Being In Two Different Frames

by Titiksha Singhal

When we finally selected one of my mother's photograph to put on display for her post-death ceremonial purpose, I plunged deep down in the narrow lanes of my memory and reached the point of time when that particular photograph happened. I was the one who clicked her into the moment, suggesting her a pose for the perfect click. That was a bright morning of a cheerful vacation. We were clicking for each other in turns, trying to capture the happy moments of our family trip. Above all, one thing I knew I could never have imagined in my worst nightmares was that I might have to use her pic of this sunny day, of a joyous month of April, of the rare moments of vacations captured in a blink of an eye, for a display in the name of highest reverences, remembrance and farewell, someday in future- a future that will follow just after 7 years of healthy life! She still was young but sick, very sick. Just a glance at the photograph that now stands in frame beyond the reach of my touch has driven me back into time I prefer returning back to. She still is that lively, cheerful, vibrant lady in a pinkish hued sari behind that frame, and in front of it are her children and husband squatted with teary eyes and hollowed hearts. The two sets of time are merely separated by just a semi-translucent glass. For a moment I am afraid that the other side of that frame does not come out to reach this present time. It would have completely freaked out the person on the other side clicking the photograph. Are the two instances really separated from each other? Are the people on the different sides of frame different from each other? Whether the thought is of dependency or independence of the two instances, it nevertheless fills me with horror. Horror of the oblivion that emerges as the distance between two sets of time increases. 

Short Story: Religion A Scam: by Sanchita Dwivedi

Religion is one misunderstood overrated "word" which some use to impose their mastery of living life  and to maintain their egoistic goals. While the borders divide nations, "modern religion" is responsible for dividing humanity and faith in everyone. Never did I know that religion was to divide people and restrict their actions. As a kid, religion to me, as taught by my mother, was a way to living with peace and harmony in the society. While growing up, I was exposed to the brutal truth, the atrocities that took place under the name of god! I felt disgusted because my mother presented a complete different ideology infront of me about god. Religion "had" motive to create happy living world then why does it bars people from different religion to love each other or to spend their lives together? I've never seen Muslims with horns or Christians with vulture noses or tail possessing Hindus to have a reason to differentiate. What I see that we look same, the air we breathe is same, the sky we share is same yet people need evidences to create differences, and I believe that excess faith in religion has led to this blinding of humans. Humans have complicated their lives to such an extent that killing seems to be a noble cause under the name of religion. I haven't ever come across any news stating that a Lion killed a rabbit due to conflicting ideologies about the jungle. Animals are more simplified thanks to their less evolved brains, which makes me sometimes regret human evolution. Then, is religion just a "scam" which is initiating to break people emotionally and to destroy them physically as well. Are we treating religion as just another system which we can play with and get a place in heaven? If that's the case, religion loses its grandeur, holiness, divinity and it shouldn't be the ultimate. Too much future planning we do, don't we? We're do nothing but initiating fights to prove that our religion is 'the' ultimate answer to everything. Why do we need to show off about religion and to claim that who's is better? Can't we just be thankful to lord for giving us life (that's what we are taught since birth that almighty created us! ) and to live happily greet people with love and not have skeptical mindset about others belonging to different religions. I asked few kids aged 5-6 years how they see religion and how are Muslim Hindu and Christians different from each other? All of them said religion divided to that limit where we can't change the ideology of elders because they "love" to fight and to see bloodshed across the globe because if it wasn't the same analogy then parents would have taught their kids that no religion is bad or different, god is one and you should respect him. That he doesn't expect you to fight in his name, all he expects is you to be true to yourselves.
One little kid came up to me and said let me tell you the difference between religion, he explained: Allah,Jesus, Khuda, Raaba, Quran, Bible, Geeta, they all have 5 letters and it's just the pronunciation and spelling that differs but deep down indirectly they mean the same thing,  they even preach the same thing. So we can conclude they are SYNONYMS of each other. So basically, we are fighting over which synonym is better that's just too foolish and perhaps very 'human' of us! And with this elaborate explanation of the word religion forced me to think that we all are same we are "synonyms". Wish I could ingrain simple thing into each and every persons minds. We can't eradicate it but we can mould it according to the growing world just like we do with Science, like we shifted from Nokia to iPhone's i.e. better version of communication. Acceptance is the biggest key to the successful enhancement of human race. Let's love and respect each individual to create a happy thinking world and focus on humanity's advancement to the next level, after all, its progress that will keep us alive in this vast expanse of space and time where we humans are perhaps the sole voyagers.

By
Sanchita Dwivedi