The Gods' Fun

by Mahdy Mubarak (Egypt)

A leap into the unknown India

India is full of gods! It seems strange to our Arabian culture. This strangeness made the story I had to tell since 2016. I have a book published in Arabic language about India, it won Ibn Battuta prize for Arab travel literature. otherwise, what was my experience there? Suddenly, I traveled to unknown. followed up priests and prayers in order to identify similarities between religions and different cultures, which I want to know the secret of their peace decision because I was coming from Egypt. Here, the one religion sides and movements are fighting continuously and I think forever! In MENA region, we suffer from terrorism. so, I visited the war room between extremist movements and Indian government in Kashmir to discover the effects, goals and wrote a story about the silent war. someone told me that he were waiting the great explosion there, but I noted that terrorists had some strange techniques to fund their operations and occupy new areas. for more than 70 years, the war is running over India but they surrounded it in one province, but the other sides are still live in peace! I asked: why? The golden role was that the work is the god, they didn't have a time or poverty to fight. that's how Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister and former rulers judged their country. They have a deal with the people: We will give you the food but don't talk in politics. the poor people in India work every time to earn their living! without working all the time, most of them will starve to death! Sikhs, Buddhists and Muslims had a free spaces to pray and visit their temples, like Hindus. On the other hand, priests in all religions had the support to rob, lie and require donates then seized the money after performing some magician rituals which hadn't any spiritual values. I saw another India, which included entrepreneurs and youths believed in business more than gods and temples. They were working in technology factories and international companies then became Executive Director in some huge companies. I shocked when I arrived Delhi because of the huge number of poor people sleeping above the sidewalk at night! later, the mystery was solved. I lived in 2 Indias, the first one was fighting the world until it became a huge economic power. the other one was sleeping on the sidewalk. If you're Indian, you have to decide in which India you want to live! what's the difference? the young boy in the second India sold banana slices on the street but his first India's brother sold banana slices online, with mobile application and delivery motorbike. In my travel, I visited some unknown religions and sects in MENA region then captured and wrote their stories to my audience. I thought Arabian reader would be Surprised at these incredible stories, gods, rituals, traditions, food and ways for life. after gods' talk, I headed to people: their delicious food and spices, strange transport means such as toktok and manual rickshaw and half a billion of people didn't have a bathroom or didn't have a bathroom culture. so, they were taking off their clothes and pissing in the fresh air. Girls in India didn't have their rights. so, I wrote some of their stories and it was effective because they had a dreams but no money to achieve! they were open minded in the opposite of men. It's an another silent war in India. I can title India story "Silent Wars Nation" because it has several problems, which they can't talk about. there's some slaves in India until now. No one of them can object or complain. I asked why?, they told me: "we can't in order to avoid the wrath of the gods because they said that we are slaves and therefore, we have to serve the other Hindu people for free and clean their bathrooms! It's our work according to holy book to have a good life after deaths". my travel was full of wonders and stories. they're enjoyable and difficult to absorb and tell later. It taught me how to make peace, accept differences and changed my vision towards justice and work value.