The world is full of evidence of God's love. A beautiful example being the dog-man relationship. 

Dry Seasons

Many have struggled for want of a rhyme,

Torn out a hair or two,

Paced endlessly, retreated for days

And several have even sniffed glue.

Some have skipped meals, some eaten twice more,

Some have consumed only tea.

But all have sipped from the Cup of Despair

And unanimously would agree

more eloquence seems, at times, to exude

From the cat’s litter box or a chair;

Enough to write an epic or two

And even have some to spare.

Writer’s Block. Poet’s Pain.

Uncomfortably numb.

Call it whatever. It tends to leave

One feeling just plain dumb.

Well, dry seasons they say, are good for the soul.

It humbles the greatest writer.

And helps you determine what you’d rather be:

A give up-per or a fighter.

But the best thing that a dry season can do

For poet or butcher or baker

Or candlestick-maker or king: it points

A straying heart back to its Maker

For fellow tea-lovers

Tea is an elixir. Tea is a poison. It kick starts the day. It rejuvenates the mid-morning. It pulls the evening up as it sags around the ankles. It blackens teeth. It pumps toxins into the system. It gives one a periodic does of acidity.

It isn't like coffee, an obnoxious alarm in your face. It's discreet, gently easing itself around you, subtle yet persuasive.

It brings the family together over an evening slice of cake. It provides the vendor on the footpath his bread and butter the year round. It's the perfect excuse to stand on the curb and enjoy the fog on a thick, January morning.

Black, with ghee-shot laddoos. Milky-sweet with samosas. Green for a kick. Masala-laden for an itchy throat.

It comforts you. It warms you. It floods you with memories. It fills an awkward pause. It gives you something in common with someone. It's a simple joy that makes a difference.

Free will

A man who visits a prostitute or watches pornography has most probably never had his mother advocate free sex to him, nor encourage him to commoditize sex or objectify women. Yet he persists in these activities. Why? Is his mother to blame? Perhaps we can consider the notion of free will here.

Evil abounds in this world. But rather than question whether God exists or not to stem it, do we question our personal choices that perpetuate evil? Every puff of nicotine shortens the life of one’s neighbour: do we give up smoking? Every moment spent in an air-conditioned room increases global warming: do we turn the machine off although the temperature soars to 45degrees Celsius? Every packaged good we buy contributes to the issue of waste disposal of plastics: do we opt for eco-friendly measures or put our convenience first? Our daily choices have a cumulative impact on ourselves, others or the environment. Yet when things go wrong, we hasten to conclude that God does not exist. We forget that the cumulative impact of our choices is very much to blame. And those choices were made based on free will.

When calamity strikes why is the atheist hasty to proclaim the non-existence of God? Why cannot the focus instead be on what we, as mankind, can do to help other fellow people in distress? Otiose deliberations about the existence of God helps no one. You see, the concept of free will essentially shoots down the essence of the atheist’s argument. It essentially deprives him of the opportunity to make the individual responsible for his actions. The exercise of free will is, essentially, the reason we face the issue of climate change, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a selfish few, deforestation, famine, the proliferation of AIDS, corruption: the list is endless.  One can readily swerve the issue towards God and his existence but ignore the implications of humanity’s hedonism and self-seeking choices.

As long as deliberate harm is not attempted on others, what enables an individual to find meaning in life is his own personal choice and right. So much so that such a right has been enshrined in our constitution.

The issue on Uttarakhand, rather than triggering debates on the existence of God, should question what we, as human beings, are doing to help those affected by the calamity. Energy channelized to appeal to the conscience of those better off to help those suffering, would be far more constructive than empty discourse.

nothing

An individual of foreign nationality once matter-of-factly remarked to me that India is the most corrupt country ever, and all Indians are inherently dishonest. While this remark infuriated me, I could not altogether deny the presence of corruption in what I take pride in acknowledging as my motherland.

In fact, every, single day this disturbing reality is thrown in our faces (sometimes even censored), by the media. Moreover, so ingrained is corruption in our sense of functioning, that criminals (read politicians) brought to book refuse to yield, clinging tenaciously to some inexplicable sense of righteousness.

However, what specifically rankled me about my fine, white friend’s remark, was his superlative use of adjectives. Corruption is a universal phenomenon, not a feature unique to Incredible India. In fact, the West is inextricably caught in a web of extreme capitalism that is rife with corruption and exploitation.

Interestingly, a large percentage of the Western world and “developed countries” are atheist, who consider religion an antidote for the naïve, irrational, and weak in character. Rejection of God is associated with rationality and intelligence. However, such is their enlightenment and liberation that they are in the grip of a different and even destructive hegemony. One that encourages them to act against self-preservation. One that builds Rupert Murdochs and equips them with such powers that world leaders appear mere puppets in comparison. One that fuels organizations like Americans for Prosperity, exploiting the poor and protecting the rich.

To our atheist betters, it may logically follow that a god-fearing people are an irrational, suggestible lot. Thus it is a tad embarrassing for them to emerge in the grip of such acute hegemony that it allows them to be exploited by the corrupt.

Corruption is universal. India may not possess the incredible ability to hide it, in the words of Lennon, “behind a smokescreen of bourgeois clichés”. Our rational and enlightened sister countries not only wallow in it, but relentlessly deny its existence. A case of double deception.

Comfort Eagle

Imagine a white person, born into the upper class elite, in a western country where prosperity abounds. Such a man (gender assigned purely for convenience’s sake) has, from the time he was born, lived a life of comfort. He has never had to worry about where or how he will get his next meal. He has never had to worry about not being able to find a job. He can choose to either take up a job or not, because the State will support him anyway. He has not grown up in a society where the resources are acutely less than the population among which it needs to be distributed. He has lived all his life in comfort, without the need to worry that he may ever lose this comfort. He has also never been required to work too hard to achieve this comfort. He has not grown up in a society where child protection is NOT just a telephone call away. He has not grown up in a society where a child can be beaten with a stick by his own parents, and passersby will find it normal. He has never been hit by ANYONE, without knowing that he can hit them back. He can pursue a college education at any age he likes, because he enjoys the certainty of his fees being paid for by the State. He has never had to think beyond himself.

In such a man’s dictionary, the word SURVIVAL does not exist. Because surviving has not been a very difficult thing to do.

Now this man grows bored of the society in which he has been living: being comfortable isn’t a particularly tiring vocation. He feels that the people around him waste their time eating, drinking and sitting like louts in front of inane television programs. He feels the need to leave such a society and live in a completely different one.

So now imagine that this man visits a developing nation. In this country, the State supports no one. In this country, if you want to live, you have to make your own money. If you want money, you have to procure a job. If you want a job, you have to have an education. If you want a job that allows you to live COMFORTABLY, you have to have higher education. And if you want an education, you have to pay for it yourself. If you are a minor, your parents have to pay for your education. For your parents to pay for this education, they have to start saving money before you are even born. Yet, the above mentioned white man wonders why everyone in this country seems so desperate. He wonders why everyone seems eager to achieve material comforts. Everyone can think only of procuring an education, and then a job, which seems to be the key to a comfortable life. He wonders why people cannot think beyond themselves, and change the system. He wonders why people want to be left alone and to just manage to live a decent existence.

Yet he is no different from the people he is so quick to judge. He too seeks comfort and a good life. The only difference is that he has been accustomed to such a life: for him, such a life comes free. He merely seeks to continue such an existence. The other man has never experienced it, and merely seeks to ACHIEVE it.

“Freedom can only be exercised by people who are protected from the lack.”