Page 58 - 15OCT2018E
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COLUMN




                                                                                                                                                                                               After all Achhe Din were here
                                     Can we have a religion-free                                                                                                                            now. I was feeling more proud
                                                                                                                                                                                            to be Indian now. Where else on
                                                                                                                                                                                            this globe will you find people
                                     and love-filled nation?                                                                                                                                blocking all roads for ritual prac-
                                                                                                                                                                                            tices? And where else will you find
                                                                                                                                                                                            people who love animals so much
                                     It’s high time the government and the legal houses should give us the                                                                                  that they are ready to kill even
                                                                                                                                                                                            humans?
                                                                                                                                                                                               “This year India must get the
         BEING YOU                   right to decide if we want to indulge in any religious activity or we want                                                                             UNO title for the Most Animal-
                                     to sleep tight and move freely on roads
                                                                                                                                                                                            Friendly Country,” she thought.
         YASHICA                                                                                                                                                                               “No other country has so much
         JALHOTRA                                                                                                                                                                           of purity in religion, love for ani-
                                              nswer a question this time.   sound pressure measurement for the                                                                              mals and respect for women? India
                                              Do you feel that the gods   evening.                                                                                                          must get some award”
         The writer, Editor                   became really happy and      And how can I not mention the big                                                                                   We are made more of religion
         (Digital Media),                     reserved a ‘tathaasthu’ award   generators that were kept moving along                                                                        and less of love.
         is noted for giving         A for you when you paraded         with thousands of people to feed power                                                                                 The madness for religion scores
         witty tips on lifestyle,    them on Ganesh Chaturthi? Oh by the   into the high voltage lights and sound                                                                           very high when it comes to testing
         health, love, parenting,    way, this requires an ASAP answer —    systems. But the other agenda of these                                                                          Indians.
         behaviour, inner-           before all the maulavis and pundits    portable electricity manufacturers was                                                                             A little piece of land, be it a
         self, spirituality,         initiate a fatwa or issue a look out notice   to add some more fumes into the Delhi                                                                    mosque or mandir is sufficient
         beliefs,relationships       for me.                            air so that Delhi pollution keeps on get-                                                                           to boil our blood and kill a few fel-
         and everything else           Though this time too, I have again   ting its importance until next elections.                                                                       low Indians. And if one day we don’t
         falling under the sun.      ordered few helmets and safety nets,    Do I also need to talk about Swachh                                                                            have a piece of land to showcase
                                     but I doubt if these Chinese precaution-  Bharat?                                                                                                      our love for our religion, we have
                                     ary measures will be even helpful to   Well, it took me no time to understand                                                                          animals to fight for. So basically we
                                     safeguard me. For our religious leaders   that I myself was now a participant in                                                                       keep our hands busy
                                     are far more powerful than Chinese   the procession. Being Indian, I had                                                                               in proving our loyalty for
                                     helmets. Kya bolu, Itni maar padne wali   become almost accustomed to such                                                                             our religions.
                                     hai. Better you also order with me. You   religious rituals where gods are exhib-                                                                         Have you also experienced a
                                     may also come under attack for reading   ited, dressed with colourful clothes,                                                                         time when you have been stuck
                                     something written against the religious   beautified with ornaments and weap-                                                                          in the traffic caused due to Nagar
                                     and cultural norms. Or discount bhi    ons, worshipped with flowers, fed with                                                                          Kirtan or Ganesh Chaturthi.
                                     mil jayega!                        sweets, bathed with milk, immersed in                                                                                  If not this, you must have a mem-
                                       It was a usual Sunday when I start-  water and taken on roads like it was                                                                            ory about Mata Ki Choki or Jagran
                                     ing driving towards the nearest park to   happening now.                                                                                               held in your neighourhood where
                                     practice running for my next marathon.   It was a perfect cocktail of gods. There                                                                      all the bhajans were well tuned on
         A little piece              I was hardly a few meters away from my   were different horse carts with different                                                                     latest Bollywood numbers. There
                                                                                                                                                                                            are other dozens of examples which
                                                                        gods. One after the other, all gods came
                                     home, when I was forced to raise ques-
         of land, be it a            tions about the nature and existence of   one by one. I was wondering if any new                                                                       prove religious interference in our
         mosque or mandir,           gods in India.                     gods were added and I am not even                                                                                   lives and that we have been accept-
                                       There was a huge crowd of people
                                                                                                                                                                                            ing it all throughout our lives.
                                                                        aware of.
         is sufficient to boil       which was more than enough to block all   “Would the gods forgive me for this                                                                             It’s high time the government
         our blood and kill a        the wide roads of Delhi; music adequate-  sin?” — I decided to ask for anticipatory                                                                    and the legal houses should give
                                                                        forgiveness there and then only as this
                                                                                                                                                                                            us the right to decide if we want to
                                     ly loud to reach the pain threshold level
         few fellow Indians.         range of your ears but yet not earsplitting   was the best place to plead.                                                                             indulge in any religious activity or
                                                                           Happy now to have successfully done
         And when it’s not           as to move the Indian authorities to take   my part, I tried to make some more room                                                                    we want to sleep tight and move
                                                                                                                                                                                            freely on roads.
                                     any action against the producers of this
         a piece of land             noise pollution.                   for my car in the crowd. There seemed
                                       While this was not sufficient for the
         to showcase our             organisers of the tableau (jalsa), they   to be a clear cut competition between                                                                          Yashica Jalhotra was just found doing
                                                                                                                                                                                              her running practice with helmet on
                                                                        the women of all age groups. From
         love for, we have           had also hired uniformed band baja and   high end dresses to cut style jewellery.                                                                        her head. Send her some suggestions
                                                                                                                                                                                              how to boost her security at letters@
                                                                        I wondered if our film industry even
                                     baraat people along with their gadgets so
         animals to fight for        that more decibels can be added to the   needs Rohit Bal?                      • Patience in ICU  The madness for religion scores very high when it comes to testing the patience of people  tehelka.com
                                       TEHELKA / 15 OCTOBER 2018  58  WWW.TEHELKA.COM                                                                  TEHELKA / 15 OCTOBER 2018  59  WWW.TEHELKA.COM
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