Is Religion: The Opium of the Masses ...

They both were sitting beside our table; elderly person was looking to be in his sixties and the younger one might have been in mid twenties. The whole place was submerged in the haunting melody of Ghazals which were sung by unknown artists in that popular bar. This bar cum restaurant was famous for such delight by the economy class of people who can not afford the luxury of star hotels. We could even see some of the foreigner faces, male and female alike, with a bottle of beer or pegs of whiskies and swinging on the music. The request for the item Ghazal was pouring in one after the other and artists were trying to oblige all the people.

I was not a regular visitor at this place; in fact it was my friend, who had come down from Dubai, asked me to accompany him. People here by and large looked very relaxed and enjoying their evening. For some it looked to be a regular evening joy; for some it seemed to be a pass time, and for few it was a burial ground for unpleasant thought and past haunted memories. The people on the table next to us didn't look to be good friends or companion. Pegs of whiskies, kept on pouring in to their glasses, hardly did they speak to each other as I was noticing them once in a while. Conversation notes were mostly in yes or no. Suddenly I made eye contact with the elderly person and he courteously said hello to me, following that the younger person too showed good gesture towards us. We broke the ice of being unknown, obviously alcohol within us played major role in making us being in talking term. We all joined for praise and appreciation for the artists. My friend went a step further and offered cash honour to those artists.

The duos were father and son. I discovered little later that they were trying to bury some hatchet, call it misunderstanding, deep routed complex or an identity crisis. All of a sudden son broke down, and father went on consoling him. I had no clue as to what was going on. Father read question mark on my face and started explaining that his son does not mix up with people and keeps himself in the shell. And today somehow father was able in pursuing him out for a drink.

Father having said so, son reacted and complained that he was a Christian and his father was a Muslim.

Though I was high in alcohol, I could clearly understand that religion has not only invaded the country, society, and the home, it has evidently invaded the mind of the people. It has crossed the entire barrier and has taken supreme command of the human relationship. Otherwise, how could a son have problem of his father being Muslim. Alcohol inside my belly was working fast and my mind was unstoppably thinking great faces of religion. But I got stuck at one point thinking whether we are meant for religion or religion is meant for us.

So if my father has to be my father he has to follow the same religion what I follow. A husband will be a husband, only who will follow the same religion his wife follows or vice versa. If two different religious people will decide to marry each other a question will be asked "What will be your son or daughter? Whether a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian or a Budhhist?" And these questions will be asked by those who can never contribute anything in your children's life. But no one will ask you whether your children would be a human being or not. Will he carry the human values or not?

From the time immemorial religion was meant to guide human society to produce good human being. People have lived with it and without it. But there wasn't a question posed before that we to be a human being have to follow a religion or before the birth of our children we have to announce our religion. For some of the people, who do not understand or precisely do not want to understand, the true faces of religion and back lashes of repercussions, to them, religion is identity. It does define the status in the society to be a part of the ideological group. These people are surely suffering from the identity crisis and so they name themselves a Hindu, or Christian or a Muslim. But to be a part of the true human society you need to be true human being and not a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian. Be a good human being and carry good human values; shed off the coated cover of religion. To those who understand human values are above religious hypocrisy but to those who resist being a good human being always put a cover of religion for recognition. On the other hand religion never had such a magnetic power to pull faster towards itself. This is a great magnet what pulls the weaker faster, stronger can resist, but how long is the biggest question.

In today's world, humanity is really at the receiving end and it is being tried in all spheres of life. If you want to escape the grind, identify yourself as one of those who carry the identification of themselves by there typical name, attire and specific religious tag on their head. Truly, Karl Marx had once said, "religion is the opium of masses".