On Religion...

I was walking outside my house and heard those little kids,who were playing and talking amongst themselves. They were saying, " Tu punjabi nahi hai, teri dadi thori punjabi hai, yeh punjabi hai kyunki iske nana ji bhi Sardarji hai". Their talk went about distinguishing " Tu hindu hai", " Tu Punjabi Hai". These are just innocuous remarks but isn't it in a way tragic and sad that these kids are discussing religion without even understanding how private an affair religion is. But why to blame the kids? People in our country don't realize that their relationship to God is something very personal and no religion is superior or inferior.Our polity claims to be secular which means that the State has no religion. But this secularism is thrown in to the bin when elections come about and calculations on religion and caste decide who gets the ticket.

Lately I have come to know about people who are "atheists". Being a nastik, evokes a certain sense of shock (perhaps except for the Communists) in our society but I have nothing but respect for these people who have the ability to question and might have arrived at being an atheist after some extensive thinking. Most of us (including me) follow what we are told, we have never questioned about the existence of a supernatural power and we simply believe in what others tell us. I remember last year a campaign ran in Britain where atheist groups wrote on buses " Stop worrying and Start living, because there's no god". I can imagine the horror and shock that such a campaign, if at all, ever takes place in India. We must start questioning and arrive at a decision logically and not just blindly aping someone...But firstly I should this do myself rather giving a lecture to others.Huh!