People normally turn to god to solve their problems. But who should the gods turn to when they are abandoned by their devotees? Bangalore is riddled with a godly problem these days. The green islands created for the benefit of the local Junta are turning into breeding ground of a moral dilemma. It begins in a certain way and follows a pattern till it becomes unwieldy and starts weighing us down with many pertinent questions.
Of late, people find an old and worn out framed picture of a god planted in one of the outer corners of the park. Man Friday who mans the place is in the dark about the happening. When a few people insist that the picture should be removed, he categorically refuses to invite sins to his moral account by doing so. A random pious soul takes to offering flowers at the feet of the newly installed God. Soon passersby take to the habit of sending a silent prayer as they turn the corner.
As days pass by, the low compound wall of the park is dotted by frayed old and much worshipped pictures and idols of the gods of the Hindu pantheon. The corporation sweepers refuse to touch the pictures much for the same reason as that of the caretaker. People stop discussing about when, why and how the once venerated pictures came to be exposed to such ignominy because they or one of their family members is guilty of the wrong.
Some parks also have the embarrassment of having worn out wall plates, botched up paintings, souvenirs of a religious nature jostling with the Gods. Inclement weather conditions worsen the state of the framed pictures. Some of them fall off the ledge and glass shatters all around. Some pictures are blown away from position. Yet no one has the moral courage to lift a little finger physically or metaphorically for the fear of signing up for sacrilege.
It is ironical to note that the gods who had been deprived of dignity and cast out of the very homes in which they were worshipped are feared. Malefactors and believers who thought that they had hit upon a very clever way of getting rid of the unwanted inadvertently enter the realms of guilt and fear. If we want to transit from Oh God to Thank God mode we must stop crying good god and approach authorities on the subject of replacing, relocating and disposing of religious material and do the needful.
For it is imperative for us to realise that god helps only those who work on their problems!
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