Cobwebs in the mind

 

Cobwebs in the mind

We know that spiders keep spinning their webs if corners are not regularly cleaned. But, what about corners where the occupants of the houses deliberately collect dirt? Of course, that would be a field day for the spiders.

Now, come to the human brain. This too has to be cleaned periodically. Instead of a broom stick, what is to be used is the long arm of rationalism, with the brush dipped in a solution of empiricism, even diluted it may be. When rationalism, howsoever diluted, is back tracking, the ecology of spirituality-cum-religiosity blossoms. The pollinators are what I call spiritual-cum-religious (I am not going to repeat this hyphenated word; now onwards, it S&R) are termites.

Lacking this effort, soon enough the brain, overrun by superstition, spiritual mumbo jumbo, inscrutable religious sermons, never-tested rituals, forgets to identify itself as a seat of thinking and learning, and unlearning too, and becomes more like an insect caught in the cobweb, unable to extricate itself; food for the ravenous organizations of spirituality and religiosity, eagerly waiting for such seasoned brains.

To digress a bit, I was in the middle of deep depression sometime in the middle of the first decade of the 21^st century. My mind was dipping itself repeatedly in self-pity, about perhaps the most trivial thing, losing my ability to solve the daily crossword in The Hindu. My wife played the hugest part in my overcoming this depression. My million thanks to her.

When did Indian brains become cobwebbed? In the mid to late 1980’s, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana and Mahabharata were aired one after the other and this led to the faux spiritualization of Indian Hindus. I do not believe there were any private networks then, and this is the point: the government controlled airwaves had no second thoughts about broadcasting a Hindu epic. Let that slide.

I learned of the serial Ramayana, from a friend of a friend. She narrated an incidence, almost as interesting as the epic itself, when she visited the home of a family friend of hers. The hosts were glued to the TV with the epic ruling the airwaves. There was not even a cursory, “Welcome! How are you?” from the hosts. Of course, she was offered a seat to watch along with the host family and a few neighbours as the epic was running on the TV, never mind the guest was a Christian!

S&R does not spare anyone.

As of now, I can name at least three such S&R channels – the termites have created their own spheres of comfort, and the thing is this: the sacerdotal calendar, made up by this is replete with festivals of all and sundry gods (yes, God is now demoted to gods). In my household, the pooja room resembles the web of a spider and the pictures of the gods (photos of every god of the Hindu pantheon) are the insects caught in it. And, Lord Vishnu dominates the scene, not because he is the first, the top tier; but, because he manifested himself whenever a devotee sneezed and he came down to earth to make him/her comfortable – S&Rs Vicks inhaler!

My wife carries only about one fourth of the blame for the god-cobweb walls. My sister-in-law who lives with us carries the rest of the blame. Now, the showcase, again congested by god- and miscellaneous-cobwebs, carries the imprint of only my sister-in-law. Merely to hide a portion of the showcase, I have kept the TV diagonally at the corner. You can see the handiwork of both my sister-in-law and me.

I had given specific instructions: No more than five pieces in a rack; these have to have some feature a part of our family that could make for a good story; avoid any and all references to any religion.

See the above and judge for yourself: My instructions have been followed more in their breach, and for the worse. And, religious icons are galore. It is super-congested that no item can showcase itself as it is mired in mediocrity. There goes the story telling part. I blame religion for this mess. There are other items I would have removed, but for the drama by my sister-in-law.

But, I must tell you one thing. In the apartment complex I live in, the walls of my residence can be seen in the interstices (in the pooja room; in the other rooms, the walls are tastefully sparse). I have not gone into the bedrooms of the occupants of the other apartments, but even their living room walls are completely masked! I wish I could show you that, but it would be tacky, and I am not a snitch!

Cobwebs in the mind create cobwebs on the wall, in the corners ... if one wished to remove the latter, one must start with the former.

Raghuram Ekambaram