Social liberals bolo "Ganpati-bapa moriya" !

Here's a wonderful incident that I once experienced first hand.

Many years ago, an American fellow from a company that I worked with had come to India. On one of the evenings, we were headed through Bandra, in Mumbai for dinner.

We came across one of the many Ganpati pandals by the roadside. 

He wanted me to stop at one such sarvajanik one. He was curious. There was this colossal statue staring at us invitingly, with lights and decorations to beckon. The majestic setup looked empowering with many people that were seated before it.

We entered the make-shift mini temple like structure, much to the amusement of the local crowd. I asked the American to observe respect for tradition & remove shoes, hold up hands in an Indian namaste style, shut eyes and pray to his "own God” or simply observe short silence. He looked around in amazement & then did as I had instructed.

Soon he was lost in a trance, longer than my expectation. 

When he opened his eyes, a very cute child offered him & me a banana each, as prasad. I explained that it is was a spiritual ambrosia of sorts. We left & went back to the car. I could tell, he was overwhelmed.

Suddenly as I drove on, his eyes welled up & he began to weep out huge tear drops.

I was in utter disbelief.

He said "America has lost community living. Look at all these people, they have so much of it!"

In that moment, I realized how wealthy we Indians are ....as I held back my own tears.

Even when I,  as an urban fellow, do not practice religion or traditions with the kind of zeal most folks do, I do believe religious traditions have an immense soft power. My point is narrow i.e. keeping only India and Indian-ness in mind.

Let us accept that India lives in her villages. And we have heard that religion divides.

Religious conflict, is not new to the world but is not really a thing of the small villages but more of an urban phenomenon. Almost all religious riots in India are in or around tier 1 or tier 2 cities of India, perhaps either with a bit of instigation by the politics of the day or wild spread of misinformation by our overtly zealous & TRP-seeking media. Social media now is the kerosene in the flame.

In fact, I would say it is religion that has kept the deprived rural Indians to cope with adversity born out of village poverty. Sure, the different village communities will not intermingle in marriage, but they have learned to live in harmony.

At times, I feel that we in city are more trained to exercise our rights at the cost of learning how to exercise judgment. Demanding a tiny gain by asserting one's right rather than accommodating & letting it go for sake of peace, leads to territorial conflicts in mind space. Religion then becomes the excuse, not the cause. 

Sacrifice - what is that? 

I would like to believe that the things that us city folks so rationally seem to profess, namely "live & let live," is often just lip service. In fact, they the rural folks, who actually practice it.

Religion and the associated traditions are far more a blessing than most urban citizens realize - it is the ultimate cling-on-to thing for those facing the abyss. 

When we drive through the heart of India, I am sure many would have felt & realized, that the people there are not really law fearing as law simply does not have a reach there. However, there is something beyond the normal expectation that is at work - why else won't they rob us even when the financial gap between them & us is so wide & appalling?

Faith is a fact beyond the realms of proof or reasoning. For them it's an omnipresent entity. 

They seem to possess a Dharmic sense, to let things just be or some sort of a human responsibility i.e. duty towards fellow beings, the nature & society at large.

They don't question their own or others.

With this understanding of Dharma, I may go on to add that in my personal observation, the most intolerant of the lot, are the pseudo-intellectuals, those following the Scoratic Mehod as inquirers of everything. These are financially secure socially loose liberals who look down upon all ancient traditions or beliefs as something that is superstitious and an expired product being peddled in the modern world. They question every tradition with hard logic and utility value, not realizing that they seek correct answers with wrong questions.

And yes, they question but provide zero answers.

These social-ethnocides are nothing but selfish hippies, demanding freedom from traditional values and not providing any responsibility in exchange. Notice how angry are.

They are of course the popular media's favorite, who go about shouting & setting their agenda & opinion during prime time. Even in instances when they are right to ask, their methodology is not correct. 

Coming back, traditions by themselves don't do anything at one level except for argument sake, offer restrictions. And yet on the other side it gives one pride & connect to one's past, a sense of belonging in the present day and continuity into the future - the essence of human race, its survival & inspiration to thrive in unity. Deeper the roots, sweeter the fruits. Sadly, that bonding is becoming so scarce in our cities.

Without deep tradition, one is a, if I may - a kati patang .

Gandhi had opposed the tradition of the practice of sati and untouchability & had sought reform, was himself a super traditionalist & pushed for a philosophy that meant - each one must always swim with ( & not against ) currents of his or her tradition, so long as one doesn't drown in it !

Thus, I am not for once saying all blind practices or traditions are good, sure reform is needed. However it is only traditions that keeps a unit of people closely intact & content.