About Rajnikant, God, Robots and Windbags
For God and the Empire
Absolution for God and an Entire People
O God Give Us Food and Shelter !
ABOUT ROBOTS, RAJNIKANT, GODS AND WINDBAGS
When Nelson Mandela last week pleaded that he had always been uncomfortable being called a ‘Saint’ he was drawing attention to something we in India are very familiar with.
ABOUT ROBOTS, RAJNIKANT, GODS AND WINDBAGS
When the tamil film ENDHIRAN[‘ROBOT’ in Hindi] released, we in Tamilnadu were witness to the predictable upsurge in mad deification of the superstar Rajnikant. .The camphor aarti, the milk abhiskehekam , the angapradaksanam , the prayers at temples for the success of the film—these bizarre rituals are the stuff the Tamil madness is made of. And to believe that the ethos of the political parties in the state is of atheism!
Lost in all this was a small but significant incident-—even as Rajnikant was protesting against being given the status of God the star himself declared that—of all the people—Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackarey was ‘ like God’ to him!!
Not to be outdone Amitabh Bachchan joined the Rajni fever by declaring that Rajnikant was ‘ divine’—whatever that meant.
Years earlier actress Khushboo a former Tamil screen siren—had a temple consecrated in her honor. Now that she has joined the atheistic DMK the day is not far off when she may declare atheist Karunanidhi as her God!
Not that Bollywood is any better. Witness the way stars behave at film land parties. Almost the first action of any bollywood personality as he or she enters the party venue is to seek out and fall at the feet of every other star , producer or director provided the beneficiary is powerful and can make a difference to one’s career. . ‘Pai lagoo’ is the posture that can further one’s career in Bollywood and my cynical friends tell me in politics. .
I myself have been a victim to all this rubbish. Despite my earnest protestations several of my fans in Chennai have represented to the state government that my statue ought to be erected at a square near my residence .The reason for this not so rare honour? I have been declared God of bloggers in Chennai-bloga devata. The locality where I live is to be renamed Perarignar Ravi bloga loga vaikunthan.
Not many may realise that a few dishes are also named after gods—hanumar vadai, Murugan idli, chakrapani poori, saravana thali, manjunath boli,surya baath etc
To this profusion of Gods[ 30 crore when last counted by vedic rishis] if you recall that we also believe in Atiti devodbhava,Gurur devodbhava, , parents devodhbhava, shishudevodhbhava [ guests, teachers,parents,children are like God] I am left with one question—just who is a human being ? Or are we soon reaching the stage when the Robot in Endhiran will also be referred to as God? I hear that a temple is being considered for the robot in that film which has already inspired students to join courses in ‘RajniRobotics’ in engineering colleges in Tamilnadu.
I propose a way out of this insane attitude.I suggest that all of us must remember that all these ‘godlike’ people are no different from you and me—they break wind exactly like us!!
Now you must not go to the other extreme and call everyone including me a windbag!!
K.R.RAVI
WWW.KRRAVI.COM
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