Two weeks ago I was on my way to work as usual, traveling on the public transport. It was one of those usual crowded busy days; when suddenly a lady standing beside me fell unconscious. Passengers nearby immediately sprang forward and revived her with some water, helped her on to a seat and settled her more comfortably. They then proceeded to enquire what happened and it was revealed that she had fallen unconscious cos she was on a fast and hadn’t eaten anything for quite some time!! I was shocked, what a foolhardy thing to do, if you can’t endure it why fast? Co-passengers feeling sorry for her proceeded to take out whatever food they had and offered her some, but, she simply refused to eat saying it would break her fast. After some more persuasion someone managed to feed her a few morsels of fruits (u are allowed to eat them when u fast!) and someone offered to drop her safely to her work place. The whole compartment was abuzz with conversations on fasts and similar incidents and I found myself asking why do people fast.
I first heard of fasts when I was a teenager and some of my classmates would brag about their fasts. I asked my mother then and she said that most people fast due to religious reasons, its part of most religions and cultures. These fasts would generally involve either abstaining from certain kind of food (mostly non-vegetarian) or substituting regular food with certain kinds of blander food (there was quite a range to choose from…and they were quite yummy too!!). Some of the stricter fasts involved substituting fruits for regular food. An even more stricter fast involved abstaining from food till sunset. My mom made it quite clear too that it was for me to decide what I chose to believe in. I used to “fast” then, to be part of my friends group……..and also cos I loved to eat those special fasting food that my friends would bring in their tiffin’s!!! I remember that back then too there were one or two incidents when girls feel unconscious cos they were on fast (no I wasn’t one of them!!)
It is the season of fasts now, with lots of festivals coming up…Ramadan, Navratri and I felt it the right moment to pop the question to people around me…..why do they fast. The answers I received were quite a range from the hilarious, to the serious, to downright hostile. Here are some of the answers I received…..
1.
Me: Why do u fast?
Clerk (at my workplace): Well, because people believe it’s a penance for our sins.
Me: Penance for our sins? How?
Clerk: Well u know if we do something wrong, and we are feeling guilty, then by fasting we are getting our sins washed off.
Me: (thoughts to myself) Oh good why do we need the judicial system….. u insult someone….fast for 3 days, u hit someone…fast for 9 days….
2.
Me: Do u fast? Why?
Colleague: Yes. The Karva Chauth. Most married women do it for their husbands long life. Well I don’t have to do it (shyly) but I love him and my mom said why don’t u do it and I said what the heck, why not.
Me: So your husband loves you more cause you fast?
Colleague: Arre nahi, he doesn’t want me to fast. It is just that I have chosen to do. He is so caring, hovers around me on that day, jeeps asking am I alright, and my whole family and his family too simply fusses around me….its fun. And then we have special ceremonies and celebrations all women together and stuff…its fun.
3.
Me: Girls, do u fast? Why?
College students: (giggling) Well actually we do it because it’s a good way to loose weight. (giggling some more) meaning its sort of a diet and parents are happy too we are following culture and religion.
Student 1 (more seriously): I don’t have to do it, meaning parents don’t tell me to do, but I do, I feel good when I do it. Its good for cleaning our system. All this junk food we eat. Its good for health, to do once in a way.
Me: Then do u do those pujas also? Will u continue doing this when u are married?
Student 2 (serious bordering on sarcasm): What ma’am, if we don’t do our in-laws might say we are bad. Our mothers keep telling us we have to do this after we get married.
Student 1 (seriously): Actually now it’s our choice. In-laws don’t really say such things, even they are broad minded. It’s our wish, that we will decide when we get married.
4.
Me: Why do u fast?
Old aunt (neighbor) (kind and serious): Well its part of our religion. It was the day when the …….. (some mythological story)…..so in observance of the day we fast. If u look at it more closely u will notice it is also more related to season and weather and occasions. Like right now it’s the October heat wave, it’s healthier to eat less fatty foods and more of the seasonal fruits and veggies. Also major festivals are coming up and we would be eating a lot of oily and fatty foods, so we diet now in preparation for what is coming.
I first heard of fasts when I was a teenager and some of my classmates would brag about their fasts. I asked my mother then and she said that most people fast due to religious reasons, its part of most religions and cultures. These fasts would generally involve either abstaining from certain kind of food (mostly non-vegetarian) or substituting regular food with certain kinds of blander food (there was quite a range to choose from…and they were quite yummy too!!). Some of the stricter fasts involved substituting fruits for regular food. An even more stricter fast involved abstaining from food till sunset. My mom made it quite clear too that it was for me to decide what I chose to believe in. I used to “fast” then, to be part of my friends group……..and also cos I loved to eat those special fasting food that my friends would bring in their tiffin’s!!! I remember that back then too there were one or two incidents when girls feel unconscious cos they were on fast (no I wasn’t one of them!!)
It is the season of fasts now, with lots of festivals coming up…Ramadan, Navratri and I felt it the right moment to pop the question to people around me…..why do they fast. The answers I received were quite a range from the hilarious, to the serious, to downright hostile. Here are some of the answers I received…..
1.
Me: Why do u fast?
Clerk (at my workplace): Well, because people believe it’s a penance for our sins.
Me: Penance for our sins? How?
Clerk: Well u know if we do something wrong, and we are feeling guilty, then by fasting we are getting our sins washed off.
Me: (thoughts to myself) Oh good why do we need the judicial system….. u insult someone….fast for 3 days, u hit someone…fast for 9 days….
2.
Me: Do u fast? Why?
Colleague: Yes. The Karva Chauth. Most married women do it for their husbands long life. Well I don’t have to do it (shyly) but I love him and my mom said why don’t u do it and I said what the heck, why not.
Me: So your husband loves you more cause you fast?
Colleague: Arre nahi, he doesn’t want me to fast. It is just that I have chosen to do. He is so caring, hovers around me on that day, jeeps asking am I alright, and my whole family and his family too simply fusses around me….its fun. And then we have special ceremonies and celebrations all women together and stuff…its fun.
3.
Me: Girls, do u fast? Why?
College students: (giggling) Well actually we do it because it’s a good way to loose weight. (giggling some more) meaning its sort of a diet and parents are happy too we are following culture and religion.
Student 1 (more seriously): I don’t have to do it, meaning parents don’t tell me to do, but I do, I feel good when I do it. Its good for cleaning our system. All this junk food we eat. Its good for health, to do once in a way.
Me: Then do u do those pujas also? Will u continue doing this when u are married?
Student 2 (serious bordering on sarcasm): What ma’am, if we don’t do our in-laws might say we are bad. Our mothers keep telling us we have to do this after we get married.
Student 1 (seriously): Actually now it’s our choice. In-laws don’t really say such things, even they are broad minded. It’s our wish, that we will decide when we get married.
4.
Me: Why do u fast?
Old aunt (neighbor) (kind and serious): Well its part of our religion. It was the day when the …….. (some mythological story)…..so in observance of the day we fast. If u look at it more closely u will notice it is also more related to season and weather and occasions. Like right now it’s the October heat wave, it’s healthier to eat less fatty foods and more of the seasonal fruits and veggies. Also major festivals are coming up and we would be eating a lot of oily and fatty foods, so we diet now in preparation for what is coming.
…………and finally,
5.
Me: Why do u fast?
Friend on chat1: What do u mean why. Its part of our religion, it’s our culture. Don’t you fast? You should.
Me: erm….no. Why should I?
Friend on chat1: Girl, don’t u believe in god? Don’t u pray. It’s the way to salvation.
Me: ….. hunger to salvation?
Friend on chat1: Its not hunger…. its penitence…. its endurance….. its strengthening your discipline…… your will
Me: huh…but …., Friend on chat1: grrrr
(needless to say the rest of the conversation went down the hill)
And I guess that was enough…......
So what did I learn from the whole exercise?......just that hey I am damn good at research work…going for the PhD is probably a good idea ;) ..lol
It takes all kinds to make the world.
"People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them."
"The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes."
- Dave Barry
3 comments:
fasting is supposed to b very sacred in ancient times. in christianity also god asked belivers to fast. but jesus never meant to fast in such a way tht, harms u physically.n one more tht fastin was in old testaments,not in new testaments.
so i think, wht tht lady's intention was good, as far as the conversations tht u had with others frnds, tht u hav mentioned, show tht fasting hasnt caused any pblm to them.(except for tht lady in bus and to hers lik tht).
Those Dave Barry quotes are so apt!
I myself have(had) decided not to argue with people on religious grounds. But well, i just cant resist. Today, I argued about today after a very long time.
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