civilisations. Based on the historical facts available on internet, we find that the people of Indus valley preached 3 religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. To support the argument, archaeologists have unearthed artefacts such as stone portraits of mother goddess (see pic), a father god who we consider as synonymous to Lord Shiva acting as a progenitor of the race. Further evidences pertaining to worshipping of Pipal or Acasia tree by the locals to guard them against evil forces. They followed the ritual of criminating the dead along with some offerings and last but not the least, the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro can be thought of as a sacred tank which we find today in various temples and sacred places of worship where people take bath and purify their soul and body.

On the contrary, the first evidence of Islam in India can be traced back to 7^th century AD.  Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala is thought to be the first mosque in India, built in 629 AD by Malik lbn Dinar. Islam arrived in North India in the 12th century via the Turkic invasions and has since become a part of India's religious and cultural heritage. We have heard about mass conversions of Hindus to adopt Islam by Muslim rulers. Comparing 2011 and 1951 census data, Hindus have dwindled to 79.8% from 84.1% and Muslims have gone up to 14.23% from 9.8%.

We call our country as Bharat and Hindustan. The root word of Hindustan is ‘Hindu’ and ‘Bharat’ is also a word from Devanagri. So technically our country is of Hindu origin and Muslims are our guest or mehman as they landed on our motherland much later. Despite this fact we have treated them with great honour by offering them citizenship, fundamental rights and even subsidies in the name of minority quota. Even after giving them such luxuries, when we hear certain news about ‘intolerance’, ‘award vaapsi’ ‘we want freedom’, the blood of patriotic and nationalist citizen boils at 500 ℃. Why cannot we live at peace with each other? Who do you blame for this ongoing ‘Anti-India ‘campaign across various Indian universities? Why is #ISIS finding its roots so easily in India? All these thoughts traverse in the back of my mind and keep asking the same question time and again, “Are we really secular”?   

The dictionary meaning of Secular is - not connected with religious or spiritual matters or of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order. By this definition it is clear that our country cannot be secular in any way. We have people from different faiths and religions and are engaged in a constant hate war with each other to prove the worthiness of each religion. We have witnessed lot of intolerance debate recently. My viewpoint on this issue is that one should remain tolerant only when his/her belief is not shaken. Once that point of reached, Newton’s 3^rd law applies and you are authorized to reply back in a wise manner. Getting physical is not a solution but holds “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” to be true.

It is high time we realize that there are certain black sheep amongst us who are playing cheap politics to continue burning the fire for their vested interests. But as they say, “.No one can escape Karma. Karma comes back and comes back strongly because Karma is a Bitch”.

Lastly I want to quote Bhagvadgita, chapter 4, verse 11,

All who in whatever way surrender unto me, I reward them accordingly. All mankind follows my path, O Arjuna, in all respects.

On the contrary taking a cue from Holy Quran,

Clearly, both religious scriptures promote love and brotherhood but there is a catch. Both preach their own path. I would leave it unto you to decide what is right and wrong. I have chosen my religion and it is ~ Humanity. 

Space War

#ColgateMagicalStories

It is a bright sunny Sunday morning and Raghu as usual is insisting to play his favorite game – ‘Alien Attack’. After an hour of his stubbornness, his mother gave in and told him to go but warned him to be back before dark. Kids as usual don’t pay heed to parent’s advice. He called Ram to join his bandwagon. Soon after Raghu, Ram and Alia went to nearby park with their mission kit to play Alien attack. In the meantime they were discussing about their playing strategy, Alia’s got distracted by a sharp reflection of white light. She got curious and followed the reflection. In a couple of minutes, she shouted and her other two companions joined her. A big oval shaped thing was lying before them with a glass window on top. Suddenly the window opened and they could see three chairs in it. All of them stepped inside and took their respective seats. The window top closed. The mysterious machine started beeping loudly. The trio got scared. Soon after a message in bold red appeared on a LCD screen in front of them,” Wear seat belt. It is for your own safety”. They swung into action and tied themselves firmly. The machine made a loud sound and lifted itself from the ground and started revolving in clockwise motion. It was like spin cycle of automatic washing has begun. In a flash of a minute they were in dark sky, surrounded by big huge circular planets staring angrily at them as if they were questioning the entry of intruders in their area. The spaceship flew at never imagined speed and reached a land full of snow. The LCD display outside showed -150 degree Celsius. Three warm suits dropped from above their seats and a harsh male voice commanded them to wear the suits. Then they were asked to follow the glowing pathway lights up to a distant castle.

“Welcome to the land of Pluto”.

I am the king of this land,”BigMac”.

Raghu asked the king,”My lord, why we have been brought here?”

The king gestured towards his left. A meek fellow with white hair, big black spectacles stood and began to speak. I am Dr Morpan, researcher at Pluto. We have found that people from Earth are constantly trying to intrude our land by sending in rockets and astronauts. You people are so much power hungry that you fight your own people for land, food, money and now you are making our lives miserable. Then he showed them a movie over the past 10 years how mankind has really polluted their atmosphere and their ill effects on them. At the end of the movie, Dr Morepan said,” We have kidnapped you and we want to negotiate with your people to leave our land or else you have to die”. A big monstrous laugh leaves them stunned.

Meanwhile on Earth, Raghu’s mother got worried when he didn’t turn up before dark. It was 08:00 PM now. She searched the entire society, checked with security if Raghu went outside the gate. When nothing worked out, she went to police station to register an FIR. On the other hand, ISRO received an extra terrestrial message saying, “We have Raghu, Ram, and Alia. Leave Pluto, we leave them”. There was a emergency alert sounded in entire country. Home minister ordered to attack Pluto and bring back the kids safe and sound. ISRO planned a nuclear warfare and planted MISSLE1990 targeting Pluto. Minutes before the launch, they sent a warning message to Pluto asking them to surrender and handover the kids. Dr Morepan analyzed the missile power and advised the King to surrender else they will meet their end. The king got terrified and asked his council to send a message of ceasefire to Earth.

Raghu, Alia and Ram were back in their park. When asked where they went, all they could recall was nothing about their extra terrestrial trip. 

“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.