Religious Zealots

The first time I went back to Kerala after joining the medical college in Bangalore, my mother insisted that I accompany her to the church. It wasn’t because she was concerned about my faithless soul, it has everything to do with her ego and her need to show off … that her daughter is studying medicine..
So we went to the CSI church, the same church that denied me a scholarship though I was part of the choir from the age of 10 and represented  the Sunday school for the regional competitions for 5 years because my father is a Jacobite !!!
What I remember the most about that trip was the events that happened after the service. The congregation tend to hang around on the steps in front of the church..it is ‘the’ chance to show off the latest saree or the gold ornament etc..and in my mother’s case “me”
And as I stood near the church entrance and was talking to  amma’s friends, one local preacher came to me and in a rather loud voice asked me “How could you?” and pointed to the black string bracelet I had on my wrist.
There was a reason for the black string bracelet. My mother wanted me to wear bangles because my arm is bare and it isn’t good for girls to walk with bare arms! I hated to wear gold. Glass bangles don’t last more than a week especially because if I see a handsome guy, I get distracted and won’t see where I am heading, often straight to the wall!! And so while visiting the market near my medical college to replace my ever depleting glass bangles supplies, I came across a seller who was selling thick strings ( probably meant for thali) and I bought the black colour string and made a bracelet out of it.. It was the same time Anchor threads were making an impact in the Indian market and they used to have articles in magazines about how to make friendship bracelets.. Does anyone remember making them??

The local priest was shivering in anger for he felt I was committing blasphemy.
“You are a Christian, you can’t wear a Hindu bracelet” He screamed
“Where does it say in the bible that I can’t wear a black bracelet?” I asked
My mother instead of supporting me was telling me to shut up.
And the preacher turned to my mother and started to scold her for letting me wear the bracelet. ( and all the way back home my mother chewed my brain for embarrassing her and I couldn’t get across to her that the preacher was wrong)

But the truth is, no where does it say in the bible that one can’t wear a black colour bracelet. Actually Genesis 38:28 talks about the midwife tying a scarlet thread on the hand of a newborn baby. There is also the story of Rahab and the red thread..
How does wearing a black thread on my wrist make me a Hindu?

Yesterday the local church had a light party, an alternative to Halloween,,Because Halloween is all about darkness, devils and witches..and the kids attending the light party could only wear nice costumes..angels and butterflies..because they are god’s children..In other words, what the church was trying to tell all those parents is “only the non believers celebrate halloween”
We live in the 21st century..but even now we are tied to the horrible  church sanctioned religious fanaticism..

If only religion was not used to manipulate people..
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *