A little late

Just photos though. 

Well, this is turning out to be quite productive.

More. This. Year.

Curiosity                                                Dreamcatcher

Stuff done meanwhile

Fight                                                   Glimmer

Lay                                                 Hold

The Dawkins Conversion

Yes, conversion. The rationality of the argument was the final cinch - If there was something before everything so complex that it was capable of actuating the universe in all its detail, how is such a super-creature explained? There must be an explanation for it - denying the necessity of an explanation for it is equivalent to a denial of human nature and history, both religious and secular. Religious movements have invariably always involved philosophical explanations for the meaning of life and the rest of human history provided explanations for everything else. While a large portion of my life was spent in belief, mockery came easily enough when absurdities were spotted. This eventually led to a mildly agnostic stance of being comfortable with lack of proof. After getting through the God Delusion (very eagerly, I might add), the fence sitter crossed the great divide once and for all.

Yet the world demands that religious doctrines are to be “respected”, while irreligious ones are to be condemned when they dare raise their ugly heads. Believe me, I'm all for freedom of religion, but I'm even more for freedom from religion. Since the world takes upon itself the right to propagate and profess religious doctrines, I shall take it upon myself to propagate and profess atheism with equal vehemence when faced with other propagators. We can take turns at being offended.

The sentiment hurting part was always a mystery. Being a woman, it became even more personal than it does for most non-women people. Naturally, I assume one would not care to be aware of some idiocy if it did not directly affect one. It’s all fine if a woman’s sentiments are hurt when someone dictates her behaviour and controls her body, but it’s her funeral if she dares hurt the sentiments of the rest by refusing to comply.

It was very easy to walk down the slippery slope of disillusionment with the castles religion had built in the air, but when it came to letting go entirely, there was that one cushion called destiny that was such a comfort, I could not let go of it until a few years ago. I can’t say why I let go, or pinpoint a moment in time when I thought my life could do without it, but in the end, I did walk away. My comfort now lies in the wonder of the incredibility of life and the extremely rare opportunity to be conscious of it. The joys of experiencing emotion are so much more thrilling and my relationships with others are a million times more precious.

Civility

Each time I read about the white man's burden, that unpatriotic part of me is glad that there was a time when we were thought to be uncivilized, our philosophies condemned as medieval and our cultures denounced as barbaric - if it weren't for the British colonization of India at the most appropriate time possible, we would probably never have accepted the idea of equality and rights. Hinduism in particular, has a history of contradictory ideals and theories all being housed under the same ever-expanding roof; a man who once broke away from mainstream Hinduism to establish a new religion was eventually declared an avatar of Vishnu himself. How wonderful for a skeptic to be called a god. Hinduism has long been adapting and mutating to include aspects of the dominating culture / religion of the time; Islamic rule saw the transformation of saris to purdahs, English colonizers added to that a touch of blouses and petticoats, because modesty in a woman can never be overdone. The fact that we were not white gave Europeans the excuse justifying conquest.

Eventually, our foreign-educated lawyers realised the hoax that was being pulled on them and decided that the best way to beat the evil-master was to use his own tools against him. What followed was captured only too well in history textbooks as the struggle for Indian independence. But the best thing we got from this entire deal was the idea of non-violence; the only thing guaranteed to ensure that there would be no counter to the protests. Rule 1 of trying to destabilize a government - never give your opponents the tools to criticize you or undermine your goals. Thankfully though, they kept the better ideas brought in by the West after asking them (very politely) to get out. I dread to think of what might have happened if Gandhi was an intolerant Hindu fundamentalist. He did have some rather unusable ideas on celibacy, but we may take comfort in the knowledge that the outcome of his leadership was pretty good. 

Unfortunately, the world seems to be full of people who believe violence is a justified retaliation to anything that is not approved of. Indeed, it is the job of every government to ensure that no individual is permitted to act in any way that may be offensive to anyone else. If a large number of us find the colour pink revolting, we are justified in objecting to a man painting his house pink; my goodness, make sure completely unconnected people are murdered to show this rebel our intolerance - surely it will let the infidels know that they must join the anti-pink-squad. It's funny to think we shared a political history with some of them. Indeed, calling for the head of a blasphemer is a wholly acceptable idea, but while you're at it, as Portia would put it, you haven't accounted for any drops of blood spilt in the process. The reason quoted for the warrant is apparently to demonstrate that Muslims will not tolerate insults to their religion. By that, are we then justified in refusing to tolerate your acts of violence which insult our belief in the inviolability of life and liberty, ideals that we hold dearer to us than everything else?

Mist

Based on a photo taken in Chikmaglur.