US AND THEM










The Holy Week just got over. 

Had I observed Lent? Did I fast? Did I reflect? Did I repent? Did I pray?

Did I attend the powerful Lenten missions? 

Did I attend the Way of the Cross? 

What about the solemn services on Maundy Thursday, God Friday and Easter?

Did I experience the ‘touch’ of Jesus?

Have I been ‘cleansed’ into a better human, after this Lent?


I was born into a Catholic family… and, it was my 60th Lent!

What if I was born into a Hindu or Muslim or Sikh or Buddhist or Jewish family?

What if I was born into a family of atheists?

What if my parents were hardcores – extremists or terrorists?


Every time I see the poison in the name of our faiths, I feel so sorry for the plight we are in… Us and them! Yes, woh log and hum log!

To me, it is lowest form of human evolution!

Do we need to be Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews and Zoroastrians or whatever it is… in order to be fine human beings? Do we need this ‘identification’… this sense of separation… this silent arrogance of being one-up… My religion and your religion… My God and your God… My way and your way?


The Sun, the Moon and the Stars are the same… The plateaus, planes and the mountains are the same… The rain and the rainbows, the nights and the days, the little butterflies and the giant elephants are the same… the grass is green for all of us, the sky is blue and the blood is red… yes for all of us. In the nights, we all go to sleep… and, in the day, we all go for work…


Then, why is this desperation to place ourselves up?

Is my God any different from anyone else’s God?

I find it so foolish, so cheap to entertain the very thought that I am different from anyone else when it comes to my faith. Yes, to claim that my religion and my God are superior to my fellowmen’s is the most regressive form of living…

God must be really laughing! “Not in my name… Not in my name!” Yes, He must be crying, helplessly!


Yesterday was Easter. I was talking to my elder brother who lives with my mom in our ancestral house in Mangalore, our hometown. He had just come after completing one of our oldest family traditions during Christmas, Easter and the feast of Nativity: Sharing food with a couple of our Hindu neighbours. My grandma, my mom and now my brother – yes, they have kept this tradition alive… Food is cooked more specially to share. And, ditto from the other end. The Hindu families, too, haven’t broken their tradition during Krishna Ashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi…

Us and them?

But, I know, it simply takes a drop of poison to pollute this beautiful way of life…
And, let me tell you this: each one of us carries in us that potential of pollution…
God, save us from falling from grace…Keep us just as Your innocent children… Show us the way of love and brotherhood…  Forgive us and help us to forgive…
And, please forgive ‘Us and Them’, who have just bombed, destroyed and killed in Sri Lanka…



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.:Anadolu Agency/Getty Images


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...