Julia Roberts' New Act of Comedy

Julia Roberts, often called America's Sweetheart has claimed in an interview that she has converted to Hinduism. Aged 42 and winner of the Oscar for Erin Brockowich, she is one of the leading figures in Hollywood. She says that she has been so spoiled with her friends and family in this life and wants to be something quiet and supporting in the next birth! She learned the basic tenets of Hinduism while shooting for the film 'Eat, Pray and Love' in India.

I had a hearty laugh after reading this news item. She says she had learned about Hinduism. Some learning! Probably she is not aware of the basic feature of Hinduism, viz. the numerous castes, some upper, some lower, some in the middle. To which of this caste she has converted into? Without caste, you are not a Hindu, as per the learned Brahmins who interpret religious law even now. I think she has been fooled into the spiritual mumbo-jumbo while in India, whose cultural burden we Indians always bear on our shoulders. Most certainly, she has not heard of many villages of India where lower-caste people are not even allowed to come near the upper-castes. They are not allowed to take water from government-built public wells and their children are still not allowed to attend schools. Sati, the practice of widow-burning when the husband dies, is still practised here and there, occasionally. Even otherwise, we Hindus consider those women who consensually commits suicide on the death pyre of their husbands as semi-divinities who are to be adored. We are easily swayed by superstitions and rumours! Some years back there was a news item which spread like wildfire on the sub-continent. People fed milk on a spoon to the idols of Ganapati and observed with wide-eyed wonder the milk seep into the idol through surface tension.

We Hindus live in a self-hypnotised world. We believe that India had a glorious past in which we surpassed all other countries. Some people even say that ancient Indians developed aviation, had knowledge about string theory and uncertainty principle and had known that there was water in the moon! Not even with tons of salt can you stomach some of the craziest ideas. The fact that nobody else in the world pays a iota of attention to these semi-lunatic claims doesn't deter the diehard enthusiasts. Its a tough task living with a level head in India now.

So, Ms. Roberts, what among these interested you so much to denounce the religion in which you were born and brought up? Or, is this one of your newest acts of setting the fashion? We'd have preferred you to stay the way you was, but a bosom friend of India and our culture. Yes, our culture, even though illogically glorified by some of us, is nonetheless great! We'd have liked to see in you an ambassador of the good will which is to flow from the fountainhead of our age-old traditions and way of life. But, converting to our religion was the last thing we'd have preferred you to do. We'd have gladly and proudly accepted you into our fold, even if you are a Christian!