MINDLESS VIOLENCE

Most of us would have heard or read about the Malegoan bomb blasts on Friday. It has been reported that about 31 were killed and more than 100 injured in the two blasts. And many of them were children. The bombs went off in quick succession near a mosque and at a graveyard at around 1.30 p.m. when the people had gathered for their prayers on Friday.

Though the Special Forces have been called to the area, curfew clamped, and with the government announcing monetary compensation for the families of the deceased, nothing can ever give these families back their loved ones. With the government reluctant to deal such miscreants with an iron hand, nothing will bring back the trust of the people, let alone minorities or the victims, on the government. Unless firm action is initiated and taken on those responsible for such blasts where innocent civilians are killed, similar incidents are bound to be on the rise in retaliation. With the state’s/country’s unity being shaken at the roots, inaction by the people in power to bring the culprits to justice will not help in any way. Further retribution by either warring factions will only ensure that the population count comes down considerably, with more innocent people caught in a crossfire, caught in a mindless conflict they have nothing to do with.

It is high time that the government took stringent measures to punish those responsible without further delay, so that it serves as a stern reminder to future wanna bes and puts off a person from committing such a heinous act any further .

VINAYAKA CHATHURTHI

This has got nothing to do with my faith in Hinduism. Born a Hindu, foraying into Christianity on the heat of the moment for the sake of love (which I now repent and resent the act of foolishness) and back, I somehow have a feeling that I have wantonly kicked the door back on my home.. leave it, maybe I will be back with this issue when I am more composed.

Coming to the point, this should have been posted a week before, maybe even before that. Ganesh chathurthi is being celebrated all over the country with much fervour. Fine. I am not against it at all. Just the way the event is getting politicized is irritating. Till recent years, taking the idols of the lord to be immersed in water was not a practice here in south India. Again, please do not mistake me I am not against it. And I don’t mind it being done.

About a week back, I was on my way to attend a condolence meeting at Theni, Bodinaickanur. Since it was a long bus journey and I (like the rest of the passengers) was tired of sitting crouched in the seat, wished that the trip ended soon and I could get back to my office. But all along the way, almost in all the towns/villages the bus passed through, it was made to halt at least for half-an-hour as the Ganesh idols were being taken in a procession (where to I hadn’t the faintest idea. You know, these towns around Madurai usually faced water scarcity with water being supplied once in three or four days only. This being the case, it certainly made me wonder where these idols would be finally immersed??).

Except a few, the remaining ones participating in the procession were in their early teens, wearing saffron turbans, or shirts or dhothis, seen on the caravans, gesticulating wildly, shouting at the top of their voices what (I am sure) he will never understand. Well, I appreciate their belief in the religion. And my appreciation stops there – and I am not for the wild frolicking that partakes in these processions.

I wished that those kids out there stayed put to their duties of studies and sports only and stopped getting messed up in this kind of ugly politicking religion parties. The (I think RSS) organizers or party aficionados, I am not sure which, were being particular that the procession moved along the main roads, especially through the ones where the Muslim minority run their businesses and have their mosques. I wonder why. This being a secular country, boasting of unity in diversity, and all such non-existent utopian ideas, shouldn’t we refrain ourselves at least a little bit and move about, or carry on with the procession in such a way that we express your faith as well as don’t be a nuisance to the common man? No one seems to be envisaging how we would react if indeed any of the minority community took such a procession. I have seen enough of these kinds of fanatical if not dangerous games at Coimbatore, where even a small incident comfortably sparks commotion on a larger scale. I have also seen the emotions of such factions being whipped up only to culminate in violence which the police clampdown with their style of brutality.

Seeing these processions in not one but in almost all the towns the bus passed through, with most of them not even big enough to be called a town, it only made me wonder if these people who thus express their faith in religion would go to such fanfare if they were required to proceed in a circuitous way and avoid the discomfort they inadvertently caused to the public.

Only time will answer it. I hope I haven’t bored the readers. I wish to remind you again that I am not against expression of faith in such a manner – it is just that I wish it could be in a more toned down affair.