If there was a God?

An important question has resurfaced since the passing of my neighbour (refer previous post). Put simply, the question is, ‘If there was a God, how do you explain such a death?’ The question begs some elaboration.

Death in itself is inevitable. It is just as natural as birth and essential for the balance of things. So, a similar question with regard to, say my 85-year-old grandfather who died of old age may not be pertinent. To a certain extent, even heart attacks and cancers are explained off as an outcome of our lifestyle: the food we eat, the kind of work we do, pollution, stress, etc. But how does one explain a death at a New Years party?

Shockingly, one of my friends held the view that it was a punishment (by God?) for abandoning our cultural values. But we’ll not digress.

Let us examine the facts: Anand was in hospital for a week and discounting all conspiracy theories, was under the best medical care possible. His family spared no prayers for his recovery. A few well-wishers in the apartments organized special prayers each day: chanting Vishnu sahasranamam and arranging for special offerings in the temple.

My point here, I rush to clarify, is not to belittle the goodwill shown by everyone. It is in fact, my very point that all these prayers were sincere and the goodwill genuine.

Our assumption (or if you are uneasy with that word, faith) is that there is a benevolent Almighty God who listens to our prayers and if our prayers are sincere (reasonable and not selfish) he grants them.

So why did he not recover? Their prayers, I am sure were (unambiguously) for a speedy recovery. The normal explanations of ‘Your prayers weren’t fervent enough’ or ‘Your faith wasn’t strong enough’ are hollow and inadequate.

There is a trump card up His sleeve and I have received them a few times in my time. For instance, the girl I was fervently hoping to marry got married to someone else. Or the college transfer I was counting on was denied. I was told that it was all for the good. God had a special plan for us that we do not know and cannot know (but it is all good baby). Our disappointment is based on an ignorance of what is in store for us.

Tell that to Anand’s parents. Try that ‘It was for the good’ argument on his sister. Whose good are we talking about here? What could possibly be a good outcome for his bereaved family? Oh no! there is a different card for young deaths. That is called, ‘Those He holds dear, He calls them back soon’. Who signed up for that, not Anand?

There is another card that infuriates me more. That is the Karma card. Maybe he was a nice bloke in this life but what about his previous lives. (More on Karma soon)

Brings the oft repeated doubt… if God is benevolent, then he is not omnipotent or he would have intervened (I wish I could and if I could I would but…) or he is omnipotent but not truly benevolent, choosing his intervention based on a rigid set of conditions (oops! Sorry but you were 5 short of the critical number of prayers required to qualify) or simply His whims (Nothing too weighty before coffee please. Not a morning person).

So, my question is very simple. Is there an explanation? A reason or higher purpose for this wasteful death. I cannot find one justification that passes muster. If the right answer exists, I do not know it. However, if my question was to be framed as ‘Is there a God?’ (a God who willfully participates in the daily running of the universe and fiddles with the fates of humans), my answer seems evident.

New Year

2008 hasn’t begun well. Not well at all. The Chennai Savera accident and the Marriot Mumbai incident are not my idea of ushering in the new year. For the uninitiated, here is what happened:

Chapter One: Hotel Savera, Chennai

It is not midnight yet and the real celebrations have barely begun. College-goers and software professionals have only just got to the dance floor to shake a leg. The dance floor is a wooden stage atop the swimming pool. Don’t ask me who’s idea it was but it sounded like fun. Fun until the stage collapsed and the hundred odd partyers fell into the pool. The hotel staff are unprepared for the emergency and despite their best efforts rescue operation takes far too long. One person is dead, several are injured and two are in critical condition. The two in critical condition are dead now, after I began writing this post. One of them, Anand, is my neighbour. A lad of 20. (I share my grief with his family and other mourners but this is the time for choler. Sorrow can wait)

Chapter Two: Marriot, Mumbai

Same time, similar celebrations and the countdown is over. Two girls are molested by a mob of 70-80 men. Their escorts are manhandled.

Chapter Three: Afterwards

The day after, the National Newspaper (as it claims to be) does not print the name of the hotel in their miniscule news article. Why, I wonder. Tamil dailies and some radio channels are insensitive enough to suggest that the partygoers deserved it. Partying to welcome the New Year with alcohol and music is against our cultural ethos. It is an evil wrought on society by westernization and high-paying software jobs. Therefore, these people; these delinquents brought it upon themselves. Paid a fortune for it in the bargain. The way to avoid getting injured in party accidents is to not attend parties. The same way that the way to avoid road accidents is to not use the roads. Staying home (preferably in front of the tele) is the assured way to a long life. (And what a life that would be)

Is there an increase in safety awareness and emergency preparedness? Who wants that! The ones who died, died because they went to a party. Were drunk. And dancing. This is a lesson to all youngsters. Stop partying. Stay home.

When will we stop blaming the victims? The other chapter hasn’t a better ending. Columns are written on how if women dressed provocatively and went clubbing, drank alcohol, one can’t help being molested by a horde of pea-brained men. They invited it upon themselves. How can 80 men be wrong? It was the woman's fault. Or, maybe it is not her fault but the way to stop such incidents is for women to not put themselves in such situations.

The same song, a slightly modified version is played here. This is not right according to our most noble and ancient Indian culture and is precisely the reason why bad things happen. Ladies, stop partying. Stay home. And be properly dressed. Head to toe is a good start. A couple of extra layers wouldn’t hurt.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like at first sight

I nose dove in like. Yup! This one is for real. Haaahaaa

I did not know anything about her, all I had was a smile and eyes that were full of joy. It could have simply been that she had come well prepared to this exam. Yes, it happened in the examination hall. She was a final year Computer Science student and was sitting for, oh! it doesn't matter, does it? Anyway, I was the invigilator in her hall. Oh! Come on! Don't look so scandalous. I know what you are thinking. I am a teacher and she was a student and you think it is wrong. Hey! We haven't even come to the stage of the story where it is appropriate to be shocked.

In my defence, though I am a teacher and she a student, she wasn't MY student. Hell! She wasn't even in the same college. Yes, this was in a college where I had been appointed as an external invigilator. So, as you can clearly see, she wasn't my student and I had no scruples holding me back.

Holding me back from what, you ask me. I had fallen in like at first sight. Don't roll your eyes. I didn't say, LOVE at first sight. I simply liked the way she held herself and thought that this was a person I could be comfortable around. You know, it is quite natural to like or dislike a person based purely on first impressions. Of course, first impressions can be misleading but how can you know that unless you had a chance to make second and third impressions.

That, therefore was the plan. I wanted to ask her out for coffee. Don't laugh at me. I know it is an alien concept here but a coffee date is safe and simple. I mean, it takes up less energy, time and money. And there is ample time for conversation and an hour with a person should give you enough data to decide if you wanted to invest on another date. I should admit, though, I didn't know how she would react.

The bigger problem was how was I going to ask her? And perhaps more importantly, when? Surely, even if I gathered enough guts to ask her and knew the words to do that, I couldn't ask her in the middle of an examination if she would come out with me.

I thought of a cunning plan. Yes! you are right. I had too much time to kill. Three hours of doing nothing but walk around a 25x20 feet room.

Logistically, I would have very little time after the exam to make my move, if I had any. A minute at the most. And there would be people around; other students. And logically, there was always the off-chance that she would slap me or start crying or get her classmates to kick my butt. Make that most probably.

Don't get impatient. I am coming to my cunning plan. I decided that asking her out is an elaborate process and since I did not have time for that now, I should create time for it later. Obviously, I couldn't meet her again (remember it is not my college) without being obvious that I am interested in her. So my cunning plan was... wait for it... to give her... are you ready for it: a note.

Stop laughing. It is not funny.

Maybe it is. A little.

But that is not all. The note wouldn't be something lame like, 'I like you', or 'You are so beautiful' or even 'Will you have coffee with me?'. The note will have my blog address. That's right! This very blog.

Laugh all you want but hear me out, will ya?

The idea was to not get slapped. I mean not put her or myself in an embarrassing situation. Nobody could blame me for asking her to check a website. They might think I was desperate for some readership but that wouldn't be so bad. I could do with more readers.

OK! She got the note. She thinks it is a weird request. She wonders if I am crazy. What next, you ask me.

The plan was to get her curious enough to check out my blog. There I could put up a post asking her out for coffee. If she was interested, anonymous commenting is enabled, she could leave me a message. Or mail me at the email id in my profile. And yes, it would also help her form an opinion of the kind of person I am.

What! You think she wouldn't want to go out with me after reading what I put up on my blogs. You don't know that. Lots of people think I am adorable. Anyway, I think it is only fair that she knows what to expect of me. She needs to be prepared if she was going to accept.

What if she wasn't interested? Simple. She wouldn't leave a message. Or worst case... leave a crappy one, calling me all sort of names. Well! I am the moderator of my blog, right? I could just delete it and nobody needs to know.

Either way, I couldn't lose. The plan was perfect.

Is the suspense killing you? Are you dying to know if I did ask her? I am not going to tell you.

What do you think? Did I or didn't I?