All the Chapters
Shaan was
different from others from the very beginning- from his childhood. And lately
as a responsible adult he decided that he did not believe in sticking to any
one religion.
He soon
defined his own religion, which was nameless. Yet he described it as a
one-liner. That one line was: “Feel, think and do good to self and others.” It
was that simple. His religion was done. But he did not term it as ‘religion’.
He called it his ‘guiding principle’ of life.
He
could not convince himself if he would enjoy any further value addition to
himself by being part of any organized religion. Rather he thought that many
things prescribed in the organized religions were a drag. He was not the one to
accept a drag.
And over
the years he did not believe in many other established things of the human
society that he thought were retrograde.
As a
child he refused to address the elders as an “uncle” or “aunt” or “sir” or
“madam” which was the custom of the place. He was told time and again by many
people around him that younger ones should not call the elders by their first
names or surnames. That was the established etiquette in Indian community and
everyone followed. Everyone followed except Shaan. He insisted on addressing
them as Mr so & so or Mrs so & so or Ms so & so as appropriate.
He even
addressed his teachers in the high school and later in college by their
surnames prefixed by a respectable Mr or Mrs or Ms. He did not address them by
the conventional ‘sir’.
Shaan’s
argument for doing so was, “Most people are so much accustomed to this
master-slave relationship that a person at the lower rungs of official or
social hierarchy is always treated as a dumb donkey. And this feeling is
further aggravated by this three-letter word ‘sir’. This word when spoken
creates, immediately, a sense of false inferiority in the subject who speaks
this word and a false superiority in the addressee. As soon as this phenomenon
takes place, the actual work, the intended results from the work and the real
objective of the discussions between the two persons get surrounded by the ego
satisfaction of the boss and the selfish motives of the subordinates. In
majority of cases, it is not out of respect that a man wants to call other
person with a dignified address. It is out of selfishness, fear, doubt and the
bad custom. This word ‘sir’ arouses the base feelings of the human beings. If
‘sir’ is used as a mark of reverence, it has different connotation- no motives
are attached. But it is rarely so.”
Most
people agreed but dared not follow it in practice.
And teachers
obviously did not like it much and he missed the grades occasionally despite
being the most brilliant student of the class. But he couldn’t compromise.
An
important elderly guy was to visit his parents once. His father insisted, “When
he comes to our house you must call him ‘sir’. He is elder to you. You must
respect him by addressing him appropriately.”
“But,
father, he does not invoke any respect in me. I see him telling lies all the
time. And he has a bad habit of using abuses every now and then. He swears all
the time. Age has not done any good to him. I just cannot call him ‘sir’-
that’s my decision.”
His
mother coaxed too. But Shaan could not be convinced. Yet, to honor his father
and mother and not to create any scene he excused himself and went out to play
while this guest was around the house.
Shaan
developed a kind of maturity at an early age. He read a lot. He read all sorts
of great literature. He was a keen observer too. He learned a lot soon enough.
It made him highly flexible to accept all the good and shun all the bad
howsoever established and traditional it looked or sounded.
There
were occasions when as a child he used to accompany her mother to the church.
It was quite close to their house. As he grew older, he noticed that his father
did not accompany his mother while going to the church. He asked her, “Why
doesn’t father accompany you to the church for offering his prayers to the
god?”
“He
believes in another faith and for his prayers he has to go to a mosque,” his
mom answered.
“But
you had been telling me all along that god is one. Then how can he be different
for you and daddy? The god should be present in the church as well as in the
mosque. Dad could as well pray him in the church along with you and me? And
also mom, when daddy takes me to the mosque, you can as well accompany us and
pray there.”
“We
cannot do such things. We are bound by some established practices. We cannot
flout them easily. Some people around us keep on scrutinizing us on such
issues.”
“Well
mom, then do it your way. But I don’t understand you and daddy at all. And you
also tell me that god is everywhere, even in our hearts. He or she is
omnipresent, everyone says. Then what is the need of going to a church or a
mosque or for that matter a temple? I can pray anywhere, after all god resides
even in my heart.”
Then his
mother just laughed and dismissed the discussion midway. By that time they had
reached the church and they needed to remain quiet inside. Despite his
curiosity on the subject he remained silent in the church. Later he decided to
let it go. He was smart enough to decide when to pursue a topic and when to
drop it.
When he
started going to the higher classes in the school and later to the college he
stopped accompanying his mother to the church and father to the mosque. If he
needed to pray for some reason, he would just keep sitting or standing or lying
down or walking and pray for a few seconds in his own way. He made his own text
for praying at times and at times he just remained silent while praying. He
stopped following the rituals of prayers followed by his parents. He invented
his own processes.
Over a
period of time he also broke the earlier practice of strictly addressing his
father as ‘abba’ and mother as ‘mommy’. He took liberty in additionally
addressing his father as ‘daddy’ or ‘papa’ or ‘baba’ and mother as ‘ammi’ or
‘mummy’ or ‘ma’. He loved teasing them. By then he had started understanding
the various ways in which various religions influenced human beings. And all of that amused him.
Once he
went to a temple with one of his schoolmates who was a Hindu. His friend placed
some money as offerings to the god. Shaan asked his friend, “Why are you
bribing the god? I am told that god has very large heart, he is always so
generous. And the least he needs is money. Money may be important for mortals
like us but not to the god, I suppose.”
His
friend looked at Shaan quizzically and went ahead with his offerings. He
thought, “Shaan is crazy. Giving offerings to god is a done thing. No one asks
such stupid and objectionable questions on such a pious action.” His friend
prayed a little longer than usual that day in order to wash the sin Shaan had
committed by asking that question.
On
another occasion he had gone to stay with one of his friends during his college
holidays. His friend followed Christianity. He wanted to take Shaan to the
church. There was one very close to his friend’s house but he took him to a
church, which was some eight kilometers away.
When
they reached this church Shaan asked, “Why didn’t you go the church that is
next to your house?”
“No.
That is not our church. The highbrow people visit that. For poor people like
us, this is the church.”
“Different
gods in the two churches?”
“No,
god is the same in both.”
Shaan
always felt puzzled at such goings-on.
Pleasing
the teachers was an accepted practice with most of the students in his school
and later in college. The internal marks were allotted by most of the teachers
based on how pleased they were with a student. Shaan never disrespected any
teacher yet sycophancy was not in his blood.
A piece
of conversation between him and his fellow student once created hell of a
problem for Shaan.
His classmate
was telling about one of the most influential teachers of the school to Shaan,
“Mr Forbes is the most brilliant teacher. Don’t you think he teaches the best?”
The classmate
spoke all of this when this teacher was walking past them. The idea was that Mr
Forbes should hear this praise and notice this student.
Shaan
did not notice the teacher and replied, “I don’t think so. He does not teach
anything original. He pours out everything from the cheap guides that are
freely available in the market.”
Shaan
was straightforward but polite.
Mr Forbes overheard this criticism and after this incident Shaan could never score the highest marks in the subject that he was used to.
Despite a few setbacks like this one, Shaan always topped the list year after year, in the school and later in the college finally becoming the university topper and the gold medalist in engineering and technology. No professor or co-student could stop him.
Mr Forbes overheard this criticism and after this incident Shaan could never score the highest marks in the subject that he was used to.
Despite a few setbacks like this one, Shaan always topped the list year after year, in the school and later in the college finally becoming the university topper and the gold medalist in engineering and technology. No professor or co-student could stop him.
(Get your copy of the novel "Good People" as an eBook from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BHH37G only for $ 0.99. You may also like to get its Printed Book from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Good-People-Dream-Boundary-World/dp/1479333085/ref=sr_1_8_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380916602&sr=1-8&keywords=shyam+bhatawdekar%27s+books)
Novels and Stories
Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/
