Lost in Translation

Even last week in class, one of my teachers made a mention of the theory of the hen and the egg. Who came first? That is one question which has intrigued me since my childhood. And as I grew up, this very concept started affecting a lot of other things too.

There are certain things in life an individual has no control over. One of them is your fate and the other is your religion. And religion, in my opinion defines your personality more than any other thing in the world. It gained a lot of significance once I realized how much it came to affect one of the main characteristics of my individuality. The society has set the religion to have such supreme magnitude, that it shapes a person. Then what happens to all the claims to secularism? Is it a mere consolation for people who hope for religious equality?

The ‘good guys’ of religion proclaim that all the religious conviction declare one omnipotent force, a savior of humanity, protector from all evils, the list being endless. Then why do they become the first to create a furore about nationalism or admonish inter- religious marriages?

Having being born to parents who follow two different religions, I have always been in a dilemma about my own spiritual inclination. In spite of living in a non secular (Arab) country for over a decade, I never once had to face the wrinkled brows or jeers of others when they enquired about my religion. They may perhaps be too busy to be concerned about such trivial matters (the normal human mindset of ‘why care when we aren’t in their plight’) As they say ‘people who know don’t care and people who care don’t know’. As a young girl, the only thing that mattered was the prospect of getting new clothes for every Easter, Vishu, Onam and Christmas. The paramount importance that a concept called religion could have upon a person opened up a sea of possibilities for someone like me.

So here again we come back to the first question of the hen and the egg. What came first - the religion or the God? If God created the world (like what the Genesis mentions in the Bible) would he actually create so many religions? Is our ‘ever-supreme’, ‘the invincible’ all that stone hearted, that he could tolerate to see charred and mutilated bodies of his sons and daughters? Who are we praying to and for what? Each one kills the other in the hope of securing a place for themselves in the House of ‘their’ God. If this is the scenario down here, then won’t the gods be fighting in the heaven above?

But then again does it make a difference? The Bhagvad Gita, the Bible and the Quran preach the very same concept of love. But in this world starved of any emotions, people tend to achieve some kind of sadistic pleasure in condemning others especially when it comes to something as sensitive as spiritual inclination.

I have often wondered, what would happen to me when I die. Would I be cremated with its accompaniments of the sacred pujas and my ashes scattered on some river with its numerous meandering tributaries taking me to the mighty seas or would I be buried in a graveyard where I would be laid to rest inside a wooden coffin where my loved ones might come to visit my grave on All Saint’s Day and reminisce the happy days that we spent together.

But which House of the God would accept me…