Don't Look at The Moon Tonight !

              Legend has it that on this day , Ganesha , the hindu god with the elephant head and an obese human body and one extra set of hands was returning home after a grand feast on his behalf.
            Ganesha , our mythological gourmand and our favourite Deity, the destroyer of all obstacles had had more than his fill and his belly was bursting from its seams (though literally impossible)

 As Ganesha was walking back home late at night , he tripped and fell down and his belly which  was impossibly full and nearly bursting , burst open !  Embarrassed  , Ganesha hastily tied his stomach with a snake and resumed on his way.The sight of ganesha falling down and then using a snake as his belt was so comical that Chandra , the moon  burst out laughing !

            Laughter , they say ,when it comes and plops down and sits on your favourite  chair, you are at its mercy until it decides to go by itself.

       Chandra, the moon too was held captive by laughter and Chandra had fits of laughter that later degenerated into sobbing giggles that hurt his tummy.

          Infuriated by the lack of tact on the part of Chandra , the moon, and feeling very insulted and humiliated , Ganesha twisted and broke a part of his tusk and flung it towards the celestial Chandra, the moon forever scarring him.To add insult to injury , Ganesha cursed the scarred Chandra that whoever looked at Chandra on that particular day henceforth would be cursed with being falsely accused of something.

                    Of course, Hindu Gods always gave loopholes on the curses they inflicted.If you happened to watch Chandra on that particular day and did not want to be falsely blamed or accused of something , then you would have to pray to Ganesha and look at Ganesha's reflection in a plate filled with vermilion and water.       Voila ! No more curse !
 
Today was that day.

The day of Ganesh Chaturthi.

I saw the moon tonight.Click here for more.

But I'm not afraid.

Because I saw things that made me sad,angry and mad.

              I saw kids tormenting a tired and weary bitch with her newborn litter of puppies.It confirmed my belief that Humans are the worst kind of animals that God has created (if there is a god ).

            It made me mad that a gang of eight year old hoodlums could inflict such pain and suffering to a helpless creature and its defenseless children.The bitch chased the kids in a desperate attempt to save its litter....The kids were armed with bricks, stones and sticks and were expecting the bitch to retaliate.

            But they did not expect me.

           I chased the kids to protect the mother of the blameless litter of puppies which had barely opened their eyes.

           A bunch of eight year old kids can take on a single emaciated and weakened bitch, but they sure couldn't take on a 23 year old male determined to fight for what he thought was right.

So they ran.

The bitch barked at me once the kids were gone...just as a precaution.After all I was human too.

               I saw the futility in my act .These kids would be back soon.They were poor.They did not even go to school.They had neglecting parents.The kids would be back.And sadly it was not entirely their fault.  I hoped that the bitch saw the futility of its actions too and that it would move away to a more suitable place.

As I left , I prayed for the safety of its family.

         Unbelongingness has long plagued me,and often I have  ended up questioning my purpose and existence , with no satisfactory answers forthcoming.

              I'd walk with my people if I could find them.There were so many false starts, so many crushed expectations, so many false hopes that I'm discouraged to find them anymore.

            "I belong to you " is the biggest lie I've ever told.(Apart from the size of my penis - yes its actually 2 inches longer than what I've told you )
I belong to everyone and no one.

I later went to an old age home and orphanage.It confirmed my belief about humans once again.The old age home was filled with old and the dying and the abandoned and the neglected and the abused and the forgotten and the uncared for.The orphanage was filled with the same...unwanted girls, kids born out of wedlock, abandoned due to poverty and discarded due to mental instability .

It was not their fault.They simply did not belong anymore.

But here they seemed occupied. They seemed happy .Here they belonged somewhere.

      If you don't belong anywhere...my friend...then we belong to each other because we share that common thread of unbelongingness.

I understand.

                   I felt really small when I wrote that cheque to the caretaker.She assured me that she would send me the tax exemption forms along with the receipt for my donation.

Was this all I could do ?  Just give them money ?  Was there anything more?

They assured me that my donation would help educate a girl child for a year.
I felt ashamed because I could afford to give more but did not. But I noticed that all the people at that place who formerly did not belong were happy.It was a festive occasion.It was Ganesh Chaturthi ,the birthday of Lord Ganesha , India's most popular God , who on his birthday had overeaten and fallen down and cursed Chandra the moon.

Seeing their happiness, I was happy to find one instance that humans were not the worst of Gods creations.

Back at home, I remembered that I had inadvertently seen Chandra, the moon.He was waxing slowly. I then went and saw Ganesha's reflection in a bowl filled with vermilion and water , and prayed to him to make this world a better place.