Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Monsoon evening

Maybe redemption has stories to tell; Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here.
- Switchfoot (Dare you to move)

I lazily gaze at the clientèle spread in front of me. Well, in the front I can see the rich bastard and his snooty wife, next to them are middle aged working couple – their faces tired with the days work or was it because of life in general? And then there is that vegetable vendor from around the corner, an old woman who looks like she is from a respectable family, a retailer from the shop that’s right across this temple and the local Romeo and Juliet. Of course this being a temple there is a priest humming something incoherently (I seriously wonder how much of that is correct) and doing some rituals (again subjected to suspicion). It’s a chilly monsoon evening sky ready to burst with yet another fiery span of rain. I like this temple and I have always liked being here. I have a job to do and I like my job. The priest puts a Tulsi garland around my neck. I see a box of sweets kept in front of me and my mouth waters. I like the fresh smell of the plant and look at my clientèle wondering who got this exotic garland for me. I am a God after all; this kind of worship is expected!

I am a God with a capital G and underlined. Technically a goddess but then again calling actresses as actors is supposedly a new fad and I am known to be always ‘in’ with the in thing.
It turns out that the garland was got by the snooty wife. Maybe it was an offering to remind me to forgive his pathetic-wife-beating-corrupt-son-of-a-bitch husband. Yeah, like that’s going to happen! Keep trying for next two millennia or so sister, may be then I will change my mind and forgive him. I look at the middle aged couple and the only thing I feel is guilt. I have all the powers in the world to change their lifestyle in a heartbeat. But there is annoying little thing called as Fate, that incidentally has taken up permanent residence in my head. It stops me from doing these so called “irrational” things. If I didn’t have that thing living in my head then maybe there would not have been any natural calamities, no food shortage and no poverty. So I had to resist the urge of wringing the little neck of rich bastard or waiving off all the worries of middle aged couple and give a little bit of confidence to our Romeo. Really, I am getting sick of watching Romeo and Juliet making ga-ga eyes at each other.
The crowd disperses quietly and a calmness settles in the temple. The priest has already packed up for the day and pays one last respect for the day. I have this sudden urge to start dancing. I idly wonder if it would be covered as a breaking news on TV that is if the priest didn’t die of a heat attack first. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts.

They came with the rain. The young couple must be in their late twenties. It didn’t take a genius to tell that the guy was an atheist. But the girl, well the girl was different. She simply looked at me and prayed for good health and peace. Her voice was clear and tone was calm and collected.
I heard (Ok fine! eavesdropped) their conversation

“You know I don’t believe in god. God doesn’t exist”. Maybe if I started dancing then he would know the truth! Or should I wink at him, he is not bad looking.
“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. It’s your choice though.” Good girl. Hmm…I must add her name in my favorite people list.
“Gods are characters in our legends, mythology and bed time tales. We celebrate the birth of god and mourn of the death. But in all technicality gods are immortal.” Not bad. Good looking and rational too.
“We don’t celebrate the birth and death of god.” What? What? What?
“No?” It looks like his face is mirroring my puzzlement.
“We celebrate the birth and death of a Point of View” Oh. I am speechless. And that’s an understatement.
“How can god be a point of view?” My question exactly.
“From the beginning of the human race, there has been god. The way the god is perceived changes from person to person, region to region and time to time. In the end after all these years we ended up with millions of them. It’s an essence of something that has always been there. Both, that thing and the Time began their existence together. And once everything in this universe ceases to exist, they are going to hang up their towels, lock the registry and close the shop.” Smart girl. Even though she just gave me an existential complex.

For some moments there was only sound of rain. I looked around and saw that the couple had already left. I idly wondered about the girls words. Nothing had changed. But somehow, everything seemed different. And with that last thought I logged off from the mortal world.

Posted by Sookie :: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 :: 9 Comments:

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