One thing about being in India is being surrounded by my Indian family, most of them rather religious Hindus. Many of the problems I have with Hinduism that caused my break from the religion are the sorts of problems I have with religion in general (not that I have a problem with religious people, I just can’t fit it into my own life). Like how I opened up the paper today to see that they are challenging a 1955 that allows Hindus to get divorces, and let’s not even get into all the things about how Islamic law takes precedence over civil law here, and what happens to everyone else or the God-less ones like me. But India isn’t the only place where “secular government” doesn’t really exist.

But that’s not my point.

The first big thing that bothered me about the way Hinduism is practiced, besides the incredible length of the ceremonies is the wastefulness of the rituals. Why are there routine events where milk is poured over stone statues, sometimes in ceremonies so lavish that people come bearing multiple buckets of that precious white stuff, in a country of over a billion people, the majority of them starving and/or malnourished? Most likely the children of the men who owned those cows, rarely get a drop of the milk, but it makes headlines in the national papers when a statue seems to “drink” the milk that it’s “fed”?

I just wasn’t into that.

And now, years later, I see the same sort of thing come up but in the way my family members practice their faith. Now they are sensible enough not to waste food on rock. But, they fully condone things like the bisharjan (translation: submerging) at the end of the 10 (i think) day holiday of Durga Puja. At this event, on the tenth day, the painted clay sculptures of the Goddess Durga, along with the figures of four other deities (her kids), are “returned” so they can begin their journey home. They do this by dumping (but dumping with a lot of fanfare) the figures into the river Ganges.

Now I’ve been to that river, and it is naaaasty. Waste, not all of it as holy as the figures, debris, and who knows what else floating around. Forget about cleansing away my sins, I’d be afraid of contracting a variety of diseases from those waters.

So, all these figures in every town in the state of West Bengal, many more in other states in this large country. All that paint (lead in it most likely), clothes, and metal/foil ornaments into the river.

But what the family does every night is this evening prayer that requires all the lights to be on in the house, even the ones in rooms that no one is in. Wasting electricity much? Most families in the area do this. It adds up, I think.

Now I’ve never hugged a tree. I enjoy my material comforts and I would not go spend months in a treehouse for fun. But, in a quieter way I’m a fan of the environment and clean air and all that. I go out of my way to recycle (last summer when my office didn’t have recycling I’d take paper home with me so I could put it in the friendly blue bin), I take extra time to turn off leaky showers that careless floormates have left open, and I’ve scattered a seed or two in a backyard.

So this irks me.

Traditions are great, Indian ones are fun and colorful and contributed to some great Beatles songs. But doesn’t this irk you too? It’s not even a question of changing morals or new fangled ideas, or me judging my relatives with my “spoiled western ways”….I’m sure their Gods could forgive them for trying to be nice to the planet. Hey Hinduism, time for you to have an update, please?