Mt. Good Aiyer Boy

Most Indians are pretty serious about their religion. Go to any religious place in India, you will always find more people there than a supermarket. Religion for all seasons, religion for all reasons - that's the mantra here! Though we all are born into a religion, but the thing is religion is not genetically acquired. Rather, its culturally transmitted. For the sake of this blog, let's say if I was born in Iran, I would have been a Muslim. Or if I was born in Norway, then chances are high that I would be Christian.

My way of pleasing the God is not very expressive but I am a deeply religious person myself. Religion is great because it forms a belief system - which is extremely important to go through life. In my upbringing, I have had my share of epics, Vedas, Bhagvad Gita etc. It is tempting to think that I have turned out to be a good "Aiyer" boy. Watch your mouth Vinayakan! Being born in an Aiyer family is one thing but turning out into a good "Aiyer" boy is an arduous journey. One has to conform to so many rules that lot of Aiyer boys attain martyrdom in their valiant attempt to scale Mt. Good Aiyer Boy. It is not for the weak 'religioned' :-).

I don't understand, was religion supposed to be so complicated as its made out to be by our customs and rituals? Why can't religion be simple? At times my family wears religion on its sleeves which makes me a bit uncomfortable. My thinking is, we all should do our bit but the real trouble starts when we start acting as custodians of what was transmitted to us culturally.

OK, I am ranting. Need to get some sleep.

Marriage - Great!

Since 2005, I have been going to plenty of marriages. First it was my school friends, then the ones who were in the same housing complex, then friends from my IHM days, then the ones from my hotel career, then the ones from my present workplace and then some more. January 2011 - there is a marriage to attend in Coimbatore. Three months later there is one more to attend in Patna. In 2008 my parents were talking and they were like..."maybe, by going to these marriages he will get interested in married life of his own". It doesn't seem likely in foreseeable future.

I thought of combining these marriages with something I love doing .i.e travelling! Other than being with a friend on an important milestone in their lives, I get to see a new place, I get to meet new set of people and eat a different cuisine. So, whenever there is a marriage to attend outside of Delhi, I readily agree. Increasingly, my leaves have just one reasoning - Friends marriage. My boss noticed a trend and remarked, "you've been attending lot of marriages". Yes, yes!

In between, I heard OSHO's discourse on YouTube where he talks about Marriage, children etc. among other things. Before anyone of you dismiss him as a mad man, I highly recommend giving him a patient hearing. Can't tell what he says is right or wrong and I am nobody to pass a judgement anyway....I certainly believe the the thought process he had developed in his lifetime was simply astonishing. And I simply love his style of speech.