I respect all religions, including mine.
India is a fun place to be for a child. Secularism is embedded in the constitution of India. That means all major religious events were public holidays. With the number of gods followed in India, this gives a school going kid an incredibly huge number of holidays. It also gives a gazillion festivals to attend and that many varieties of cuisine to relish.
As a child, one relishes those lazy hours of holidays filled with sweets from either of the neighbors for whom it was a big religious day. Even though it was only for the joy of not having to attend school, the act of recognizing a holiday for each religion is the first seed of secularism. The fact that the grown ups believed other religions were to be respected by observing public holidays, laid the niche for tolerance.
As a child, one was not forced to observe all the religious motions but was expected to respect them. Even in a deeply cultural country like India, one finds parents relaxing on the strictness of religious observances. A general faith in god is stressed on, but never forced.
I visited the church during the christmas eve. I attended the mass. This tolerance for other religions combined with a loose observance of one’s own religion built up the fuzziness that I want to describe as being religious’ish’.
The temple signified everything that one had learnt to respect and hence could become a place to seek peace and calm like one would seek a professor to clear out the doubts in one’s mind. Visiting a temple was not a chore, it was never forced upon. It was a choice underlining the active connection that one made with one’s faith.
The rules of the religion were always relaxed on me. Some were expected of me more strictly than others. Nevertheless, I respected them.
Here’s an interesting thing I observed. I was kept away from meat in my formative years. Now, I do not like meat that smells. My nose is not accustomed to it now. Being an avid foodie, I respect my nose’s views. I stay away from meat by choice, not by rules.
I am in a foreign country now. Traces of my religion are scarce. Yet, I pray whenever I feel like I should. Surprisingly, it is not infrequent. I still observe all the festivals. I savour all the fun that I can catch hold of. I learnt to cook, out of longing for the delicacies that the festivals bring with them.
Last week Maitri, the Indian Graduate Student Association and Ekta, the Indian Undergraduate Student Association, in association with Delta Sigma Iota fraternity and Kappa Phi Lambda – Asian sorority, the Staff Senate and the Office of International services, celebrated Holi. It was an afternoon to cherish.
My beliefs of religion now are not so god centric as they are culture centric. I am Religious-ish.