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GOD where art thou



I am scared of flying. You would know if you sat next to me, but of course it will have to be planned otherwise the chances of you and me sitting next to each other in an airplane stands slim. So what do I do when I am flying, scared and almost always in a state of nearly  passing out? I pray to GOD. Yes, I do pray. I ask GOD to keep me safe and to help me land safely. Every time the plane shakes or jolts I remember GOD. I am selfish. I only think of GOD when I am scared, when things are beyond my control, when things don’t go as planned. I am human. I don’t know better. But I know if things go wrong or if I want something that possibly has a slim chance of happening, I think of GOD. 

That is the norm. I am sure it is for many of us. I don’t know any better but I was taught since my childhood that there is this supernatural power above us which controls everything called GOD in charge of making things right. So I am on an auto pilot mode – I think of GOD for everything beyond my control. I recently watched the Aamir Khan movie PK. It has stirred India and many questions were raised on dharma and GOD. I loved the movie. I laughed throughout (despite my five year old sitting next to me totally indifferent to what was happening in the theater and only concerned with her coke) because the movie made sense. I realized how foolish we are. We are actually dialing the wrong number. Had we been dialing the right number, just as the movie shows, all our wishes and prayers would be answered - literally. It indeed would, I say to myself. Because I do not know any better. 

The measures of our foolishness are beyond our understanding. We follow religious procedures blindly and the astrologers laugh away with big bucks. We know we have been fooled but I continue visiting many temples and hanging on every word, the astrologer uttered. I also know what they are about to say. Each one starts with; you are generous. You hurt easily. You are always ready to help but you don’t get anything in return. You have a kind heart. Excuse me, who does not have a kind heart? All of us strive to be better humans, we meet the wrong person at the wrong time and we judge that person to be ‘bad’. But we are humans and we try. So deep down each individual knows who they are and when the astrologer strikes these characteristics and compares it to ours, we accept it whole-heartedly. We are satisfied with the words we have heard, we believe, and we pay up – big time. 

Recently, one of the astrologers told us to perform a puja because our stars were not aligned right and the puja would make it better. Much to my own dismay I ended up going through the process, afraid of the ‘unknown’.  Several thousand rupees and an anguishing ritual later, I am here not much better than yesterday. What made me pay for the puja when I know its bogus deep down? It is the fear of ‘unknown’. The unknown baffles us – us humans to turn to GOD. Everyone uses the fear of unknown, the astrologers, the insurance companies, and the government.  I think we want to hold some one responsible for our actions and who better than– the GOD? 

The movie PK’s message is nothing new. It just strikes you and raises your antenna for the blind faith we hold towards the bogus religious practices we follow. I did not change after the movie, nothing can shake my belief but that is also because I do not practice Hinduism – I only follow it foolishly. But I will continue calling GOD to help me, protect me and answer my prayers because this is what I know- and also because I am a frequent flyer. I can’t call upon Amit or Pinky - I don’t trust them.

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