simulacrum of life

he was born a hindu. he died a hindu. and he believed that no religion was above any other. which is probably why my earliest recollection of thatha and religion was him praying at his altar in his bedroom, after his shower. it was 1 of the virgin mary, and he'd kneel in front of it and genuflect. this would be followed by a visit to the family prayer altar with the hindu gods. he saw nothing hypocritical about it and neither did i. we used to go together for the novena service on saturdays at the church in novena. and he used to participate in thimithi and thaipusam. and in his last years, his standard salutation was "may allah the great bless you". whenever i was in need of a spiritual boost, he'd tell me to write a petition to mother mary and drop it in the box at the novena church and to buy a packet of milk and break a coconut for ganesh. he was not one for religious dogma, for to blindly follow is foolish. one should always use their brains to question what is being said, because priests are human and are thus fallible. and god is in our hearts, which was why he had no problems bowing before anybody, for he said "i am bowing to the god within you".

i am grateful to him for not allowing the shackles of dogma to hold me down during my formative years. in time to come, i hope that i too may leave such a legacy