What is wrong with us?

Three happenings in the recent past have saddened me as I am sure they have, countless other fellow Indians. The way India managed and weathered the last two years of economic recession and the brightness with which many non resident Indians are shining all over the globe had for once given credence to Dr. Kalams' dream of our country getting counted as a role model (albeit in the next few decades). These events certainly deflated that pride.

1. खाप Panchayats in Haryana:

In obviously what is a no brainer, "same - गोत्र " marriages cannot lead to genetic defects that could occur in off-springs (due to "in-breeding") because of the simple fact that the present generation is very far removed from the original ऋषी (the name of the gotra is the same as that of this sage) from whom the lineage started. These खाप पंचायत in Haryana are ordering newly married couples to be ostracized or even killed for not obeying their ridiculous diktats of not marrying someone staying in even the same village. What is more disturbing is that there is no up surge of anger amongst Haryanvis who otherwise are hot-blooded enough to spill their anger on the streets. To top it all, two Members of Parliament (one of them Mr Jindal who is a part of India's progressive youth brigade) have come out with meaningless and mushy statements (obviously keeping their vote banks in mind) about how we must respect our traditions. Frankly I am perplexed - can India shine brightly with a prosperous state like Haryana being so outdated and callous in its public beliefs? Or is this a new strategy to give a scientific flavour to what essentially is superstitious nonsense or at best illegal flexing of political muscles. Who knows, we may next have a demand from Rajasthan to re start the practice of "सती "?

2. Antics of Shibu Soren in Jharkand

He becomes Chief Minister with BJP's support - then goes and votes against them in the no confidence motion against the Congress government at Delhi - asks for forgiveness when BJP threatens to withdraw support in Jharkand - first agrees to step down and allow BJP to form the government with its own CM - then turns around and says both parties will have CM by rotation for 28 months each and finally says he won't vacate the seat for the BJP. What surprises me is the absolutely spineless response of a national party like BJP just for sharing the spoils of office. If the "Hindutva" brigade cannot shun मोह (lust for power in this case) which Hinduism calls upon its true followers to achieve, aren't they being as hypocritical as they accuse their opponents to be?

3. फतवा from Deoband about not working in banking and insurance sectors.

The presumptious फतवा about Muslims not being allowed to work in both these sectors (because it is against the shariah) is another ridiculous attempt to impose fake religiosity over the common masses who understandably dare not openly criticize these interpreters of faith. There were some sporadic public calls from other Muslim clerics about the non tenability of this फतवा but what remains etched in the mind is the threat received by Mr. Javed Akhtar (may his tribe grow) who is the only Muslim atheist that I have ever heard of.

Don't you think India is moving back to medieval ages, at supersonic speed??

Being religious could be injurious to your (mental) health

Contrary to popular belief, religion can induce hallucinatory behaviour - please pay careful attention to the following classic symptoms.

[1] You may suspend the usage of your intellect

Normally, you will use this to carefully analyse every decision that you take - for example (a) Painstaking research about which cellphone to buy; (b) Credit history of a guy before lending him money; (c) Studying effectiveness of your earlier advertisements before releasing new ones. When the same person is however in the "religion" mode, he just stops using his analytical ability & allows himself to be lead by the nose, as if in a trance - for example believing that (d) you could be reborn as a dog in the next life; (e) you could absolve yourself of all sins just by confessing or taking a holy dip in a river; (f) certain moments are more auspicious than others.

[2] You may believe that bribery is an acceptable way of getting things done

While there is a stringent law in place against giving, abetting or accepting UTT (popular term amongst sales persons meaning "under the table"), religious people cannot be arrested for doing this, as the other party has never been identified. So you have people offering gold and cash to GOD to get in return, at least a part of their wish list (an offspring, wealth, business, success in an examination or as in Chennai, a mundane visa to USA)

[3] Your obsequious loyalty may reach the heavens (pun intended)

Those of you who have had dogs at home, would easily recall how delightful it is to be welcomed home at any hour with that love lorn look in the eyes of your pet (a spouse is no match except maybe during the first few months of marriage). This is what I call 100% loyalty and yes how you love his groveling for biscuits or whatever... Now just imagine yourself symbolically to be the pet and then start pleading for favours from the supreme entity that religions want you to surrender yourself to. The pet just doesn't know any other way of getting its rewards but human beings do - but would still not make use of any of these alternatives.

[4] Virtual reality cannot get you your daily bread

Psychologists recommend "positive thinking and optimism" as traits that would improve personal productivity but these cannot be used to acquire hardcore skills like flying an aircraft or becoming a surgeon. An interesting research has demonstrated that predominantly "atheist" nations (large enough statistical samples) far outclass "religious minded" ones on every parameter of economic development like GDP growth, improvement in health standards, reduction of poverty, empowerment of women, reduction in child mortality etc. The reason looks obvious: while the atheists have no one to "fall back upon except themselves" to perform, others depend on GOD to do most of their chores.

[5] Your fear of the unknown will increase manifold

Do ghosts frighten you? Are you fearful that all your actions are being entered in a balance sheet by someone who will one day (conveniently after your death) ask you to explain and then allot you an abode that is commensurate with your net positive (or negative) worth? Have you convinced yourself that our solar system and other galaxies cannot but be controlled by some "powerful entity" (read GOD)? The major strength of any religion is that it cleverly operates on the basis of hypotheses that cannot be disproved. Moreover, anything that cannot be explained is attributed to that supreme power. Now how many discoveries in the last century (which were earlier attributed to the divine power) were indeed found to be so? ZERO! All that has happened is that a new set of unknown things are now attributed to the divine power. The burden of proving any theory normally lies on the one who propounds it - here it is exactly the opposite - the burden of disproving it lies on the non - believer and until that happens, the believer happily keeps behaving as if it was the ultimate truth. Religion instills such an acute fear of ostracism amongst its followers that most of them turn completely robotic and pliant.

[6] You will stop expecting "accountability" from others

This is natural because religion is not at all accountable for whatever it promises and still has no "customer dissatisfaction" (to use a marketing term). Imagine that you bought an air-conditioner which did not cool your room. Will you blame your ill - luck and just go to the same shop and buy another one hoping that it will work this time? Religion expects you to keep doing that until "one of the units does cool your room" - then it turns around and tells you - "see I intervened with the the shopkeeper to give you a working piece ". It remains completely silent on why it did not intervene all these months - and you of course are so grateful and overjoyed at having got the right AC that you now start praying for a car.

Religious preachers never tire of quoting how flowing water is purer than stagnant water. In the last few thousand years, there hasn't been a single new thought added to religious philosophy (stagnant) while the world outside has innovated in leaps and bounds (running water). Neither its preachers nor its scriptures are likely to withstand rigorous and independent scrutiny - a threshold that any philosophy has to cross to earn its stars. Human beings must have got genetically mis-wired (some software somewhere got mis programmed in the process of evolution) for so many of them to behave in the weird manner that they do when it comes to "religion".

It would actually be a good idea to post a statutory warning outside all places of worship that says " Beware! Entering may increase delusional behaviour"