Desecrating the Deity.

        Violence!  Bloodshed ! Massacre ! Hatred and callousness being inflicted upon innocent people across the world.  And all these insane acts being done in the name of religion.                                                   What a fallacy of ideas to profess cruelty and god in the same breath!  Can this play of ill will please God who, by all believers over the world, is regarded as the ultimate source of love and kindness?.                          Is it not blasphemous to link His name with such devilish acts and blemish His holy image?                              Besides sinful sacrilege, these votaries of violence, also indulge in killing the very essence of human values and ethos of the age they live in. Sadist to the core, they love wrecking havoc on the civilised world every now and then.      The situation is grave indeed and seems to be going out of control at the hour.  Isn't there a way out?   Is our age-old civilisation doomed to be annihilated?  A dreadful nightmare to imagine!   Despite the grim situation prevailing around, I wish to hope (against hope ) that maybe, all is not yet lost.                      The optimist in me keeps dreaming that sooner or later a day will dawn with the light of reason and good sense that will dispel the darkness of delusion and bring them back on the path of righteousness. The world will again become a better place for everyone to live in peace, sans fear.
         In the meantime, let us hope so and pray together!

GIVING A DAUGHTER AWAY

       A queer experience it is, a feeling that defies description, an emotion beyond expression.
        Thoughts of varied colours blended together in a peculiar mode, overwhelming you with a mood never known before.
                                You don't know what to name it !
     Is it a sense of self-satisfaction at having performed a parental duty gracefully in accordance with the established customs?
          A  sense of relief that your beloved daughter is going to enter a new phase of life that holds the promises of a rosy future with the fulfilment of all her happy dreams?
        Or is it a late realization that you entrusted the future of your loving daughter to the mercy of a stranger?
            Regret, that you consented to give her away rather early, while it could be done a little later?
         Apprehensions, will or won't she be granted the same love and care she has been brought up with, and will she be ensured protection as was done right from birth up to her present age?
  Or is it the fear of impending loneliness back at home caused by the glaring
    absence of a darling child?
The chain of unsavoury thoughts keeps confusing the mind, making it difficult  to
know which of them is the hardest to cope with.
             But then, as it always happens, Prudence gets the better of emotions and rhyme and reason begin to prevail, asserting the truth that we are merely a link in the ages-old tradition and are bound to act as our predecessors have been doing since time immemorial.
          Hence, no matter how painful the parting, how deep the sense of loss, how dreadful the worries about her future, the fact remains that she is born a daughter, an asset that belongs to others and therefore must be parted with, a loving farewell
is all we can give her with gifts of blessings and good wishes in abundance for her happy going in the new household. Tears may be welling up in the eyes but must not roll down till she is believed to have entered there to a cordial welcome, marking the beginning of celebrations henceforth, extending to the whole of her lifetime!