November 23, 2009

Oh Saint Bob...save us.

The mental obsession or insanity with the idea of belief in Sai Baba is spreading like fire.
Ive seen the same in the North of India and now in the south too.
I am up too early in the morning now. Today, my rights have been violated again(this time by a this new set of ppl) by a group of ladies, aunties, devouts of saint bob(sai baba; the shirdi one). This group goes around the locality early in the morning with loud dholaks and chants of the saint. And they do not one but multiple rounds around all the homes to ensure that everyone is thoroughly disturbed from sleep. No body seems to sense the mental illness of these housewives, nay, these midwives of religious rot.

The thing about these followers (or most of the believers who show off) is that all their show of ‘bhakti’ is a result of never ending wants. Be it a four wheeler, or their wards marriage, or a promotion, or lowering the EMI, or a health problem, Saint Bob does it all, and in a jiffy. The spread of this mental condition is also for the reason of simpler and flexible demands of Sai baba (they say so) in lieu of granting them their wishes. One need not fast, one need not quit meat etc. which the other popular saint-heads and deities ask for. Just join the group, make some friends who are mentally as ill as you are and go all out singing the hymns. With some extra show-off, with little things like sai accessories, you double your chances of your prayers being answered. You want more, no problem; just throw a party to the sai-stung crowd in the name of a bhajan session. Professional bhajan doers provide home service on call with their retinue of band baaja and sai paraphernalia. Don’t bother about the food for the party. Order out the lunch from this ‘Sai caterers’ which specializes in the Sai-compatible cuisine. That’s it, you are the flavour of the season, all these intellectually dense aunties/housewives (some uncles too) talk about you and your Sai ‘devotion’. You, at once become good, pious, spiritual, god fearing being. They would try to emulate you, or even out do your party with bigger bashes of bhajan at their homes.

India today needs a Kemal Attaturk who can push religion back into the private spheres from the public square. Its just too much of freedom being misused and rights abused in the name of religion. Religion or faith, should take humans to higher intellectual levels. But it is being degraded to bigotry, a vanity fair, untrue self, and show offs.

India is badly in need of Secularization and not Secularism.

1 comment:

SAUMYA LALITA said...

i neither agree nor disagree with ur article. i agree u r disturbed with that band which annoyed u. but making mockery of some one's belief is really not fair. every body has a way of expressing their faiths. and sadly u feel their faith in god a mental obsession. if u r disturbed by the band u have every right of expressing ur anguish on the band but not on one's faith in god.