Mouse Fire

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

Two small industrialists were sharing their difficulties of running their business. "I started a new practice last year," one of them said. "I insist that each of my employees take at least a week off every three months." "Why in the world would you do that?" asked the second. "It's the best way I know of to learn which ones I can do without," the first one answered. 

This joke did not strike me at all just because I already knew that the way people think and react these days have become surprisingly odd. I don’t know how each of you might assess this recent story of a state government office in India. The good news of sanctioning seventeen crores of Rupees as part of draught relief in Karnataka should have pleased the drought affected poor villagers struggling hard to find something eatable. The story but goes on telling that the whole amount was spent on poojas (religious services), in 34,000 temples across the state, all to please the rain God. I was shocked to hear this spirituality trick of the temple priests. Do these sole distributors of heavenly attributes go out of mind? Similar senseless spirituality is found almost in every religions. May be because of the amusing decisions of a few, the whole community concerned is put to shame. The priests are not bothered about the suffering many. But they cannot at all admit a cut or break in the tithe or a periodical donation on some name. 

I don’t know if we have reached the climax of the game, at least in India. If so, the time for an equal and opposite reaction is not that far. Who says that the laity is so weak for an up rise? See, how a little mouse took revenge on a householder. The story is as narrated by the Associated Press. A man caught a mouse at his house and tossed it into a garden bonfire of burning leaves. The burning mouse ran back into the house setting fire to it. The whole house burned to the ground. Just like the young industrialist, why don’t we at least try finding the rigid expensive religious practices, without which we can continue in peace? 

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