Do you believe in Santa?

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

-- Carl Sagan

Do you believe in Santa? The question is rather rhetorical. It is the belief in anything supernatural that has the power to 'reward' those who have been 'good' and 'punish' the 'bad' ones. This judge, who is widely called God. It is the question of his existence or none and the judgements associated with it. How someone answers this brings along with it a lot of opinions. Between Yes, I do and No, I don't, our judgements cross the bridge of orthodoxicty to rationality. Then there is a third type - like me - who are a welcome grey in the world of black and white - agnostics.

It is very easy to justify a No. He is a figment of our imagination and obviously there is no evidence to prove that he exists. Impossible to justify is a Yes. Does this issue then boil down to mere subjectivity? If one can neither prove nor disprove his presence, shouldn't the correct answer be I don't know? There are plenty of articles and books on theism, atheism, pantheism etc and it is not in my ability to discuss them here. Rather, I will plainly put across my views in this subject – something that only I am capable of doing.

I would like to narrate a particular incident here. A few months back, I was returning home from dinner with a group of friends when the discussion about theism erupted. It went along the lines of one friend mocking the concept of God and the other trying to defend the idea of God. The second friend looked at the first and told him that he should be afraid of mocking God lest His anger befall on him. The first friend was amused and he instantly looked up at the sky and challenged “Come on, hit me with your best”. Almost involuntarily, I silently prayed “No, don't do that to him” to that fictitious something out there in the universe. Later on contemplation, it simply demonstrated a sense of fear in me that I have internalized. Definitely, there is nobody in space who would listen to such challenges and act upon them. My absurd reaction was simply for the fear of any untoward occurrence to my loved one, however well I know that this will not happen. This brings us to the natural question: Perhaps it is the fear that drives people to pray, isn't it? Again, whatever way it originates, as long as it limited to constructing an arena in our minds where we can take shelter when in trouble – a reassurance – I would still call it a positive effect.

The history of unconventional discoveries in physics itself have time and again shown to us that we are in a constant process of learning and unlearning. In fact, the way science and God are segregated, it is paradoxical that I should use the example of the discoveries in science to accentuate the idea of God, but in my mind, the idea of God is simply one elegant theory. Definitely, for me, God is not someone deep seated in heaven who created Earth and now keeps an account of the sins committed by mere mortals or who can bend the laws of nature. (An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job - Stephen Hawking). I do not also mean the common (mis)conception about God who has to be pleased and sacrificed for, or any other man-made representations of Him. Rather, I am simply keeping an open mind that perhaps – just perhaps - there is something that our mind is not capable of comprehending currently (maybe an idea, Nature, our unused part of minds or something else), and that probable incomprehensibality for me is God.

Also, while I strongly oppose the propaganda meted out by the fundamentalists who forcefully impose their belief in the presence of their Almighty. For me, it is also equally not correct to mock the IDEA as well. After all, Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. How will but one, prove the unprovable?

Having said all this, we should understand why such a discussion is necessary. God is often simply (read wrongly) portrayed as a representative of a particular religion. A few days across, I came across forwards in my Facebook newsfeed. It read something like this: “There are N religions in the world, some say N are wrong and some N-1”. This satire has indeed put across a strong statement. It amuses and at the same time irritates me to see how people (actually!) believe that the religion they are born with is true and ultimate while the rest are not. Needless to say, many opportunists cash on this very aspect of division with ulterior motives and while their wrong doing is obvious, it is mandatory that we also look into ourselves and check if we are contributing. In that, I also consider silence as a vice, with adverse effects.

In the end, I believe, if religion is already doing us more harm than good, shouldn't we perhaps do away with the divide and simply accept the idea of humanity? As John Lenon has beautifully lyricised:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

-- John Lenon

The wrongs that make up right

“To a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships”

--O' Henry

Beautiful day! he remarked, taking his dog out for a walk. The crimson sun rose lazily and the dew drops tossed in their cradles. The silence was interrupted by the chirping of birds and hymns from a distant temple. In no time, would the same place be replaced by hurried people jostling for work. Right now, as it always did, would be pathetically lost, even before he could complete his one short breath.

Maya and Sid had met some months ago on the same road. She was wearing a blue scarf tied around her head. Sid had come here with his wife to take their ritualistic evening stroll. He couldn't help notice how Maya was struggling to neat her otherwise unkempt hair in the wind. While his wife was away to grab some tea, he froze when the young woman came up to him to ask for directions to reach a library nearby. Their eyes met and he thought that it had stayed a second longer. Did it? For days together, he re-lived the moment till fantasy and reality turned intangible.

Perhaps it did not, he thought now. The following days soon witnessed courtship-consent and clandestine meetings. What he felt was magical and he was convinced that he had at last met his soulmate. She even completes my sentence, he confessed to his wife – Rachi - one day. She listened to the entire story teary-eyed and with quiet dismay. She had heard about infidelties but all of them to her were only distant happenings. She had to make a decision and finally after endless tossing and remaining awake the whole night, she decided to stay with him for a month more before she moved out. It is difficult to get a place in a short time, I am only staying that long for logistics...she convinced herself.

Natalie will be staying with us, she told him the next day. By the end of the month, we both will find a separate place to stay.

The first few days in the house was awkward for the trio. Soon, as it happens, they started getting used to the rhythm of the other person's daily habits. The days of emotional distress now lingered in the background and all adapted to the new normal. This is the beauty about human race – adaptation. Natalie was a good listener, those few people whose aura compells one to open up. In no time Sid poured in her with the innocence of a child. They spoke of music, movies and when alone, even about Maya. In the meanwhile, his meetings with Maya got less frequent. The newness disappeared and with the breeding of familiarity, their priorities changed. Maya did not show up for a few lunch dates on the pretext of attending meetings. Sid went home a little early each day though Rachi never placed such a demand anymore. He wanted to optimize the few days left for them together. Perhaps it is the thought of losing something dear that makes the clutch tighter. This clutch that encompasses one's entirerity in that instant.

I need to tell Maya the truth, his thoughts paced with the temple hymns that morning. She had been out of reach for quite a long time. He missed her, but clearly, he had not put in much effort to trace her too. Deep inside, he also felt a little relieved on her effortless disappearance since the sudden flame of romance had exhaustively burnt him down steadily. He longed for the quiet times with Rachi. She had overstayed her time at home and would be leaving in a few days. All the while, she had been hunting for apartments to suit her needs. She has always been very particular, that silly idealist, he found himself smiling as he was reminded of the times when they were looking for this one. He remembered the mole on her right ear and how her lips quivered when she ate anything cold. All of a sudden, he felt a strong rage inside himself. She cannot leave! he told himself almost aloud.

That evening, Rachi and Natalie went for a walk.

So, you were right, said Natalie. Rachi's satisfaction was evident in her rosy cheeks.

Yes, your medication and therapy worked. Would he still be needing them? she cheerfully asked.

There are lapses in such cases, but I would not worry too much about that. Tell me though, how did you first guess that Maya was only his imagination? Natalie interrogated.

What Maya was wearing when they met. That was what “I” was wearing in our first meeting, chuckled Rachi. Besides, Sid is not like any other man.

Both smiled and the rest of the walk was quiet with each lost in their own thoughts.

The next day, as Natalie flew off to her native land, she noticed a little girl wearing a blue scarf seated next to her. The coincidence that saved a marriage, she smirked.

Soon her thoughts shifted to the first time Rachi had come to meet her agitated and sad at the same time. She had convinced herself that Sid was a schezophrenic and dating a fictitious woman called Maya. To get to the bottom of this, she had to analyze the patient herself. On the first few encounters itself, Natalie had known that Sid had showed no primary symptoms of such a condition. Natalie was in a fix. Rachi being a purist that she was, would be shattered. Lies people tell themselves to save the hurt! Natalie felt obliged to save their relationship. Secretly, she stole Maya's phone number and fixed up a meeting with her. Maya seemed a proud and reasonable woman who agreed to vanish in oblivion on learning about Rachi. She appeared to be calm, but Natalie knew better. When a woman speaks, one should more importantly look at what her eyes are saying. She was heartbroken and angry, yet she had one last hope in her new found love. On one condition, Maya stated, only if Sid himself chooses Rachi over me. Natalie had agreed, quite sure that Sid would do it. Yet, she completely understood Maya's expectation from him, after all, “to a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships”. This being done, the rest was then easy. Replacing Maya's number by an old defunct number, playing Cupid between the lovers, and vouching secrecy among the ladies individually were enough to fix an otherwise broken marriage. She now dozed off debating in her mind about who exactly among all of them was a delusionist. Rachi, whose mind was not yet accepting her husband's fallacy and had covered it with an imaginative story, Maya, who on learning about Sid's infidelty still hoped that he would choose her over his long stable relationship, or herself, who hoped to save their relation by lies. We will see, she thought, if two wrongs make a right.