Be Good, Do Good.

            Here's an ordinary man. And he's a growing ordinary man. He takes in all that the world throws towards him, good or bad, and ingests it and keeps it in. And he grows. But don't tell him that he's grown so much every now and then. Because someday, he will think that he's grown more than anyone else. And that's the day he will stop growing.

            Yesterday was a good day. A day that taught me a lot about human nature. Good, bad. Beautiful, ugly. Right, wrong. I have the month of Ramadan going on. A very prestigious and traditional month in the Islamic calendar. A month where a follower is required to abstain from all food, drink and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset in order to elevate his consciousness from the physical to the moral and ultimately the spiritual dimension of his being. There was a time when I used to follow it. I don't now. I don't want to be a self-righteous asshole and make excuses on the internet over this matter, but yeah, I don't follow it. There was a prayer service that was held last night somewhere in South Bombay at a relative's house. Such prayer services happen thrice in a row in the month of Ramadan where the people are to be up and following certain traditions till dawn, after which it concludes and everyone goes their own way. My mom wanted me to go along with her. We always go together, every year. I'd had a tedious week at college, with the weekend being my only breathing space where I could relax and enjoy doing nothing, so I refused. My mom never took me for much of a believer throughout life. I was never the 5 times Namaz/day kinda guy, but I had my own way of believing in God. I didn't want to ignore certain responsibilities and follow religion. I don't think that's what He would've wanted me to do, but then again, that's my way of looking at it. My mom is really edgy when it comes to these things. She never appreciated my belief for God no matter how strongly I believed in Him(not like I believed in Him for her satisfaction), and was always unhappy with my efforts. Yesterday was her breaking point. She told me I won't go anywhere without His help. There'll be no one to protect me or watch over me in pressing situations. And that I'll have to pay for each time I've taken religion lightly when I'm finally facing Him up there. "What are you going to say then?" she asked me. I had no answer. She yelled and bawled and cursed me for being so ignorant. "Na deen ke, na duniya ke", she said. Neither did you ever belong to religion, nor did you ever belong to the world.

           I always believed that God lived somewhere inside, and as long as you cleansed each and every bit of your spirit by doing good for others and doing nothing immoral or unethical, you'd be closer to God than any other man. There are people who give up the world. Their responsibilities, relationships and life. And go and preach religion at some temple or a shrine far away. And there are people who kill, bomb, extort and assassinate in the name of religion. A man standing and praying in front of the sculpture of his deity at one moment might be holding a gun to your head at the next moment if you mock his faith in his God. How could God want that? The devil came into existence because he refused to bow down to humans and all of mankind. Even for all you religious people out there, THAT is the pedestal that God holds man over. And you're ready to kill not one, but entire nations of people who didn't respect your belief in your God? If that's what a believer is supposed to look like, then there's probably a huge difference between being a religious person and being a good person.

           I went out with a few of my acquaintances last night. On a lonely Saturday night when I really had nothing to do, they didn't seem like a bad option. They were a bunch of friends who were labelled all sorts of things by others around them. They were called liars. Conspirators. Freaks. Fashion-disasters. All sorts of bullshit. I'm not going to be a hypocrite here; I've labelled them a couple of times too. I started hanging out with a few of them recently, and I've realised that they actually aren't bad people. And that's the thing. I didn't care if they were ugly, stupid, black, white, fat, thin, tall, short. As long as they are nice to me, I'm nice to them. I have no reason to not be.

           Yesterday made me realise a lot of things about mankind. There can be a mother who's ready to disown a perfect son on the basis of him forming his own ideologies. There can be missiles fed, tears shed, and violence brought upon entire nations over something so volatile, solely because people don't understand what religion really is. There can be people who are misinterpreted and treated like lepers for months and years before some twist of fate brings them closer to you and makes you realise that they're simply misunderstood. Mankind really does deserve a chance. And I'm ready to give it to whoever's willing to take it with my eyes closed. Because in the end, I've realised it all. Being good and doing good is all that counts in the end. Don't overthink the consequences; let fate play its part, and you will not be disappointed. Take it from me.

It's exactly what has made me a much better, stronger and happier person than I have ever been.