I am an atheist for my grandma, but I am a devotee of no god for myself. The concept of faith in God for me always dangled at the edge of fear of existing of evil. Those too at night times at most.
When I was growing up, the people going to temples and offering something to gain something didn’t seem correct to my logic. Their deal-making prayers that I have been watching were never heartfelt. But yet, they believe themselves the greatest devotees of him/her.
I was even pretty confused with the people dividing God into two species male and female. Particularly in a religion like Hinduism, the number of gods count equals the end of numbers. It is good to worship those with great and divine qualities and Indians have this custom for ages. That is why many kings are still worshipped as gods in the country and the count has no ending number.
I have a grandmother from my mother’s side, and she is the oldest in our family. She knew all the Indian customs and traditions of doing the events and worships. She is the first guide of our families and neighbors in every family activity. I once happen to visit her. This is how our conversation went on,
“How are you, granny? how is your health?”
“I’m fine, my prince charm. Are you not eating well these days?”
Mom’s and their mothers are always that caring to say it even to a 200-pound grandson.
“Yes, I am. I am good. Don’t worry. I am even going to the gym these days.”
“The Gym!!? What is it? Another tuition?”
“No! granny, It’s like going walking in the morning.”
“Oh!!”
Meanwhile, a neighbor housewife came to take advice for her chickenpox affected little daughter. My granny started her lessons of wisdom to her. She was saying,
“Make a bed of neem leaves. Make small marbles of neem leaves paste and give it all three times a day. Only use neem plants to scratch the spots,” and when she was about to leave noted all the instructions in her brain, my granny left her last tip of wisdom.
“..and..” granny continued, “Never clean the room till the goddess goes away.” touching her cheeks with her palms. The neighbor housewife followed her, touched her cheeks, and left.
“Granny!! Goddess, you mean?” I spoke after listening to their conversation all along, interestingly.
“Yes!! Smallpox is a goddess. It is good to have her on, once at least in a lifetime.”
“But, we should keep the surroundings clean Nah!”, I said.
“No! We should not! If we keep the surroundings clean, the goddess will like the place and stay forever.”
What logic! That stroke my senses like lightning from the silent sky.
“So, whose goddess is she?”
“Who else’s? Ours only!” Hindu’s she meant.
“So, you mean our goddess will not affect the Muslims and Christians, right?”
Granny sensed my sarcasm. With a smiley face, “why won’t they get? They will get affected too.” She said, smiling at my atheism.
“But, she is our only God, right? The exclusive one? Christians have Jesus, and Muslims have Allah. Oh!! That means Christians will have Mother Mary, isn’t it?”
She understood that I was teasing her. She had no answer of course. She just waved her hand down and turned her face aside.