Monday, April 19, 2010

Natural disasters shaping religious psyche about ‘Hell’

They started walking barefoot from the lush green but really humid and now dusty jungle to reach a colder place. It was not possible to comprehend the whole incident; however one thing was sure, it was not the usual temperature and it felt very unpleasant and unbearable.

Nevertheless, moving ahead was the only option as well as custom. Whenever they were resting, discussions and recollections would be shared.

Everyone had reached a consensus as to where and how it had happened; near the waterfall where everyone went to bathe. First there was a loud grinding noise, that came from the bowels of the earth and then everything started shaking and moving. The nearby hill smashed into smithereens and the water changed its course.

When everything settled down, the sun had sunk below the horizon and still the temperature kept going down. He tried to recall how many times the sun went down until now, but it was useless. The only thing clear was the unbearable heat, and the need to find a colder place.

They had never imagined or experienced this kind of an incident before, nor were they ever explained by their fathers. It was a new beginning, from where they had to restart. The women, children and the brave men all kept quiet and only spoke when resting. Mothers would chastise their children now, not with the black bear, by the grumbling noise and the fires and breaking stones; and they found it to be very effective indeed.

He thought to himself, “If I ever tell my children this story, I will make sure to explain how I felt punished because of this heat, am sure I can even discipline them by this story.”

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