Friday 11 November 2011

A Religious Farce

It was yet another procession. The police men who followed the followers energetically flourished their batons diverting traffic trying unsuccessfully to restore order amongst the chaos. Not that it made any difference as the people in the procession started raining flowers on the enormous 10 foot idol being wheeled along in a truck. The road lay littered with flowers and paper trodden underfoot adding to the mess.


People ran and lay money at the feet of the idol as the music of popular songs from movies played. Was this worship? All this pointless display and waste of money while the idol serenely looked on.


Do we think the gods we worship to be as petty as we ourselves are that they would be pleased with all this drama? In a starving country like India where recently infants have died of hunger won't it be better to give food to the poor that spend it so carelessly? Isn't that what religion preaches? That one should help others... from when has extravagance become its new tenet.   

No comments:

Post a Comment