Frequently Angry Questioners, please read this

Would you do this to the Koran, the Bible or the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? 

No. I would not. I choose to parody the culture I grew up with and I am quite aware of the violent repercussions possible from fundamentalists of all denominations. You are free to call me a coward for my selective choice of subjects.

Aren’t you then taking undue advantage of the freedom and tolerance inherent in our religion?

It isn’t freedom and tolerance if I cannot take advantage of it. If you say “How dare you take advantage of our tolerance?” then the logical fallacy inherent in that statement causes it to collapse on itself.

You are just exploiting our sacred culture for some cheap thrills

Yes I am. A big aspect of online self expression is to derive cheap mileage from likes, RTs, follows, shares, comments and views. Unlike in the era of Doordarshan, you do have the choice to not read the cheapness I purvey.

You are trivializing something sacred. What good can it bring?

It will bring absolutely no good, but to be fair, it will do absolutely no harm either. Indian epics and religious texts have survived millennia of oral transmission, foreign invasions, reinterpretation and translations and still continue to be relevant to people who find them sacred. If you honestly believe that some random blog on the internet will dilute its sacredness, I am afraid you are giving me too much credit, and in that process, insulting the eternal sacredness of the said text.

You are making fun of something that you do not understand properly. Do you even know Sanskrit?

Let’s be clear on this. I make observations about people. The references to religion, culture and so on merely form the background that I use to make my point. Yes, I do not know much Sanskrit, but, to quote from a famous joke in Tamil movies, Sanskrit does not know me either. If my poor understanding results in a complete failure of this blog to deal a death blow to the sacred purity of our culture, then that would be quite OK no?

You know, you aren’t really funny at all

Ok. Would you like some filter coffee?