A Lesser World

Recently when a Karnataka bandh was announced in connection with the Belgaum dispute, the local papers read something like this “All the cable operators in the city have extended their support to the bandh and have agreed to block all channels except those in Kannada. Theatres, Malls and Restaurants will stay closed. So, it is the best opportunity to spend time with your family and catch up with relatives and friends”.
I was kind of surprised at the order of precedence that the paper chose to give to the various activities that an urban dweller commonly indulges in.

Again, when I was watching the latest blockbuster ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ the other day, the film talks about how things have changed over the last few decades, how fast paced our lives have become, how materialistic our lives have become and the like…

These raised several questions in my mind.

Have things come to such a pass that we need a newspaper to remind us to spend time with our families?
Where are we heading? What is our ultimate goal – Wealth, Power, Fame, Prestige?
We are perennially chasing something (or are we being chased?). What is that?
Why do we do certain things and not do others? Do we “really” know what we are doing and for what reason?
What has happened to our lives? Have our lives changed – For better or for worse?
Are we happy? What is happiness?
What am I trying to tell? Am I cribbing? Am I insane?

Are you still with me?? If yes, read ahead…..

We live in a global village where there are virtually no boundaries and 24*7 instant high speed connectivity. But do we connect with ourselves internally? With the people around us?? During my childhood, we would acquaint ourselves with any family that set up home in our street. The street was like an extended family. Today, I do not even know who my immediate neighbor is, what he does..etc. Why this phenomenal change?? Some of the possible answers are that the people keep shifting at regular intervals…in about 3-4 months, they work in a call center...so, our timings don’t match, I am not a kid anymore…running around houses to find if I have got a new playmate etc.
One of the more pertinent reasons is that “I don’t care. I am not bothered who is around me, what is happening around me. I have enough personal and work related tensions. I have better things to do. When I cannot find enough time for myself, what is it to me about people living in my neighborhood?

Technology has undoubtedly made our lives comfortable. But does comfort equate to satisfying?? Has technology or modern way of living enslaved us? How many of us can imagine a holiday without electricity or television? How many of us have been mesmerized by the rising sun, the starry night, the full moon, the rainbow, a butterfly or the rain? How often?

We live life in the metaphorical fast lane, eat fast food, travel at jet speeds, make quick bucks, look out for quick solutions and of course desire instant ‘made to order’ happiness.

A few days back during a typical early morning rush hour, a car in which just the husband and wife were traveling had broken down in the middle of a busy road. The man was desperately calling out for help to move his vehicle to the sideway but help did not seem to come easily. The people passing by had enough courtesy though to sympathize with him through their unrestrained honking and swearing. I do not imply that we live in a big bad world where everyone is callous. It is just that the population that would go out of its way to help a person in distress is dwindling.

Many of us have good friends, a job that incites our interest, sufficient wealth or other “like to have” features. All this notwithstanding, how many of us feel incomplete? Is there a void within us? Is there a craving within us which we have not been able to either identify or satisfy?

What is the solution? Is there something like that? Am I supposed to go back to the woods- live like a saint - have no desires (material or physical) or go back to the Stone Age?

I cannot think of a definite or satisfactory answer to any of the questions that have been raised but all that my inner self tells me is that I need/want to live in “A Lesser World – A world that has enough for everyone’s need, where your pleas for help are heard, you are able to make a difference in the lives of people other than your family, where there is a feeling of oneness, tranquility, brotherhood, mutual trust and unconditional, unblemished love”.

“Ganapati Bappa Moriya”

It is a common practice to undertake any new activity by invoking Lord Ganesha. Keeping with this tradition, here is my first blog dedicated to him.
Long gone are the days when festivals in India were a time for families to spend quality time with friends and relatives, a time when children understood the significance of the customs and practices followed in their religion, a time when people sought the blessings of the elderly and the Almighty. Today, festivals are reduced to times when you get to view the best programmes on TV with your favourite stars visiting your drawing room, a time to demonstrate your buying capacity, a time to flaunt your latest wares, a break from your daily grind and not to forget, a time when you observe rituals more for the heck of it than the love for it. I would like to illustrate the same with an experience that was bestowed upon me during Ganesh Chaturthi this year.
As always, I had been to Ulsoor Lake on the evening of Ganesh Chaturthi to bid goodbye to the Lord whom I had brought home that morning after some hard bargaining. With the morning papers carrying advertisements of the City Corporation giving instructions regarding idol immersion and the arrangements that were claimed to be made for the same, I thought I would be able to give a honorable sendoff to my Good Lord. On reaching the venue where thousands of people had assembled, I found idols that were probably revered a few hours back as Gods being dumped on the roadside and to make things worse, people were virtually walking over them. I always believed that it was the human body that was made of dust and will finally be converted into that form but I realized that God was no exception. To add to all this, the saffron headband clad disciples of the Lord who appeared to have treated themselves to a generous dosage of ‘heavenly drinks’, kept swaying to the tunes of the latest item numbers chanting ‘Ganesha Bappa Moriya’ and bumping into anything that resembled a female.
Having witnessed all this and escaping a near stampede, I managed to get to the the edge of the lake where young boys on the other side of the protective grill were helping God reach his final destination. I was in for a surprise here too as the immersion of the idol was dependent on the amount that the Bhakta was ready to shell out for his God’s sake. A twenty rupee note would mean that the kid would handle the idol with care and immerse it in the lake with utmost devotion while anything less than that would mean that God would have to perform a bungee jump right into the lake.
God would have felt more honorable if I had immersed him in a bucket in my house and used that for watering my plants.
It aches to see such acts being performed in the name of religion. This festival, conceived with the notion of fostering communal harmony and building a sense of social bonding has now turned into a festival where the local hooligans pester households for donations weeks ahead, blast loud music, block all roads with pandals and indulge in drunken revelry.
What else can I say but “Ganapati Bappa Moriya”