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And so the 40 odd days of lent comes to a close.  Wishing the blessings of the day to you and your loved ones.

Happy Easter

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From eating meat at all the 3 meals of the day to eating meat just 2 days of the week to eating no meat or eggs for the whole of 40 odd days of the lent, i have come a long way.  Coupled with it, i have lost oodles of weight, have finally started to exercise again, feel much lighter and better.  I dont catch my breath while climbing stairs and the occasional knee joint pains are also history.

Now for me to start jogging and catch up on playing badminton that i left more than 6 months ago.   Life would then be picture perfect

Reading has become the favourite pastime for me now.  From reading one book in 6 months to 12 books in a year to 12 books in 3 months, the speed has picked up.  I simultaneously read 3-4 books and couple them with business magazines and innumerable news websites that i trawl daily.  This has led to my wife wondering aloud if i dont feel like i have had an information overload.  Not sure of that.  I love reading.  I picked up this habit from my dad. First it were the newspapers and comics, then i slowly graduated to fiction.

As soon as i started to follow the stock market and invest, i quickly let go off fiction and moved to non-fiction.  First it was books that taught me the basics of investing and then i moved on to biographies and today my interests have broadened to economics, finance (courtesy my MBA), medicine, science, biotechnology, science, religion, astronomy, space, politics, history…the list is pretty long.

Just in the past 3 months i have read 3 books denouncing religion.

The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins

Letter to a Christian Nation – Sam Harris

Infidel – Ayaan Hirsi Ali

My wife is always horrified at the thought of me reading all these kinds of books which profess their utter contempt for organised religion.  And iam the kind of person who always likes to read both sides of any topic.  Going to church, sunday school has always taught me on one aspect of belief in God.  Today, these books speak of the other side.  And no, i havent converted or become an atheist.  But ya, today it allows me to look at religion from a critical point of view.

My belief in science makes me question everything.  Yes, i have gone to sunday schools where i have been taught about the 7 day creation of the world, but reading science has shown that that was not true.  The earth has originated over billions of years.  Natural selection made us much more refined and its a ongoing process that will keep refining all that is living and breathing on this earth.  Science demands and provides proof and answers to a lot of things and for things that are not yet proven, people are at work.  And that is what makes science so fascinating.

And that makes me wonder again, if i dont really believe in all that is told in religion, why is it that i go to church regularly, why do i pray daily, why do i observe lent?  Am not really sure.   Maybe iam torn between the rational part of my mind that wants me to believe nothing unless backed by facts and the other part of my mind that wants me to believe unquestioningly.

Hope things would clear out as the years pass.   Meanwhile, here’s wishing all the blessings of the holy week.

Above picture courtesy: Good Friday Cards

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And so, it brings to an end 49 eventful days of this year’s lent season. Managed to hang on to my vegetarian spell all through. I thought it was a breeze this year inspite of the fact that apart from staying away from meat and fish, i also stayed away from egg. Iam a sucker for eggs. My favourite is a 4 eggs omlette with lots of tomatoes and cheese thrown in. That recipe, some other time.

Ya, ya cholesterol and all that stuff is not for me. Anyway, for the first time i didn’t wish for anything during this lent season. I just went ahead with it. But then surprise, some great things are happening for me. Will share them in due course of time.

Meanwhile, a good song to ring in this year’s Easter. “One of us” by Joan Osborne. A nice and meaningful song.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnS7_8yk7JA]

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

Above picture courtesy: Yahoo American Greetings

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