To a father of woman.

A father was instructing his two sons how they should look at the name list before entering into the train and should remember their seat number. This process really amazed me as I realized that being daughter I never got those instructions until I asked for them.
Every time we ask about Patriarchy we say mother should nourish her sons to be respecting towards the women. But here I make an additional pint that it is the time that we need an effort from to the father’s side to make their daughters into a strong and effective woman.
I remember when I was a child, I always used to ask questions and I received the answers and I am grateful for that.

But the point that I want to make is that we need sensitization for the father’s role too. The father plays a great role in making the Boys become a man by teaching him the rules of the game and by teaching him the practicalities of life. What generally a woman gets from her mother considering the patriarchal structure of the Indian society and less experience of most women in the outside world is limited knowledge.
We need a change and we need it in every role a son needs to know the sanskar so does the daughter and a son needs to know the practicalities of the life so does the woman. It is the time to change our attitudes towards our children based on gender. A father loves her daughter, but we also need a more understanding father who can guide her daughter to become a strong human being. And I bet that we will see the result. Also the difference between the daughter and the son would be removed exactly on the day when both have the equal knowledge and know how.

This is a request to all future fathers and the present one –Your daughter  needs you.

Religion and contradictions in it.

As I walk through a temple with ringing bells and chanting Arati, I nod a low for the culture that has imbibed in me the practice of worshipping. But why did I do that without knowing the god, its history and logic, asked the rational self in me.

I walk through the temple every now and then and sometimes, indeed sometimes I call myself an atheist. I battle with the logic of religion every day. As I had a marriage card in my hands, I couldn’t throw it because it had a Hindu god in it. I really don’t call myself a Hindu but I wonder what it actually meant to be one. My Facebook profile used to say I am a monotheist, hah! Does this make me a less Hindu? as the number of gods are 36 crore in Hinduism, How can I really believe in all of them.
What was religion really invented for why did it even come into being? The only answer I had was “to discipline” the animal spirit of the man, to enable him to rise above his selfish consciousness. But a woman in 20^th Century, Do I have any use of it? I can be disciplined without a religion through my work which I really like and I would voluntarily do. But then I think does that make me a protestant because work is worship an ethic according to this religion.

While I was asked by the Facebook to tell my religion, I just I got confused, I looked through the options, none of them really meant much but the most suitable I found was monotheism. I do not go by the definitions of the scholars and philosophers, so my definition is to see a power which is beyond, which has no shape, which is in every material, in every experience, in every touch.

I personally never found any use of religion, but what it is really for me is the character. I believe in holding a character and doing good deeds with no anticipation in the next life. But that is the most difficult thing, to do good without any incentive, believe me it is! You walk on the street and help someone because you think that you could be that person. I am not being cynical here. There is no harm in doing good work by this way; at least we are doing it.
Religion by far I have found it to be a illusion if I consider the dogmatic religion, but what about hope that comes from faith and a belief which gives you strength and an escape from the materialistic lives. But now days we have religions like saccha sauda who believe in materialistic pleasure. So, where is the essence of religion really, is it about living life with material, or without material (Jainism), or with the madhyam marg balancing the both (Buddhism) where is the essence, a real essence.

Here, I put the biggest contradiction every religion has the answer, while no religion has the answer.