Chanelling all my inner gods

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"Are you a Hindu?" 

Silence. 

"That's a simple question, yes or no." 

It wasn't a simple question to me. Because religion is not a part of my identity, my conscious sense of who I am. Let's just put it down to being born and raised in God's own country.

Yes, I happened to be born into a family that ticks the box next to Hindu on government forms. And yes, growing up in Kerala, brought up on a voracious diet of Amar Chitra Kathas and TV renditions of the epics, I knew all the stories. That, to me, is the best part of Hinduism, the way I relate to it. A sense of plurality. The sheer variety of gods and goddesses, one customized for each occasion and purpose.

There are days when I channel Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, and need her to work magic as thoughts and words flow through me. There are days when I need to channel Durga. The days when I go to war, red lipstick, flaring red silk dress and the spirit of Durga raging inside. There are days when I need to channel Shiva and unleash creative destruction, destroying to build up again, fighting the good fight. There are days when I channel Brahma, imagining new possibilities and creating afresh. There are days when I channel Vishnu, for peace and tranquility and the wisdom to let things be. There are days when I need Ganesha, to remove pesky obstacles in my path. 

Educated in a convent, I also learned to find a friend in Jesus, the person I could go to anytime and chat to through the black wrought iron bars of the school chapel, shrouded in a rich profusion of fuchsia pink bougainvillea. From him, I learned the need to have a soulmate, one with whom you can share anything. From my students for whom I need to offer prayer breaks in class, I learned the need to hit the pause button five times a day, to meditate, to pause, to recoup before surging on.

Years on, a happy medley of gods dance within, each channelled to achieve what's important to me at any point in time. And no, that's not a simple question, and it does not have a simple answer.