Sacred Games: I Protest.

How many people have seen the Netflix series "Sacred Games"?

You know this secularism ideal that has been enshrined in our constitution : we can sustain it only and only if everyone keeps away from unnecessary childishness!

Here's what I mean:

The plot of Sacred Games involves a nuclear terror strike on Mumbai aimed at starting at an international conflict. And guess who was shown as being behind the plot?

A Hindu Ashram where everyone takes drugs, indulges in open sex to move towards self realization, and for good measure, greets each other with an Aham Brahmasmi (an Upanishadic declaration). And the Guru of the said Ashram hatches the above mentioned plot to wipe off most of the "unenlightened population" from the face of the planet so that the remaining enlightened ones (who would live in specially designed bunkers for some years) would then usher in an age of enlightenment (easier I suppose when there's no one left to teach and transform).

Seriously :)?

Why :)? Why do all this :)? Cut the crap no :)! This land has witnessed the lives of so many spiritual luminaries! Paramahansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Guru Nanak, Sant Kabir... And we have an entire generation coming up without any understanding of the philosophy and mysticism that has sourced from this part of the world and believing that the dictionary meaning of the word Guru is Crook :)!

And the childishness is not always this outlandish either :).

Go back to Dil Chahta Hai. It's actually a really cool movie, I've seen it more than once and enjoyed it thoroughly every time!

But at the same time, recall that the character projected as the weird and undesirable boyfriend got up at 5 AM and did Yoga. While Saif Ali Khan and all the other "cool studs" who the women swooned over clubbed and partied late into the night.

Now I don't think everyone is a 5 AM person. Neither is everyone a Yoga person. I personally enjoy it (although I don't do it at 5 AM 😁) and recommend it, but by no means do I force my views upon anyone.

But nobody, absolutely no one, has any right to link Yoga with being undesirable or uncool. It is something we are proud of in our heritage and people who might wake up early and/or do Yoga are not weird. There was a lot of other nuttiness in that character's personality and we can all have a laugh at all that. But there was no need to include "Yoga at 5 AM" in the recipe.

As I said: All of us need to respect each other's heritage and culture. Else this cycle will go on endlessly : One side provokes the other, the other side provokes back, and so on...

As far as clubbing goes, again, it's a personal choice. I enjoy watching live music concerts and they often run late. So I can often be spotted at a rock concert after everyone else's bedtime 🙂!

But you can take it from me, or anyone else who is honest, that while some people may enjoy an occasional drink once in a while - excessive and/or regular drinking is utter stupidity. It wrecks the mind as well as body. I've seen perfectly good people completely mess up their lives with alcohol and drugs. I've seen intelligent minds become dull and livers destroyed.

And that's exactly what's happening today. People are drinking more and more heavily, clubbing is reducing itself from fun and socializing to excessive alcohol and drugs. Movies and movie makers need to be very careful about what they project as "cool" and how they do it. These are not small matters. Lives get destroyed with the wrong messaging.