I've been asked this question for the second time this week.
from two entirely different people from different age groups. "ARE YOU AN
ATHEIST? "
Both the times ,the question came out of the blue, without
me stating anything remotely related to atheism. But both the times, it made me
think of what I believe in , have I ever tries tying my faith to anything
supernatural or out of my reach ??
Well twenty-one years is not a long enough time to come to a
conclusion as to what to be believed or what not to b believed
But I believe and I strongly believe in a POWER of
CONNECTION (that is what I choose 2 call it) ; a really strong one which makes
Jaani ( my 6 year old dachshund) wag her tail at me whenever I come home..the
way we can read each others emotions from our eyes. I believe in the genuine
worries of a mother who thinks her daughter is too rebellious for her own good
. I believe in the pride of a father who
raised a confidant daughter. I believe in d purity of five-year-old Ibrahim's
mind which found out that leaves talk in their secret language when it rains. I
believe in Karthika's hugs and Farhana's dreams..I believe in their belief !
I believe there is a power of dedication in all works of art
be it my amma's cooking , Neruda's poems, the innocence of Arundhati Roy's
Esthappen and Rahel, the wide eyes of Disney's cartoons, Sabyachachi's sarees
or Rahman's music...
But being born to non-practicing Hindu parents -who'd be happy see me choose
any religion, and raised in a Christian school for 14 years, where they taught
me what is more important is being a strong individual who respects other's
belief, yet stand up for what they
believe in..(my college however works on a different principle , but I never
bothered to take a bit of it inside my head)
and being best friends with maybe d boldest Muslim girl ,I don't chain
myself to any religious beliefs . I don't pray in front of a beautifully
sculptures or stone idols or to any symbol or to any direction..BUT I respect
everyone who believes in it and does it...and that exactly is my PRAYER.
Well...what is my label now? Atheist ? Agnonist ? May be a humanist ( with a slight
feministic inclination) or perhaps a religiously-unlabeled happy woman !! :-)
Really when i first read thru these lines, I cud c myself in der :) thnx for giving me dat label - religiously-unlabeled happy woman!
ReplyDeleteCan u make a conscious something out of a senseless nothing?
ReplyDelete"What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious Something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke!" Khayyam
"And this I know: whether the one True Light
ReplyDeleteKindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright. "
no one can help but fall in love with words if they've read Khayyam and Khalil Gibran.. !
It was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun--
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky--
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!