Sai Baba jostles for space with Shiva; Murugan rubs shoulders with Mother Teresa; Islamic scriptures hang in the same row as Infant Jesus; and Balaji, Buddha and Babasaheb Ambedkar get equal play at a truly secular sticker shrine of gods, earthly and otherwise, on Kempe Gowda road in Bangalore.
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
churumuri 
Great photo! I enjoyed it very much.
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Unfortunately , most of the the Buyers don’t feel the same way as there is the feeling that Their Religion or God is superior.
Iam sure the Selling Prices of these are not the same.
Any idea of who is the costliest / cheapest ??
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Very noble thought and a good observation :)
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The cheapest will be the ‘L’ board!
I’m sure… What makes it more cheap will be the fact that you will get a pair! One for the front of the vehicle and one for the rear!
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Every individual has his own way of looking at things. The photograph of a persons father may be a scrap of paper to another, but for that particualr person it is vry precious. Similarly these things. The seller may be doing this for his survival, but the buyer will be searching for his favourite photo/ picture. And when he gets it , from the point of view of the seller just another picture sold but for the real buyer it is a treasure…..
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i wonder which one would the guy selling them buy,were he to be a customer…………………
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There are far greater example of syncreatic Indian religious coexistance. They outdate “secularism” by 1000 years if we consider when the word “secularism” was coined in mid 19th century in Europe.
Nazrul Islam, legendary Nationalist Poet of 20th century wrote probably finest Shyama Sangeet (in praise of Goddess Kali) in Bengali. Tons of Hindus visit Sufi Darghas, shrines- Nizamuddin Aulia, Naimuddin Chisti for last 1000 yeats. Its said, earlier Mosques used to be built in Indonesia having Hindu Motifs, Idols in its outer wall…..so on and so forth.
But, million dollar question is, what’s the prevailing trend of Islam. Deobandis and Wahabis have banned weekly Qawali in the shrine of Nizamuddin Aulia. Sufis are under tremedous pressure, often victim of terrorism in Bangladesh, pakistan, or even in Indian Kashmir. British Diplomat to Bangladesh got almost killed when Islamists attacked one fanous sufi shrine in Bangladesh
Do the new mosques being built in Indonesia have Hindu Motifs, idols in its outside wall?
This fundamentalist trend can be seen as an extension of battle Darah Sikoh and Aurangjeb- between Syncreatic tolerant Indian Islam, and fundamentalist one respectively.
Or take the simple example: Sites related to Prophet Muhamad are being buldozed in Saudi Arabia.
By chanting “scularism” Indian media starts dancing up and down little realizing the underlying forces working behind the scene, or their social, political, economic goal.
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By the same token, it is good to see hearts — (preethiyu daiva ) and namaste next to gods..
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i think i see scooby doo, kenwood and a nike swoosh jostling for space there as well, symbols of the gods of this corporate age ? maybe ?
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In a civilized world, all religions are/should be seen as equal.
Paradoxically nature doesn’t like equality. Nature likes hierarchy.
It endows males with more physical strength than the female.
It gives the lion powerful teeth and claws to kill, while the hapless deer is not endowed with any natural weapons.
There is hierarchy within the family, in the government, among the bureaucrats, in the corporate world, in the army, between countries, in competition of any kind (football, olympics, cricket).
Hierarchy (the opposite of equality) is virtually omnipresent. Ironically hierarchy facilitates smooth functioning of the world.
Equality is utopian. But utopia brings with it, its own set of problems.
If everybody was a leader, who would be followers? If everybody was a CEO, who would be the ordinary employees? If everybody wants to be an engineer, who would be the labourer? If everyone is a doctor, who would be the nurse?
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BS.
There is no need for reading “secularism” into this. This is business. The man will stock whatever sells.
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WrongFact,
Your post has all the “Right” information. I just never understood if they were relevant to this thread.
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SumneNeeve,
Let me tell you the relevance of what I wrote.
Ideally we would like to treat all religions equally. But nature is against equality, quoting by the several instances I showcased.
Isn’t it a bit paradoxical?
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Wrongfact, you are infact very wrong when you say nature does not believe in equality, nature has gifted lion with claws and deer with speed,
every individual has his/her own traits that are unique, a nurse does her job and a doctor his, there is no hierarchy here as both are important.
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WrongFact,
Nature is “Survival of the fittest”, which depending on how you look at it can be intrepreted as equal or unequal :)
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Churumurifan,
Of course a deer is gifted with speed, a cheetah can overtake the deer and kill it. Clearly, the deer cannot defend itself against the cheetah.
Of course every individual has unique traits, but there can be only one boss in a company, only one boss as the PM, only one boss as the army commander, only one boss as the CM, only one boss as the movie director, only one boss as cricket captain, only one boss as the chief engineer, only one boss as the family head.
The connotation that comes with the word ‘hierarchy’ is that somebody is superior to the other,and can over rule the subordinate’s decision. Yes, everybody has his or her own job responsibilities and unique traits, but clearly these traits do not undermine the status of the boss.
The boss is the one who calls the shots. We all know it to well. There is no need for me to elaborate. We’ve experienced it in our offices.
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ChurumuriFan,
You say a nurse does her job and a doctor does his.
True. I shall never contest that. Doctors have their own traits and nurses have their own traits.
My point is that these traits of the doctor make him SUPERIOR when compared with the traits of the nurse.
How? Simple.
Will a nurse appoint the doctor or a doctor appoint the nurse?
Will a nurse take orders from the doctor or the doctor will take orders from nurse?
Can a doctor sack a nurse or a nurse sack a doctor?
Will a doctor decide a nurse’s salary or a nurse decide a doctor’s salary?
There are several clinics which run without a nurse. Can one single clinic run without a doctor?
Clearly the skills of the doctor is SUPERIOR to the skills of the NURSE.
Churumurifan, I hope you get the drift of what I meant when i said nature does not like equality.
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Skills of the doctor i ssuperior to the skills of the nurse. Yes, but who KILLs the patient. Who nurses the ambition for money. Have you seen anybody inviting a nurse/ midwife for the naming ceremony. Nurse she nurses with care…
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I’ve seen this site hundreds of times out there on the streets, but this kinda thought never crossed my mind.. Interesting thought!
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