Where is God?

It's that time of the year again....... the pujas are back- a time of celebration, enjoyment and festive fervour. People rush to view pandals and their idols- theme pujas are a hot favourite. I spent the whole Panchami night (or rather the early Sasthi day) hopping on the pandals of Kolkata. I would be lying if I said it was not fun. It was actually quite fun....... not because of the pujas and pandals but because I love the dark. I am absolutely in love with Night. Moving about in the dark is a romance, an adventure. And except the Pujas, I don't have any scope to view the mysterious Kolkata of the night.

"Raater Kolkata" or 'The Kolkata of the Night' is a lovely place. It beckons all to explore it, and is intoxicating. I hope to give some pictures of it soon in my Orkut profile. But anyways, except for romancing with the dark, I also found time for the pandals...... some were great. In some places, the art work was so heavy that the divinity of the idol was lost somewhere. However,I don't get it- why the craze to visit so many pandals when the idol is the same everywhere? My mother was praying to each of the idols when my sister pointed out:" Maa, the idols are all the same everywhere. You don't have to repeat your prayers everytime!"

I have been praying to the idols since my childhood- and frankly speaking, I don't remember any of my wishes becoming true- yes I did well in my boards, got into a good college- and all the other material stuff but whatever bad had to happen also happened- no one could stop it: my mother had an accident( but she came out well) and my four- legged brother died. Which brings me to a crucial question: Is there really a God? Or is He/She just a fragment of our imagination?

I remember reading an article in The Statesman where the contributor pointed out:" If there really is a God, He is suffering from amnesia"! I couldn't agree more. Where is God now that we need Him(Her) so much? Violence, death, poverty- when all these evils are plaguing the face of the earth where is God?

Every Ashtami we offer 'Anjali' to the Goddess.Do we really mean all that stuff? "Putrang dehi, Dhanang dehi, Gyanam dehi..... Dehi dehi..." (forgive my order). All the time we ask for things.....never does it occur to us to give something.... well, we do give money, spend loads of rupees on the pandal, theme and pujas but do we ever spare a thought to the poor boy sitting at the corner of the pandal weeping out of hunger?

But is such the pettiness of the human mind......? We rely on outward glorification more than the purity of the soul. Let's make a pact this Puja: that we will not be stifled by outward glories, rather we will look for the beauty of the mind- it shouldn't be so difficult to find..... Diwali, Kali Puja after that Christmas and finally New Year is about to come - let's all make it a New Year resolution.