That is not my religion!!!

Your blood does not boil when a child washes dishes in the neighborhood restaurant, or when a girl is robbed off her innocence and you would not even hire her as your domestic help, or when the focus from Corruption conveniently shifts to a cheap drama and you debate in detail on its nuances....but you fume with anger when a painter paints nude pictures of your deities. Well, we definitely do not belong to the same religion!
Religion for me has always been what emancipates humanism, love, peace. I find Hinduism closest to my heart because I grew up in its abode, learning, understanding life and the finer things that make life worth living. Mythology has always been symbolic to me. At times symbolic of leaves of ancient wisdom, the other times symbolising how power morphs storytelling to suit its whims and fancies.
When you get overwhelmed with mythology, which mythology is perfectly capable of, you tend to mistake symbolism with reality and that is where reason and logic diminish.
Mythology when perceived as reality do not appeal to my logical self and that is the reason the divinity thrust upon Ram seems repulsive and the much more comfortable human elements of Krishna appear close to heart. One finds it difficult to appreciate the fact that an innocent Ahalya needed to be made 'sin free' by being touched by Ram's toe, the same Ram who denigrated Sita's sacrifice and love by demanding an 'Agni Pariksha' and thereafter abandoning her when she was pregnant. But, one finds it quite easy to relate to Krishna who rose above the temptation of personal glorification and took steps that were necessary for a greater good while putting his own credibility at stake, when he ensured that Karna, Bhishma, Drona and Duryodhana meet their end anyhow, if not by justifiable means.
The logical self finds it difficult to accept that since Hanuman was a 'Bal Brahmchaari', the only way his son Makardhwaj could have been born was when a crocodile swallowed his sweat while he was crossing the sea! Was he perspiring sperms? How difficult it is to see Hanuman being perfectly human to have a son in the usual, natural manner? And I would go on to state that the poet too was trying to convey the same message by means of symbolism, where the crocodile or similar non-human but humanly behaving entities represent the ones who belonged to the lower rungs of hierarchy and mingling with them was considered a taboo in a pretty similar way as it is considered today.
I would once again quote the incident of Lakshman cutting Shurpnakha's nose as an example of an Aryan prince trying to establish his supremacy over a native princess.
http://samujjwala.blogspot.com/2010/07/here-we-have-two-bollywood-movies.html
The fact that Shurpnakha was molested and not mutilated is much easier to accept when we shred the divinity enveloped around Lakshman.
The poets have tried to convey much more than the naked eye can perceive by means of symbolism. It is commendable that the true message behind these stories is not all lost after being passed through generations of modifications under the influence of the ones who assumed power and thus controlled the poet's pen.

I do not wish to undermine the importance of faith. I understand that it is this faith that has been the binding thread for communities, societies, it is this faith that has enabled us to re-kindle our belief in universal brotherhood. However, for once let us give the poet's pen its due by not reducing it to a mockery to logic. Let us have faith in the underlying goodness that exists in these stories and asks us to be better humans, instead of the maddening furor over disfiguring their face value. My religion asks me to imbibe the values that Ram embodied and not build a temple for him at every place where a mosque was created hundreds of years ago demolishing a temple. My religion asks me to celebrate the human element of the deities, break the boundaries of our mental horizons and not vilify someone who tries to do so.

The Remarkable women of Hindu Mythology

The more I read about the women in Hindu mythology, the more it astounds me. I am not only intrigued by the fact that these women achieved remarkable feats on account of their, intelligence, leadership, indomitable courage and exemplary assertion of individuality, I am also shocked to realize how in due course of time Indian women scripted their own denigration by allowing sexual objectification, mental and physical humiliation and stunting their spiritual growth.I am shocked to see that in the land of Satyavati, who by her sheer wit and assertiveness, ensured that the most celebrated dynasty of India had her blood in its veins, women vie for position or power, not on account of their virtues but of their gender.
When I look into history, I find Shakuntala, the beautiful forest maiden, who fell in love with a king, broke the societal norms of marriage and submitted herself to what later turned out to be deceit. After 12 years of raising her son alone, when she finally goes to claim her son's rightful place in the King's palace, she is abused by the man she trusted blindly. Her pride is hurt and so is her faith. She rebukes at the king stating that she had never wanted anything for herself. Here, we see a woman's strength of character where after hearing words of extreme abuses, she calls the king a 'fool', but not before apologizing for the same and summoning the Gods who testify her truthfulness, making the King bow down.
I also find Ahalya, the beautiful wife of Gautam rishi, cursed for being deceived by a God! And she accepts the curse with stoic silence, no protests, no justification. A world where curses were bestowed with such a sheer lack of judgement, was not worthy of her words.
I find Draupadi, ensuring that the entire Kaurava dynasty was reduced to ashes, to avenge her humiliation. I wonder what it is being forced to marry five men in the name of keeping someone's ' word ', and showering equal love to all of them throughout her life. She is repaid by a spineless Yudhishtir gambling her away in a game of dice, her five husbands not uttering a single word of protest when her pride, her dignity was being shred to pieces in front of a court of 'intellectuals' and 'warriors'. What an irony that a woman had to turn to God, after being disappointed by the 'greatest' men of her times!

"नारी ने सुर को टेरा जिस दिन निराश हो नर से" 

I bow to the remarkable courage with which Draupadi garnered her shattered self and scripted the destiny of ages to come.

One might ask why am I not citing examples of women who immortalised motherhood and those who have been worshipped as epitomes of love and sacrifice. Perhaps, they have been celebrated enough. For once I hope we recognise and appreciate the women who shone as individuals, not as mothers, wives and daughters.

Mythology Rewired...

Here we have two Bollywood movies 'Rajneeti' and 'Raavan' drawing parallels from the greatest epics of all times Mahabharat and Ramayan respectively. Elaborate critiques on these epics have been written, discussed and debated by scholars since ages. However, presenting the same through popular cinema appeals to a much wider audience than any other medium.

While a realistic analysis and interpretation of Mahabharat has already been quite celebrated, almost as much as the epic itself, the facts in Ramayan and their interpretations still remain more or less sacrosanct. While we easily see the fine line of difference between the good and bad, the just and unjust getting diminished in the case of Mahabharat , it is not so with Ramayan, sometimes to an extent that it tends to ridicule our common sense.'Raavan' definitely is a feeble first in this respect.

When I first read Ramayan as a child, a few incidents seemed completely inconceivable. One of them was that of Lakshaman's encounter with Raavan's sister Shurpanakha. Shurpanakha expressed her desire for Ram and her feminine jealousy got fuelled by Sita's beauty and appearance, resulting in her turning violent. Apparently she was taught a lesson by Lakshaman who cut her nose off as a punishment. Now, think for a moment what actually would have happened. An educated, well bred warrior is unlikely to commit an act as crude as cutting off a woman's nose. Besides this cut would have resulted in heavy bleeding that would have been lethal. However, we know that she survived the 'atrocity' committed on her and travelled all the way down south to her brother Raavan, thereby making him seek vengeance. Hence, cutting of nose might just have been symbolic. What is worth pondering is that if Shurpanakha's molestation is justifiable by any means , why does Sita's abduction make Raavan an eternal villain? Can he not be judged by the standards of an average human considering that he merely sought to avenge his sister's humiliation, considering that he acted in a much more dignified manner by requesting Sita to marry him, instead of forcing himself on her, while she was at his mercy, considering that the hero of the epic fails to demonstrate such substance when he asks his wife to prove her chastity instead of soothing her pain?