what a fun day!

I hate these song and dance shows. They are such a pain to sit through. Whether it’s live or on TV. Same predictable routine and honestly bad scripts. I would much rather go for a play, preferably a light hearted play. Very few are able to deliver a really strong play with a serious message. So the worst form of torture is to go for a play where in you are there purely for reasons of friendship. I am acting in a play, can you please come. Oh man!
In the first few years Jispa’s school annual function were very interesting with me being mesmerised with the scale and the production. It was nowhere what I saw in my school. As the glitz wore off, I started getting bored thanks to the absence of a strong story or plot or anything except songs and dance. You wait eagerly till your own kid comes in and shows her face in a crowd for a 30 second insignificant role and then out. Then it’s back to boredom. I dunno how to wiggle out of this complete utter torture.
Then the next on my list of anathemas is religious propaganda and anything that comes close to sermon. It is dam painful. I am sure some of them are pretty smart people and I am sure one can learn from anything, but sitting through it is a bloody pain. So in spite of quite a few offers I have chosen to stay away from these. These offers are definitely well meaning but I think they are best avoided. Possibly my arrogance will not permit me to attend these sessions.
So I hate shows and I hate religious preaching.
Last Sunday I found myself stuck with the frying pot and the fire. Together. I was attending a song and dance show about Jainism. Aarghhh. How do I get myself stuck in these situations, I also don’t know. One of friends had produced and starred in this with her daughter. Great. They requested us all to come in. great. I said no and no one really expected me to say yes. Great. So till Saturday there wasn’t a ticket for me as well. I had happily wiggled out of this and was planning to spend the morning relaxed in my house reading a good book. The book I was reading “switch” was also quite interesting. Till one of jasmine’s friends backed out leaving jasmine with an extra ticket. NO NO. Are you comng? NO. You sure? YA! Come nah! Awww, no. please. Ok don’t come if you don’t want to. Shit… ok… I am coming. No it’s ok. I am coming. IT all right, don’t come if it’s too bad. I AM COMING!
So I land up at this hall where there is concert going on extolling the events that lead up to the birth of Bhagwan Shri Mahavir. Using song dance, drama and stage, props and stuff. What I realised that there is an interesting mix of Hinduism in the way we seem to be practising Jainism today. What I understand of Jainism is that the Gods aren’t the Gods of Hinduism. The 24 thirthankaras aren’t Gods in that sense. They are enlightened beings. We go to temples not to pray to them and ask for deliverance. We go to the temple (supposed to at least) to look at them and be inspired to let go / or modify behaviour. I once heard the dalai lama and he said, jokingly, that Jainism and Buddhism are forms of atheism. What I understand is that there are no gods in Jainism and there seems to be no point in praying to them and celebrating them as Hinduism does. I read somewhere that when Hinduism was threatened by Buddhism, they conveniently included Buddha as one of the dus avataars. In many murals I have seen Balram as one of the Avataars, who seems to have been unceremoniously dumped for reasons of politics in today’s top ten compilations. During some bits of the play I heard references to the Brahaminical order, with Kshatriyas and Brahamins making their appearances. Now that I look at it, a lot of Jainism rites that I look at today and the way I thought Jainism was and the way I see people practice it, it is actually a form of hindusim. We pray to these Gods, we celebrate them, we give them exalted powers and status. Al the pomp and glory of Hinduism is there. I find it funny when the God in question is who he is because, he gave up all this pomp and splendour, he extolled the virtues of less, of sacrifice, of giving up, of simplicity and virtue.
Hindusim has survived by adapting and managing smartly. By integrating everything into its fold. As a kid I always thought that Jainism is a form of Hinduism. I thought of us as Hindus. How could we be? It is as much a part of Hinduism as Islam is. At least to my mind. Hindusim managed to integrate tribal religion (Shiva), Jainism, Bhuddism and everything else at reached our shores except Islam and Christanity amongst the major religions. It also changed in the bargain from vedic worship to idol worship.
I am sure that there are many flaws in my argument that the critic can argue with. But the fundamental point was that, that day, Jainism was not being worshipped in its original form. But hey, I don’t care. Religions must change with the people. It is finally a product of people’s imagination. It is of the people, by the people and for the people. If it does not change and is held together by dogmas, it will cease to exist. It must bring a lot within its fold. The fun is when the right winged zealot thinks that it hasn’t, talks about coming to core and wants to oppose change, not knowing he is a product of change and adaptability. That’s when the fun starts.
It’s pretty foolish to air your views like these in public. They do not want to listen. They do not want to consider a possibility that the opposite exists. They think that what they know is the absolute truth. What little we understand of religion. What little we argue about it. How completely banal are our conversations about it.

go goa

Ok, the verdict is out. The glares are awesome. At least they were in the first few days that used them in Goa. Awesomely light and very clear. I used them in the swimming pool, on the beach, on a scooter and in the Arabian Sea. Ya, I was swimming in the sea with them on. Perfect. Very light and very clear and so far no scratches. Vasool.
Goa was a fun outpost. Jispa has become a fine water baby. She wants to hit the swimming pool in the hotel and then refuses to be dragged off the water on the beach. I spent hours and hours with her in the water. And I realized the utility of having sun tan lotion / sun block being liberally applied on your skin. I thought I was dark enough to function without it. Two days of roaming around in shorts (only shorts) and red burnt shoulders later I had learnt my lesson. The last two days were spent applying cold cream indoors and sun block outdoors. That seemed to soothe it, though I ended up almost screaming every time Jasmine or Jispa happened to lean on my broad albeit red shoulders. Hehe.
Now we are pretty much convinced of the power of tripadvisor and lonely planet. It worked for us here as well. The hotel was exactly as we expected – nice simple, sweet with a clean pool. It also helped hitting the right spots to eat and relax. Goa is fun off the crowded areas. On one day we went to south Anjuna to get a lovely clean beach. The eyes needed some adjusting. Nopes, it wasn’t the glare. That my sun glasses took care off, it was the topless women, and blatantly so. I was thought getting topless women at a public beach was an urban legend but this was the real thing. The first instinct was to look at Jispa. She didn’t seem to notice it. Luckily it wasn’t like a nude beach, just a few women topless.
Luckily I have turned out fairly stable about nudity (inspite of a deprived childhood :P) and have been fairly level headed about it. This is my second brush with it. Once many years ago some asset management company had taken us on a cruise. One of the shows was a topless show that I found no point of going to. The second time we had gone again. Another dumb asset management company. This time a set of students who were now working with us were also there. They wanted to go but were a bit shy or trepid. They wanted me to come along. Almost like an adult. Sure, I had no qualms in them seeing it and I have always thought that nudity is so dam overrated. So the show started and soon enough the models were topless. Once it’s off and blatantly so, it ceases to really excite. This was a show which started at I think 1 am or something. Soon ten minutes into the show I was fast asleep. I hate shows of all types. Seeing people dance and sing and perform on stage bore me no end. I hate the award shows as well. Now I am also getting tired of Jispa’s school shows. Once her act is over, I am all ready to sleep. This exciting topless show was no exception. Some of the other guys also slept through. But at least they woke up to know that the experience is much more hyped than it actually is. I always encourage the kids to see it for themselves. For decent stable minds it really really can’t be that much fun.
Ditto for the beach. The only real minor irritant. You try and look away from the sun bathers as you don’t really want anyone thinking you are staring at them even though you might not honestly be staring goggle eyed at them. Whatever! Family man must be a bit careful. Always.
While we are not the gastronomic delight seekers, with the lonely planet recommendations, we realized that if you have time its good fun to roam around (especially when the journey is part of the destination), looking for the recommended places and eating. Never waste vacation time on eating but if you have alight schedule, a bike filled with petrol and all three love going around a bike, any excuse is a good excuse. And if the excuse happens to be in the form of waiting pizza then all the more.
All in all a great time. The scooting around on a Honda scooter, the lazing around on the shallow waters of clear Mandrem beach, eating raw mangoes stolen from a tree, removing my shirt and still feeling overdressed… worth every bit.