There are many things in life that are important to me. Family, school, friends, food, hygene, video games. All of these are very important to me, especially the food. But, if there’s one thing that is truly the importance of my life, it’s my religion. My religion, culture, and race. It’s the one thing that makes me do things that seem right, and every now and then, things that seem wrong. Before you continue, I thought it’d be good to know that I’m not going talk about why Hinduism is better than any other religion, or what makes Hindu beliefs better. I will tell you what, those who are Hindu, do in their lives.
First, I want to get this out there. I have been called “Paki” many times. Sometimes, as a joke, sometimes to make fun, and sometimes, just for the hell of it. When it’s “just for the hell of it” I don’t personally care, since it’s usually someone who I let call me that. On the other hand, if it’s someone I don’t know, who’s trying to fit in, and thinks it’s ok, and calls me one…it does bother me. I’m not one who bodes well with violence, so usually I’ll talk to them up-front. If talking doesn’t work, it moves onto yelling, and by then, they don’t do it again. The other situation, “to make fun”, has only happened very rarely. The first time was back in grade 2, when I had just moved to a new school. I was walking on my way home, and 2 kids, asked me if I have ever seen white. Then they started singing “frosty the Whiteman”. Of course, my grade 2 intelligence didn’t kick in, so I didn’t get what the hell they were talking about. I continued walking as these kids were prancing around me singing. Then they left. It was only 6 years later, in grade 8, when I finally realized what they were talking about. And it’s quite sad, but it did somewhat anger me after those 6 years. Of course, I’ve gotten over it now, but at that time, I was an angry child.
Let’s admit to this at least. Most of us, have been racist, or had a racial thought towardssomeone in their life. It sounds wrong, but I’ve heard from way too many people the same thing over. And, I’ll admit it too. I’ve had racial thoughts towards people. These days, I’ll usually joke about it, but I won’t go too far. Also, most of the times, I lose the battle of “which race does a certain thing in a weird fashion”. But I’m fine with it, as long as we all have a good laugh in the end.
Enough about racism though. Let’s talk about what I have to do because of my religion. Hmm, where to start. I guess I’ll begin with morning time, and go throughout the day. So, I wake up, and take a shower. Most of the time, a warm shower because it feels good. So, after I take a shower, I put on some new clothes, and walk over to my…”shrine”. I call it that, because it really is, like a mini shrine (see picture below). Anyways, after I shower, I walk over to this shrine, and pray. That’s one thing that I do mostly everyday. And that’s about it for “everyday” religious things. We also go to a temple. Its about a 30-40 minute drive from where I live. Here, we perform a prayer. The temple itself is one huge shrine. We take off or shoes at the entrance…you know, this’ll get kinda boring, and theres too much explaining to do, so I’ll leave it there.
Not much else to talk about in terms of rituals, ceremonies, or the likes. I will say the weddings are very complicated, but you don’t have to worry about that.
Let’s go to another important topic. Food. Food is what keeps us all going. And it’s what makes me love being Hindu even more. 90% of our food, is spicy. And by spicy, I don’t mean “KFC” spicy. I mean, really spicy. You can ask one of my friends, Tyler M., about it. He drank 7 glasses of water after he ate one piece of chicken. I love spicy food though. I love the fact that after almost every meal, I’m drinking tons of water to cool down my mouth. I love the fact that it tastes better because of the spices. I love Indian food. And I love the fact that I can get this out right now. You know, when you walk into an Hindu/Pakistani/Muslim persons house, and you smell that smell. That smelly smell that smells smelly. That isn’t curry. So stop referencing us to eating curry 24 freakin’ 7. Cause we don’t. Also, you can’t necessarily “eat” curry, cause it’s a liquid. And with curry, we mix it with rice, or various other things. But mainly rice. And it tastes good. About the smell, what you are most likely smelling is spices. Various spices that, we who live in the house, breath daily. If it’s not spices, then it’s probably incense that you are smelling. Back onto the topic of food, there are some combinations that I prefer when I get the chance to make them. My favorite is: Rice+yogurt+chicken+soup. Oh, another point came into mind. Soup. 60% of the 90% of spicy food contains soup. The soup, which is usually just oil mixed with a spice or 2 makes everything a lot better. The soup is usually mixed in with the rice but can also be eaten with the food at the same time with roti or puri. Finally, we don’t eat beef, and for a reason, so STOP asking! All this talk about food is making me hungry, so I’ll stop here.
Well, that just the basics of being Hindu, and our lives. Of course, I’m Gujarat, which is, in simpler terms, a section of Hinduism. There are many others such as Punjabi, Kutchi, Urdu, etc.. Keep in mind that other cultures may have different beliefs, or different lives. I’ll leave it to you to decide wether or not to stop these stupid stereotypes. I also doubt I’ll make a difference, but at least I tried. Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about our lives.
As Mahatma Ghandi once said “There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.”
