The kilt, the burqa and the paranoia.

This has got nothing to do with any Sergio Leno movie.

THE KILT : The Kilt was invented back in the early 18th century by an Englishman(yes my dear Scots, the kilt was invented by an Englishman ) so as to offer a pocket friendly way for poorer Scotsmen, who could not afford pants to wear as bottoms. These kilts became an instant hit, and everyone started fashioning them. Somewhere around the midpoint of the century, the British Parliament all of a sudden decided to ban the kilt. It wouldn’t take much imagination to come up with an answer to the question as to why one would want to ban the kilt. But thats not it. The British Parliament had no objections to it being silly or the like, but they felt that this gave Scots their own way to dress, and form their own unique identity. This was according to the Englishmen in the Parliament of rebellious nature. Now, the kilt has become one of the most popular things one would associate Scotland with (probably in competition with the bagpipers and the Lochness monster) But who would have imagined that, it was once illegal to wear the kilt, in the country where it is currently the national dress.

THE BURQA: Around 260 years after the ban on the kilt was enforced, a ban on the burqa is being considerd. First Belgium, then France, now Britain. In fact, demands to ban the Burqa have found even more enthusiasm, with the French on their way to outlaw the clothing item. This is six years after they banned Sikh school students from wearing a turban to school. As people globally debate is it Just to ban the burqa, Islamic people in France have expressed their disappointment over the vote in one of the most Liberal countries of the world. When the government of a country starts fondling and issues diktats on the way one should dress, you know things must be surely messed up. When I founded out, that every neutral was divided on this issue, I was in for some relief, as I have been able to take my stand on this issue.

THE PARANOIA: On one hand, one would say, that it is the right of every individual to wear what ever one wishes to. However, this move can also be taken as a move to remove the uncomfortable elements that creep up in one’s minds around a burqa clad woman, especially in Europe. Even in India, one can quite clearly see men steering away from women dressed in burqas, which is very upsetting. Many of us might claim to be against religious intolerance, but very sadly, the fact remains that even in the minds of the most enlightened people of today, in this age of fear, it is not very uncommon to be unsettled by the slightest of displays of religious identities. Sadly we have to face the facts, one religion has been stereotyped to be ill-wishers of all except themselves. The identity of one religion has been maligned to such an extent, that some of us start fearing for our lives when we are nearby people of that religion. They are being separated out of the society, and a sense of insecurity is creeping in them. I feel very sad for my fellow men out there who have to face such hardships everyday. I seriously wish we could accept people of other religions, especially Muslims(if throwing the religion quotient out of the window seems irrational), I wish we could all live as one.

Heaven or Hell

One topic that has been on my mind for quite some time now, is the concept of heaven and hell. The concept of such afterlife reward/punishment packages have existed in most of the religions of the world. The New Testament reeks of mentions of synonyms of Hell, and the last bit of Christ’s fable are all to do with heaven and resurrection. In Islam the concept of an Islamic heaven called Jannat and a hell known as Jahannam are very much prevelant. In Hinduism, there are layers of heaven, beyond the skies, and layers of hell beneath the earth, where one lands up depending on one’s deeds, and is cast out after an appropriate time to rejoin the birth cycle, until salvation or moksha is attained.  Buddhism has a similar concept, while Judaism leads the follower to only utter confusion.

Whatever the religion being followed, Chapter 1 in any guide to heaven or hell would tell us that people who lead a good life, within the doctrines of the religions being followed, will be rewarded with an afterlife in heaven, where one shall enjoy every beauty of nature. If the person wasn’t much of a noble saint, he would end up in hell, with temperatures much higher than any boiling pot, with a serving of a set number of lashes(depending on how much of a rotten apple you were during your days on the earth). So basically heaven is biblical version of an Irish pub of all the good people, where as hell is quite literally a melting pot of the Sentenza and the Gabbar Singhs of the world.

So many questions and thoughts arise as to why one would bother coming up with all this, and clever lines to come back at believers. So here are a few of my doubts and thoughts

• The concept must’ve been come up to bribe the followers of any religious scriptures with a wonderful after life, in an attempt to make sure that their deeds whilst they are alive, are in conformity with the layout of the religion (and thus making sure they lead a good life- whatever people say against religions, they actually tell you to lead a good life)
• If that is the case, then people are living a good life not out of what their heart wants, but from fear, that the almighty will strike upon them with vengeance, once they step outside of their bodies. This according to me leads to an emotional turmoil, depending on how pale hearted you are because of three factors. 1) You are in constant fear 2) You never do what your heart wants to(there are many sane things, that religious scriptures don’t allow us to do) 3) An increase in mental frustration depending on who you are
• If god is the sole creator of everything, and is responsible for everything that goes on the earth, then why does he punish certain people and reward a few others for something that he as himself done or created. This also further leads to the question, why do several people insist upon challenging people from other sects and religions and enrage them to an extent where bloodshed is a normalcy. Why would an omnipotent god make his own children fight, that too over ego problems on which form of god is better?
• Too much of a good thing is bad, so how long does a person have to stay in heaven, before he gets bored, and starts feeling frustrated once again.
• If people achieve different levels of good, and different levels of bad, then doesn’t the rewarding scheme create a subtler form of a rat race in heaven as well, similar to the one on the earth, with money being substituted with how good you are. Jealousy and hatred comes into the picture. Imagine, leading a perfectly normal and good life, and being rewarded with heaven, only to see one of the former Popes swoosh past you in a Lamborghini Murcielago, with Rita Hayworth next to him, and sipping something special from Épernay, France.