Skip to main content

Messing up Messiahs


Interfering with other people’s affairs seems to be a very common feature of the Indian culture.  The Sharmas cannot survive without finding out what is cooking in the Varmas’ kitchen and vice versa.  Worse, the Sharmas will not rest contented with poking their noses into the Varma tastes and flavours but insist on altering some of them.

Meddling with other people’s affairs, imposing our truths and notions on them, chipping away at others’ preferences and proclivities, moulding them according to our fancies is the most sickening aspect of existence in my country.  I have been a victim of this for most part of my life.  There was a dedicated group of people who wished to reshape my personality.  They took an inordinate interest in my affairs and started the chipping.  I must have looked like a gargoyle to them and they insisted on converting the gargoyle into a Galatea.  Nothing good came of it.  My life became a protracted agony which I endured – that’s all and nothing more.  I repeat, absolutely nothing good came of all the chipping they did. 

Wanting to be the Messiah in somebody’s life may be a noble wish in religions.  In actual life the cross is the best place for the Messiah.  If you are not happy with others save yourself from them by embracing your own cross.  Let others be.  There are thousands of religions in the world.  Millions of religious preachers.  Billions of prayers rise to the heavens every moment.  But the world has not become any better a place.  And it’s not going to be any better with all the gods and their chipping Messiahs. 

You can at best be an example by living your life as well as you please.  One good deed from you may inspire a gargoyle to smile instead of smirk. One good word can do far more than a thousand chisels when it comes to walking gargoyles. 

PS. Written for Indispire Edition 154. #LessonOfLife

 

Comments

  1. Amit AgarwalJanuary 27, 2017 at 11:48 AM

    Exactly my feelings..thank you Tom sir for giving words to MY thoughts:)
    I couldn't have said it this beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rekha'sJanuary 27, 2017 at 2:52 PM

    Very true Tomichand Ji. I guess, this is a past time of no of people. Specially negative and sick people love doing this. I really loved your sentence - "a dedicated group of people who wished to reshape my personality."
    Actually, They try to do this with everyone except them self.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 27, 2017 at 3:24 PM

      They are self-righteous. Others are wrong, according to them. Most such people have their pet gods too.

      Delete
  3. sunaina sharmaJanuary 27, 2017 at 5:17 PM

    Will they ever realize they are 'meddlesome'? No - they will always think that they are our well-wishers....!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Roohi BhatnagarJanuary 28, 2017 at 12:53 AM

    So true. If there is one story that is to be recited every morning, it should be about that man, boy, donkey and the villagers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 28, 2017 at 7:07 AM

      Gossiping is understandable. Self- anointed Messiahs go beyond that and ruin people...

      Delete
  5. Murthy K v v sJanuary 29, 2017 at 1:39 PM

    Sir. my review on your book. http://www.manabhadradri.com/2017/01/the-nomad-learns-morality-review.html#links

    ReplyDelete
  6. MansiJanuary 30, 2017 at 9:20 PM

    Wenever I m juggling with something in my life.. Your blogs always give me clarity. Also it's a great prompt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 30, 2017 at 9:34 PM

      Glad to hear that Mansi.Juggling is unavoidable to a great extent anyway.

      Delete
  7. negiFebruary 5, 2017 at 9:59 PM

    to create the interest of kid in study visit http://www.kidsfront.com/

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

The Covenant of Water

Book Review Title: The Covenant of Water Author: Abraham Verghese Publisher: Grove Press UK, 2023 Pages: 724 “What defines a family isn’t blood but the secrets they share.” This massive book explores the intricacies of human relationships with a plot that spans almost a century. The story begins in 1900 with 12-year-old Mariamma being wedded to a 40-year-old widower in whose family runs a curse: death by drowning. The story ends in 1977 with another Mariamma, the granddaughter of Mariamma the First who becomes Big Ammachi [grandmother]. A lot of things happen in the 700+ pages of the novel which has everything that one may expect from a popular novel: suspense, mystery, love, passion, power, vulnerability, and also some social and religious issues. The only setback, if it can be called that at all, is that too many people die in this novel. But then, when death by drowning is a curse in the family, we have to be prepared for many a burial. The Kerala of the pre-Independ...
14 comments
Read more

The Rebellion of Christmas

One of the biggest ironies of Buddhism is that Buddha never endorsed the belief in God as done by organised religions but he ended up becoming one such God. Buddha did not advocate for prayer in the sense of appealing to a divine entity for favours or intervention. But his followers of today seem to be giving undue importance to rituals and offerings. Something similar happened to Jesus and his teachings too. Jesus was trying to reform his religion, Judaism, by making it more humane. He wanted to redeem Judaism from its meaningless rituals and displays of devotion . Religion is meaningless and even dangerous unless it touches the believer’s heart and transforms it. Jesus was not interested in the rubrics and the regulations prescribed by the priests of his religion. His primary concern was love and relationships. What good is religion unless it helps you to love your fellow human beings? “If anyone says ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar,” Jesus’ beloved disciple Jo...
10 comments
Read more

Remedios the Beauty and Innocence

  Remedios the Beauty is a character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude . Like most members of her family, she too belongs to solitude. But unlike others, she is very innocent too. Physically she is the most beautiful woman ever seen in Macondo, the place where the story of her family unfolds. Is that beauty a reflection of her innocence? Well, Marquez doesn’t suggest that explicitly. But there is an implication to that effect. Innocence does make people look charming. What else is the charm of children? Remedios’s beauty is dangerous, however. She is warned by her great grandmother, who is losing her eyesight, not to appear before men. The girl’s beauty coupled with her innocence will have disastrous effects on men. But Remedios is unaware of “her irreparable fate as a disturbing woman.” She is too innocent to know such things though she is an adult physically. Every time she appears before outsiders she causes a panic of exasperation. To make...
4 comments
Read more

Koorumala Viewpoint

  Koorumala is at once reticent and coquettish. It is an emerging tourist spot in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. At an altitude of 169 metres from MSL, the viewpoint is about 40 km from Kochi. The final stretch of the road, about 2 km, is very narrow. It passes through lush green forest-looking topography. The drive itself is exhilarating. And finally you arrive at a 'Pay & Park' signboard on a rocky terrain. The land belongs to the CSI St Peter's Church. You park your vehicle there and walk up a concrete path which leads to a tiled walkway which in turn will take you the viewpoint. Below are some pictures of the place.  From the parking lot to the viewpoint The tiled walkway A selfie from near the view tower  A view from the tower Another view The tower and the rest mandap at the back Koorumala viewpoint is a recent addition to Kerala's tourist map. It's a 'cool' place for people of nearby areas to spend some leisure in splendid isolation from the hu...
30 comments
Read more