It was raining heavily that night and I was alone at home. My mom and sister like every year were out of station to my dad's place. I was enjoying my time, enjoying the television, nobody was there to scold me when I was continuously on my computer. But then a sudden chat on the internet with a mysterious lady changed the way I looked at life,she changed my thinking all together . I was chatting with Eba whom I had met online never ever met her on face. . I had shared all my false details with her because I felt it's not secured to share your security online, Eba was an Islamic lady. It was she who first made me feel that there is a divine power that controls the universe and I began to believe that god does exist. we introduced each other and am not sure whether she had her real identity but to me more important was the advice she gave and the way she could justify that god is true for all, and no religion spreads hatred. I had said I was an engineer at IITs and changed my name though my college was TIIT. Eba had her husband fighting for the army. He was posted at the border but she did not support the hatred that was going on.
And it was Eba who told me that "War is created by mankind to prove his power, man has destroyed himself due to the greed, hunger for power. Man from the very time of his existence has tried tried to dominate ,and in this urge to domination he has created division. In the name of religion, in the name colour, in the name of race, in the name of geographic origin."
I then replied, "It is the rule of nature , the survival of the fittest. If you cannot compete you loose. In mammals life begins with a race where you compete with your fellow sperms to start. It is the rule from the very beginning that somebody has to loose so that the best can survive. Even the animals do fight each other to mark up the territories. The organism who is best suited for an ecosystem is the only one who survives. A carnivore eats up other animals for his survival. Destruction is done to balance the construction and maintain a balance otherwise the world would have been a clumsy place.
Eba replied," Your justification is well accepted my friend but tell me one thing was the barbarism of Hitler for the rule of nature. Were the bombs dropped at Herosima and Nagasaki required. Were they rule of nature. My husband is in the war, my son sleeping and myself chatting with an unknown man in a distant country not knowing whether tomorrow my love of life will not come back to me or not. He is not fighting to prove he is the best, he is fighting because we need the bread, my son needs a proper education, my daughter needs a groom, is it justified that for a hatred that was not required at all we sacrifice so much. When Mr. Khan comes back from the war, he cries!!, he cries on my lap." , I added, "Yeah mam speak, I guess Mr. Khan is your husband.", Eba continues," Yes he is my life, my dream, the other part of my soul, he saved me when I was stuck in a riot, my family was burnt, alive, Mr. Khan rescued me and kept me in his home, and maintained my dignity and high esteem till I one day fell in love with his personality."
To change the mood, " So when did Khan sir propose you? Then." She replied "My friend , Mr. Khan is one of the lucky men who was proposed by a girl, a girl who was just 18 that time and Khan saab was about 10 years older than me. We married in the court. And khan saab had nobody either. His father died serving the nation and his mother expired when he was a kid." I replied, " Don't mind, do you follow Islam, I mean just out of curiosity, that would not make any difference, because generally Khan in my country is the surname for Islamic believers."
She replied," Dude do not hesitate in life, and it is not a fact that all Islamists are terrorists, very few of them are and have been a menace to the religion. They have made the religion dirty. A terrorist has only one religion my friend, that is the religion of greed, the religion of hatred, the religion of brutality which is collectively called terrorism. They do kill and kill and do not think of any good, they need an issue to display their barbarism my friend. I replied," Come on mam, I did not mean you and Khan saab are a terrorist. I do have Muslim friends who are great people and I am sure you too are."
Eba continued, " That proves you are a good soul, religion has no game to play with love my friend, I worship hindu goods "Ma Kali, Lord Ganesha,etc" and Khan saab prays "TheAllah", We celebrate the Diwali and also the Holi, EID is also a festival in our house. We do not let love and religion mix up."
I continued,"Do not take me otherwise but your children, whom do they worship? Because religion in some cases is important. And the Eba's magical words continued which I shall always remember," My friend, I taught my children to worship everything present in this world, God is everywhere. U being an engineer must say, why we men and scientific minded people have made the world according to us, but who gave you the raw materials, it's god. I read in a magazine someday though not much learned like you that that the Universe was a ball of matter with everything in one place that exploded. You will know better. " I said yeah, "It is the Big Bang Theory you are talking about mam." She said, " Yeah your Bang who created the material for the Bang and who made the Bang, it must be god.". I had no option but to accept her. She the also added, " What do you call the basic particles that make all materials, I studied science till school , did not remember exactly, some electron and protons." "Yes , you remember right madam electrons, protons, neutrons, alpha particles , beta particles , are the fundamental building block of materials which are arranged in different ways to make up, that are in turn made up of quarks the basic building blocks of all matter." I added." What is quarks I never knew about it."
I copied from a reliable internet source,"A quark (pronounced /ˈkwɔrk/or /ˈkwɑrk/) is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never found in isolation; they can only be found within hadrons. For this reason, much of what is known about quarks has been drawn from observations of the hadrons themselves."
She learned new concept, and I was proud to make her know the fact. I also learnt that day about a lot new concepts. Eba added now you say"Then these Quarks are God, the basic things which make all the materials." I could not again justify Eba that quarks are not God or God's particles.
But still I could not believe something that I had never seen. I asked Eba," Mam did you see god, how do you prove his existence, because whatever logic you are giving is philosophical, no scientific theory has proved his existence madam." "He is everywhere, in the form of he and in the form of she", She replied, "When You feel hot, you switch on the fan or the AC my friend God gives you the air. Who tells you when you are hungry your brain, but god tells your brain you are hungry. Now before the exam you must have said god save me, if you cannot prove god why do you call him/her. God does exist everywhere in our heart in our mind in our daily life." " But , My friend did you see god. Have you ever felt him/her." I asked Eba.
Yes, all people have seen and felt god Eba replied. I felt she was crazy but let her continue. She asked me, "My friend when you fall sick or are in extreme pain, or in some mess with your daily life whom do you first call, your mother right." "To be honest yes. I call my mother really for every small reason". "When you need any advice you call your dad, or when you need some money for your day to day expenses your dad funds that am I right", Yeah I had no option but yes. " And you were created because your dad and mom wanted to create you", Eba added.
Nobody in this world could deny what she was speaking and I still replied," Yes but how does this make me meet god." Eba replied " God!! Who is god, one who creates you, one who protects you, one who trains you, one who fulfills your needs, wants and desires. Someone who guides you whenever there is a problem. Your parents do this for you and you are lucky, you have with you the two forms of God. Your father and your mother,both. "," I really felt proud about the high thinking of this unknown lady, who had such a high logic to explain something which has no concrete scientific proof as such. I had to believe and I was convinced that for every living beings the father and mother are god,",
The Night was midnight and I was to go to college next day, I wished Eba a goodnight and assured her that Mr. Khan would come back soon and one day according to her wish shall come when all the mankind shall live in peace together in a White globe with no boundaries and demarcations, based on religion colour and sect. But after wishing her goodnight that day my contact with Eba was lost. I never logged on to "Yahoo Messenger" with that Id "smartboyrockedup87@yahoo.com"anymore and also I did not add Eba to my friend list. I forgot the password too but the Eba and her dream of a white globe with no boundaries still haunt memory and the words of Eba remained in my mind......................................
ANINDYA MUKHERJEE (NEIL)
