Category Archives: Life

Do you Fear Your God?

Image August 21, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

We do so many little things daily without even thinking. These habits become a part of our daily routine. Brushing our teeth, eating breakfast, taking breath. Everything is a routine.

Is praying to God is also a part of your routine, or do you pray when you feel like it(not necessarily a predefined time) ?

I have enforced some habits into my kids. One is to take blessing of Parents and God. But, it is easier to see your parents, and know how important they are in your life; like they give you food; they wash your clothes; they take you out for fun activities and buy you toys; but what about God?

They are not seeing God. They don’t know exactly what and who is, God. Well, this part is what most of us also struggle with.

My kids they are in a habit of taking our blessings daily, morning and night. But, for God, I have to answer a lot of questions first to convince them. It’s pretty hard. Like, when I told them that God is everywhere and he/she is watching us and will protect us always. Otu, my son, questioned me, “but bathroom has no windows, so how will God see me when I am in bathroom. How will he save me there?”

We do tell them stories of Raam, Krishna, Jesus, Hanumaan, Durga, and basically any story we can tell them. So, they do know who Raam is, just they don’t know why they should pray to Raam.

And no, it is not a concern to me. They have their whole life to figure out a God of their own, in whom they will believe.

Meanwhile I did a mistake one day. I played an animated movie for them – Ramayana, story of Raam.

There were Lord Raam, killing all the monsters with big horns over their head, teeth dipped in blood hanging out of their mouths, laughing hysterically with their humongous bodies.

Raam was killing all such monsters/demons easily and helping all the sages. He was saving monkeys of his army. He was killing a 10 headed Ravana with ease; and Hanumaan, when he prayed to Raam, he got all the powers to fly over the ocean.

What my kids deciphered from all this was that you should pray to Lord Raam, if you want to have powers and stay safe from deadly monsters.

Next day all of them were praying by themselves.

But, this was not what I wanted. I would never want them to pray to God, in fear. Maybe one day they will not.

This made me question, isn’t all of us are a part of this fear propaganda – called Religion.

What has religion taught us? More precisely what these representatives of Temples, Mosque and Churches have forced into us?

If you research history of Bible, you will find that church officials have edited the bible so much to erase the kind face of God. Instead God is one who will bring wrath to you, the moment you commit a sin. He will only save you if you are committed to him. God is masculine. God is he, not she. ‘She’ can be weak. But, a ‘He’ is so strong. So, they kind of committed to mention that God has a wife. In fact basic nature of changes that have taken place in bible are to make sure that people fear God and come to church regularly out of fear.

Same is with representation of Jihad by Islāmic extremist. I saw in TV an extremist of Islam saying t his followers, to rape women of other religion, as this will make their God happy. If you kill people of other religion, you will get some 30 or 40 virgins in heaven. Above all you are not a true muslim if you do not believe in such ideology. Your God will abandon you if you indulge in music, or support woman education, or help someone of other religion. This fear of your Lord abandoning you. Fear that you may be cast as not true muslim. Fear of going against your religion.

If you think that Hinduism is free of this fear, just take a look at the line of a Shani temple, every saturday. Look at the lemons and chillies hanging on every shops. Look at your women fasting whole day without food and water, fearing if they will not do so, their God may become angry and take life of their husband or son (sadly daughters are not this important) as a punishment. We do ‘Pind-Daan’, we do ‘Shraadh‘, we perform so many rituals after someone is dead, so that the dead’s won’t get angry and stay happy wherever they are. You didn’t perform one ritual the way it was supposed to, now something bad will happen to you. Even Raam said at one point – “Bhay bin hoye na preet”, i.e. Love cannot exist without fear.

We are always trying to please God.

If we want a job, we should first please God, by donating some money to his representative. We want to get married, lets fast for 16 Mondays. You want to be a suicide bomber, first pray to God to make you successful in this holy deed, and also reserve you a god spot in heaven.

You did something bad, for sure you are going in hell. You will burn in hell for eternity.

You had sex before marriage, for sure you are going in hell. By the way have you seen the view of hell. Just do one good thing today and search google for what Hell looks like as per each religion.

I may never know the answer to whether Fear of God is necessary or not, but for me my God is to me, like I am to my kids. I would never want my kids to fear me. I would want them to love me, unconditionally. I would want them not to please me but to understand me. I would want them to believe in me and trust me. To believe that no matter what; no matter whatever worst thing they do in their life, I will always be there with them, to show them the correct path and to protect them.

My God is like me, a Parent.

Life

Love and Respect Knows No Religion. #Kalam

Image July 29, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam passed away. He was by far the most loved and respected Indian President. He did not belong to any political party. He was no superstar actor. He was no cricketer. He was not someone who fits in the general stereotype of being a celebrity; still he was someone who has left whole country in mourning.

Those who are saying that he was The Common Man, are wrong.

He was not common. He was extra-ordinary.

He has risen from the ashes to the top. He was born in a poor family of Rameshwaram, and worked odd jobs to help his family. But one thing that he did not take granted was his studies and his goals. He became an aerospace engineer, and later helped India in conducting Pokhran Nuclear test; thus receiving the title of ‘Missile Man‘.

He was elected as the 11^th President of India, with unanimous support of both ruling BJP party and Opposition Congress party.

He received highest civilian honor ‘Bharat Ratna‘, from Indian government.

But, it was not what made him a people’s President. He was the most down to earth President and the most inspiring one too. His quotes and sayings come first to mind when someone talks of motivation. He has given so many lectures and seminars to youth of India, motivating and inspiring them. He died while giving a lecture to students in Shillong. Died doing the one thing he liked the most. Inspiring Youth.

If you think what does religion has to do with all this. Well, Nothing; and this is the point.

Kalam was loved by everyone. His death is mourned by every level of society. He was a leader who lead by example, and not by exploiting religion. Those who are mourning his death, are not Hindu, or Muslim, or Sikh or Christian. They all are Indians.

Nobody is saying that he was Hindu, or Muslim, or Sikh or Christian; he was just our very own ‘Missile Man‘.

Kalam had no religion. He was an Indian.

But, when it comes to Ajmal Kasab, or Yakub Menon, or Tiger Menon, or those terrorists who killed innocent people in Gurdaspur; they all had a religion.

Religion of Terror.

When we love and respect someone we do not care about things like their skin color, or their religion or their financial background. But when we want to hate someone, we look for every tiny detail we can get to hate that person.

It can be hard being a Muslim in India; but the truth is that try any other country, and I bet it will be much-much harder anywhere else in this world.

Kalam didn’t had a resourceful childhood. Nobody helped him except his determination and hard work. He made it work. He reached at the top. He never said, it was difficult for me because I was a Muslim. He never said, Indian government did nothing for my people. He never said, I belong to minority. He made weapons to defend his country. He did not attack his country. He did not kill innocent young people. He inspired them to achieve success in life. He taught young minds to be good in life.

Kalam did not turn into a terrorist. He chose to be President instead.

Nobody had it easy. Everyone is struggling in their own life. System is not fair. Governments are not fair. Society is not fair.

But, we have a choice.

We have a choice to be Kalam, or be Kasab.

We always have a choice. Just remember that next time you face a difficult situation.

Life, Random

Why Iftar? Why not Mata ka Jagran?

Image July 15, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Ramadan is here and so are Iftar parties, one after another. In fact there is a race among Indian politicians to invite as many as their political counterparts as possible and broadcast their secularism to the minority of the nation.

Sonia Gandhi is giving an Iftar party. Arvind Kejriwal is also on the same bandwagon. President is also supposed to throw a lavish Iftar party. More or less every political party and big leader is throwing a party in the name of Iftar.

It is not a new thing but this practice is going on for years…. infact as far as I remember it has become more prominent since the time all political parties pretended to be more secular than the others. Secular as in more minority favorable parties; and by minority here, I do not mean Sikhs, Jains, Schedule castes or girls in India.

Media is also after this event as if it’s an Oscar party. Who attended whose party? Who clicked pic with whom? On that note did you saw Arvind kejriwal’s happily ever after kind of pic with his arch-enemy Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung. See the power of Ramadan.

Did you also notice in all the pics almost every non-muslim leader is wearing a skull-cap. That is also a great symbol of secularism. It is now a days a fashion statement of politicians who are Secular. Normal/common people who wear this cap may be wearing it for non fashionable reasons but how could they know that a mere cap is more than enough to turn a hypocrite into a Secular.

Do you also know that common man who fast on Ramadan usually breaks his fast with eating dates and drinking water. His Iftar is neither a lavish and grand party nor so much media seeking event.

This much talking about Iftar has made me hungry but before I go and eat my home cooked humble meal, there is one more thought that I would like to share with you.

So, I was just thinking, or kind of dreaming, what if these same politicians also do ‘Mata Ka Jagran’, or ‘kanchka – where they will feed little girls ‘kanyas’ and also give money to them. how empowering that would be? Or If they do Nanak Prabhat Pheri in the early morning hours, singing devotional songs. Or, if they throw thanksgiving parties to all the voters who voted for them and gave them power to rule for five years.

It was quite hilarious – that dream that I had.

Just imagine reading news about, ‘Sonia Gandhi has invited every political leader to her Mata ka Jagran event. She was herself dressed as Mata Durga, whereas Digvijay Singh was dressed in a Singh’s (Lion) costume. He was dancing keeping his tail in mouth.

Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing in full devotion to the tune of “beda paar karegi janpath vaali (oops jhande vaali) Maa”.

When Rahul Gandhi was dancing we saw Lalu Yadav and Mulayam shovering 10 and 20 rupees bills. Lalu also danced to his favorite devotional song ‘khushhaal karti, maala maal karti, sherowali maa apne bhakto ki nihaal karti’.

Narendra Modi arrived late, accompanying L. K. Advani by his side. While Modi was seen doing a shastaang pranam to Mata Durga (Sonia Gandhi dressed as Durga) and later giving a two-minute speech on acche din; Advani took mic in his hand and sang full song ‘Mata Sherawali bharde jholi khali’.

Kejriwal was wearing a red duppatta over his head and swinging his head in 360 degree. We later came to know that Mata Durga herself came in Kejriwal’s soul and blessed him. That was the reason of his head swinging, and not because he has lost his marbles.

It was great and blissful night when all the politicians joined together to pray to Maa Shakti Durga, and were blessed with good wisdom and honesty, if that’s possible.

PS. In no way this Jagran was a secular event.

Delhi Election 2013: Best thing that has happened to congress so far.(jcisnowjs.wordpress.com)
What Kind of Government We Want?(jcisnowjs.wordpress.com)
Diary: Sonia’s Iftar shindig a string of hits and misses(rediff.com)
Sonia Gandhi invites Opposition leaders for Iftar dinner(freepressjournal.in)

Life

Why I don’t find Hema Malini guilty much?

July 8, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

One accident involves a celebrity, and whole nation talks about it… while so many common people die daily in such kind of freaky accidents and no one blinks an eye.

I think it’s good when a celebrity gets involve in these things, not that I wish it on anyone; but it do help in bringing the focus to some basic safety and precautions.

Before I jump into safety, guilty, victim and humanity stuff; let me first tell you what prompted me to write about it.

Last week, our very own famous celebrity and politician, Hema Malini, who was traveling in her Mercedes car, collided with an Alto car, killing one small child of four-year. The family of five in Alto car lose their girl child to this accident, while Hema sustained injuries on her nose and back.

What provoked reaction was that after accident Hema flees/taken to the Jaipur‘s fortis hospital while the Alto family waited and then later taken to local hospital.

People are arguing about how Hema Malini, did not stopped and helped the Alto family? Why didn’t she took the family with her for fast treatment? Why a celebrity is attended first? What if the child could be saved, if taken to Fortis in time?

Every question make sense, right?

Yes, in a perfect world.

Now, read this story once again.

Two cars collided in Rajasthan state, killing one little girl of four-year old. One victim has suffered a broken nose and is rushed to Fortis. Rest of the victims are taken to nearby hospital for treatment.

Now, just ask all those questions again. Did you expect one car victim to help other car’s victim? Did you expect from a victim to stay back at accident site and see if someone else needs help and then go to hospital?

Let us again tweak this scenario and say that Hema Malini stayed back and went to see the other car’s survivors.

She belonged to Mercedes car, and her Mercedes rammed into Alto, a much much smaller car. Seeing as in every accident the general perception is that ‘It must be the fault of bigger car’, she would have been certainly seen as the main culprit.

Now imagine, what will you do with that person who just crashed into you and killed your daughter, specially when you are in India where everything is emotion driven? I recently read a news report where angry crowd beat the hell out of a corpse, yes a dead body, because they couldn’t catch and thrash that person alive. So they assaulted a dead body.

What would have happened to Hema in that angry crowd?

Leave this fact that there would have been anyone angry, and everyone was just an accident survivor in pain.

When you are involved in an accident, no matter you are hurt or not, you are in such a shock that your whole life gets turned upside down in matter of seconds. You are not yourself, and clearly you have no sense of right and wrong. How can anyone expect from a person with such a state of mind to help others?

First rule of every accidental situation is to help yourself first and then help others. Even if you are a mother you are told to first help yourself and then your child. This is what real life demands. This is not a Bollywood movie where hero will not die even after he was shot and saved 20 people before fighting with goons for full on 20 minutes.

My last point is that if you read the news, it is stated everywhere that Hema Malini was taken to a hospital. She didn’t drove herself. She was not in a state to flee. She was taken by her staff, or her bodyguards, or some well wishers to the hospital. She may or may not even know where she was taken to.

All I want to say is that being a celebrity and a politician does not make you a hero. It is us who have made these people Hero and God in our mortal eyes. They are as humans as we are. So, cut her some slack.

She did something which was practical, it may or may not be humane, but it sure was right for her.

PS. I am not pasting any of ‘her images’ from the accident site, because it is not humane. Respect others.

Hema Malini lashes out at media(freepressjournal.in)
Hema Malini’s driver arrested after car accident(msn.com)
Hema Malini Suffers Head Injuries in Road Accident; 2-year-old Killed [PHOTOS](ibtimes.co.in)
‘Girl could’ve been saved if taken to hospital with Hema Malini: Harsh Khandelwal(dnaindia.com)

Life

Frolic Friday – Don’t Kill Me Mamma

Image June 26, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

My Journey So Far....

Tisha Singh

Girls are Drama. Little Girls are Drama Queen, and when it comes to my Kiddo Tisha, she is The Queen of Drama Queens. 😎

She is her Papa’s Princess, as every daughter is, but she really behaves like a Princess. She decline to walk. You can either take her in your lap or she will travel in Car. But, no walk. Not even to the Park. Infact before she steps out from home, first question she will ask is, “Are we going by car, or walk?” 😮

She is fashionable and pick her own clothes. Get dressed herself, that too, five times a day. Above all, she thinks, she doesn’t have enough clothes. This is when she has more clothes, than her two brothers have, combined.