Religious Conversion of Chicken and Lamb

I came across a joke which nails down the concept of religious conversion pretty well. Now, I leave it to the religiously inclined ones to answer why can't chicken and lamb be converted to potato and tomato just as person of X religion is converted to Y.

Each Friday night after work, Bubbal Singh would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a tandoori chicken and some meat kebabs. But, all of Bubbal’s neighbors were strict Catholics … and since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating chicken and meat on a Friday.

The delicious aroma from the grilled meats was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their Priest.

The Priest came to visit Bubbal, and suggested that he become a Catholic. After several classes and much study, Bubbal attended Mass … and as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, “You were born a Sikh, and raised a Sikh, but now, you are a Catholic.”

Bubbal’s neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of tandoori chicken and meat kebabs filled the neighborhood.

The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors, and, as he rushed into Bubbal’s backyard, clutching a rosary and prepared to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.

There stood Bubbal, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meats and chanted: “Oye, you waz born a chicken, and you waz born a lamb, you waz raised a chicken, and you waz raised a lamb but now yara, you are a potato and tomato”!

Source: www.indianskeptic.com

2009-03-Kolli HIlls

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This trek was organized by CTC in Kolli Hills, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu.

CTC Write Up: www.chennaitrekkers.org/2009/04/kolli-3-march-28-29-2009.html

Details of Trek: http://trekwiki.wetpaint.com/page/Kolli+Hills

Smoke Off Screen, Kill On Screen

Indian government and various advocates of smoke/alcohol-free society want to censor out scenes of smoking and drinking in television and cinema on the ground that it glamorizes and encourages smoking/drinking in the society and that being the guardian of the society, it is their duty and right to micro-control the behavior of citizens, supposedly in the best interest of citizens. Advertisements of cigarette and alcohol is already off air and the government want to discourage the evils of smoking/drinking among general public in general and among youth in specific.

This shows how much concerned our government is about a person injuring self with own consent by consuming tobacco or alcohol. Hence, it may be assumed that our government must be as much, if not less, concerned about a person injuring another person, obviously without his/her consent, by means of violence. So, by the analogy of censoring smoking and drinking, depicting violence in movies or television also glamorizes it and hence must also be censored for public viewing. But unfortunately, the government doesn't seem to be interested in uprooting and discouraging other evils of the society, such as violence.

A Bit Of Imagination: Now, imagine what all will be removed if the parliament passes a bill to censor scenes of violence. Umpteen number of movies in which the good guy fights and/or kills the bad guy, movies about alien invasion, movies of war will not be made anymore. Violent parts of Indian independence struggle must go and so, you will never see Bhagat Singh or Bose. In the news, you will not see the scenes of bomb blast or terrorist attack. Mega blockbuster serials based on religious books, such as Mahabharata, Ramayan, Old and New Testament, will be taken off air because of high violence content and the K-series will need to put sex shots instead of slap shots.

Isn't it a better idea to remove violence from the society first and then smoking or drinking? But I do not believe that the utopia of non-violent society can be achieved nor do I specifically wish for it. My intention here is to finger the foolishness and biased treatment towards smoking/drinking and violence. On one side, government advocates smoke/alcohol free society and thus takes steps to promote it. On other side, government advocates nonviolence, but does not take similar steps to promote it. What a partial treatment!