Religion-wise

Religion is something every Indian has, built into his/her system since birth. I’ve been asking myself why it plays such an important role in modern-day life and still haven’t found any answers. There have been riots, mini-wars, murders, acts which are more than sinister, in the name of religion. My question is “what would have happened if all men belonged to one religion - humanity?” Humanity still does exist, but it deserves a place much higher in today’s world.

I’ve been going to temples, churches, even mosques sometimes since childhood. My parents are both Hindu, but my father is a Maharashtrian and my mom is a Gujarati. If you’re Indian, or have any idea about our religions and castes, then you’ll know what I mean. My grandmother (mom’s mom) is a catholic, which makes things very interesting. Both my dad’s parents belong to the same caste and religion though, which kind of doesn’t balance things out religion-wise in our family. I’ve had nicknames ranging from ‘fruit salad’ to ‘mixed breed’ to ‘hybrid’ - a result of cross-pollination to ‘ash’ – something you get after anything regardless of its colour, shape or size is burned. I’ve never heard a single word against any religion ever taken in my house. Everybody is involved, everybody goes to the temple, to church, everybody prays. It’s funny, when you’re brought up in this world, how the outer-world looks. A place where there are quotas in schools and colleges for a particular religion, a place where you are asked which God you pray to before you agree to a date, a place where a bullet will not ask you which religion you belong to. I’ve gone to interviews and given the boldest of answers when it comes to religion. An interviewer once asked me which religion I belonged to and I answered “No religion, sir, I’m just a human being.” It was a role in a catholic play and I got the part.

For me, God is God. It doesn’t matter where, with whom and why I’m praying, I always pray to the same God. He always looks the same, answers my questions (sometimes with a slight delay) and blesses me and my family and friends. Now, all my parents are waiting for is for me to marry a Russian girl to really spice things up at home religion-wise. If she were to be orthodox or a protestant, then we could have our own soap-opera.