Happy dipaboli to world

Today is dipabali. The festival of light. All around people are decorating their houses and themselves with most intricate light and color decors. I just spent the whole day looking at people decked up with dazzling sarees, matching jewelries and lovely makeup. As for the houses, last couple of weeks they have been getting face lifts. People are getting new furniture, cleaning up their kitchens, putting decorative lights up on their balconies.
We also did our bit. My religious family has done their puja and decorated house with flowers. The only thing, I had to do, was to light the diyas. I did it wrong. I was lighting one diya with another one. That’s wrong. You are supposed to light a match or a candle and then light all diyas with them. Question slipped out of my lips why … That was stupid. I admit. After all, all games have their rules. One can always ask why on earth on one particular day all of us put up candles and lights around our house and make loads of noise? There is no answer. It’s quite illogical. On the other hand, when we look out of the window and see the whole city lit up with lights, sky bright with so many firecrackers, so many colors it’s just so damn pretty. Of course the loud noise cannot be so nice of old, young or sick who are trying to catch some rest. Or poor dogs and cats. Or poorer mother earth, who already is bogged down by so many problems, but will have no break tonight, in this noise and sulfur laced happy occasion. But then all games have rules. And after all what is life but a game with rules? Rules that we make up. And what fun a game would be if the rules don’t have a little variety. And besides if all rules are easy and fair and everybody wins, who will lose? And if nobody loses what kind of a stupid game will that be?
For example think about the Taliban. The way I see them, just bunch of men (with something obviously frustrating them) want to play a game. They want every man to wear beards. Why? May be they think they look pretty in them, who the hell knows? They want to break up beautiful ancient structures, again why? Again who knows? I mean it’s just the game of life for them. Every day you open the paper to find some new rules they have invented. Few weeks back they figured the official veils that women wear were not thick and stiff enough, so they specified the exact kind of fabric to use for the veil. Frankly I didn’t find it any more disturbing than the advertises that I get bombarded with every day saying, I am just not cool enough, because I don’t wear a certain company tailored jean, or my lipstick just doesn’t have that shine. Or my destiny has lost the sparkle due to the lack of diamonds in my earlobes. Of course you can tell me no one is forcing me to follow. On the other hand, we have seen scores of women processions against ban against burkhas, they fear eternal hell if they don’t wear the headgear. Why is that any different from my young relatives’ fear of being identified as village bumpkins, if they don’t wear certain cut jean?
Today’s newspaper had news that talibans whipped two young girls as punishments. What was the crime? They were wearing bras. Islam religion does not allow it, it’s obviously abomination. The news made me wonder. I mean imagine the foresight of the prophet, so many years ago, he saw into future and what did he saw? He saw bras!!! I mean wow! And only few years back bra burning was THE ultimate statement of women liberation. So I guess prophet must have been an ultra feminist ha?
Now I have not read the Koran. But something somehow tells me, the prophet didn’t have much to say on the subject of women’s undergarments. Of course I can be wrong, either way one must agree, it’s just the rules of the game, old or new.
Anyway, rules, old or new sometimes just do not make any sense. But we make them up as we go along life; we follow some which were invented before us. Sometimes we light up our house and sometimes we whip young girls. After all what is life without a little variety? After all if in the game nobody loses, what stupid and boring game will that be?