The Only One I can Say That To

When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.
- King Baldwin IV, Kingdom of Heaven

The other day I was talking about the king Asoka with my father when he told me that history books don't tell us who the king of Kalinga was. I remember reading in school how Asoka after having fought the Battle of Kalinga was moved by the sight of hundreds of soldiers lying dead and then moved on to become a symbol of peace and secularism. He is said to have met some monk, when he took on a journey to salvation, who guided him to become the famous Asoka as we all know. I wonder why our historians didn't formulate anything about the King of Kalinga at that time. Who was the king Asoka fought? Or will the question "did the Battle of Kalinga ever take place?" be a valid argument? This is just a small instance of several missing and unexplained pieces in history as presented to us.

A good example that explains why precisely the history we get to study in our schools is corrupt is one of Aurangzeb. He has been termed as a 'Sunni bigot'. I personally don't know much about him except that he used to write copies of the Holy Quran with his own hands to earn his living. Though he spent excessive money on building monuments and took taxes from non-Muslims, there is no documented proof that he was any bad - only the books say so. I visited Aurangabad several years back and I remember seeing a that had infrastructure built by Aurangzeb for the benefit of his subjects. Those who accept the fictitious details given in our books are no better than those who have written them.

We are told about how beautiful the Taj Mahal is and how well it is a symbol of love. I have never seen it and I find nothing glorious in it that makes me want to see it. Maybe it is the most beautiful of all the monuments on the earth but what I know about it is that it was built by spending millions of Rupees belonging to people and the man who built it had several wives. I don't know what made him do it. What I do know is that love cannot be symbolised. The same books that talk of love also tell us that our ancestors were animals resembling monkeys. It's the theory of evolution. What we are not told is that Einstein himself has said he was not sure of what he has put forth but he believes in it because it enabled him to explain many questions about our existence. Can ever love evolve? No religion supports the theory of evolution. We believe in facts and truths.

We cannot fight every fallacy we see but what we can do is let others know about it at least. Whenever I hear anybody tell that nothing like love exists I am reminded of a verse from the Holy Quran: "And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect." Allah uses the word "love" several times in His book. Allah says He loves us. It's better we all remember what Allah has to tell. It's foolishness to deny what has been put in our hearts. For some it can be inconvenient, for those like me it is the answer.

Apart from a couple of chats, some cleaning, reading of a part of a book and finishing the rest of the part of the movie 'Kingdom of Heaven' there was hardly anything I did today. I was expecting a call from a friend but his off-liners told me that I was forgotten somewhere and so there was no call. That wasn't nice to think about - being forgotten. I am to blame somehow - it's comfortable to put it that way. With no hard feeling I will leave this behind me as there is simply no other option other than quibbling only to loose peace. I am looking ahead for tomorrow, the day after, and the days there off. Nobody can complain about me being excessive about the word 'love'. I will take complains about 'chocolate' just to enjoy it. I can keep that amusement forever - the word 'chocolate'; I must be precise. Somehow I am not comfortable with today's title and also with what I had written in the post 'Awe' dated June 9th, 2008. But what has been written has been written - it will stay undeterred.