forsake religion, make heaven on earth

A devoutly atheist relative of mine once told me that for heaven to be built on earth, the first thing that we need to forsake is religion. It gives nothing except a false sense of piousness to the follower and acute disturbance to the one who isn’t following your herd on that particular day.
Today is a holy day for the Shias. Probably a remembrance day of somebody’s martyrdom or some such thing that I have not bothered to find out. But what I did find out is that when these black-clad gangs –for want of any better word- get into trains to get to the place where the collective sigh of remembrance will be let out, they are a pain in the neck.
For youngsters it is a day of going out and behaving like the goons many want to be but cannot because becoming a goon requires large parts of the heart to be free of the fear of law. Most of us overstuff our hearts with fear anyway.
So taking the energy derived from the strength of numbers, these gangs will block the gangways and doors of trains, spit profusely into the wind unmindful of whether the blob of spit falls smack on the face of some passenger hanging perilously on the door simply because there isn’t enough space to go in. Of course once they reach the spot where they will meet several more of their ilk, they will pull down a façade of piousness and sorrow over their faces, mouth time-tested hollow chants and go home.
I think in 1947 we made a promise of building a nation where your religion will be as private and comfortable as your underwear.
But thanks to Nehru and his massive urge to appropriate the nation for his brood, we lost our way. Today we are caste Hindus, Dalits, Shias, Sunnis, Wahabis, Tablighis, Catholics, Protestants, Jains, Biddhists. Any bloody damn denomination but Indians.
One nation, one people can go up the anal openings of all of us if anyone cares enough.
Oh by the way which reminds me, a small sect of Sikhs, who follow the preaching of Sant Ravidass, have announced that they are no longer a sect of Sikhism but a full-fledged religion. They will be called Ravidassis, their symbol would be the ‘Har’ and their chant would be ‘Jai Gurudev’.Fantastic. So now we have started on the path where religions will change as you hop from street to street. We well and truly have begun the process of putting the last log on India’s pyre. Till then enjoy the warmth.