Poverty. One of the aspects that keeps the economy always
pinned down. And in a country like India, it has kept development pretty much
stagnant (Well, there are a lot of other factors, but we don’t discuss multiple
topics here at once, do we?). And because of that, the one thing that has increased
is the faith in God. The feeling of helplessness suddenly makes people turn
toward the Guy upstairs (Honestly, I still don’t see the reason of this).
This time, no debates. No crunching numbers or facts that
strangely relate to God and religion. This time, the plain white reality of
lives strikes.
This post was a result of a rather specific trip to a
temple, some 45 minutes away from my home. The place doesn’t matter, the trip
does. On the way, there were red lights at junctions, obviously. Now this is a
rather peculiar scene. When we had stopped, I found a lady, in old, torn
clothes, probably malnourished, with her baby around her waist, begging for
something perhaps, maybe food, or money, so that she could feed her baby for
the day. Now, the thing is, I wanted to give her something, but then she
couldn’t live like this the entire life, right? She would get into habit of
doing this. So I hesitated.
But this article doesn’t stop at this point. When I went to
that temple, I could find people praying to God, for their happy lives, or
wishing for that at least. And then I saw someone pouring milk on a statue, as
an offering to Him, perhaps. The image of that poor lady flashed back into my
mind, and I was almost burning with anger. I mean, how can one human
waste food, and another crave for it? If God helps, or starts helping you, if
you offer Him milk or sweets, humans will die of starvation one day. Then will
the offerings matter? Or will you consume it for your own life? So, the faith
in God vanishes as soon as it becomes a matter of life and death, doesn’t it?
Now, I don’t want to make this post gloomy and dark. But I
found this issue particularly disturbing; and I think if it doesn’t disturb
you, you need to reconsider your thoughts. I mean, why can’t we be more
practical if it helps others, rather than praying, which (supposedly) helps
only you and your family? At some point of time, you’ll have to realize that
there are no rainbows at the end of the earth.
