same difference..

Yes, I believe in God. As Orkut would have me define it, I am "spiritual but not religious". At least not overtly. I do certain things, things which make sense. I am not blindly religious. I am Hindu, by birth. I've studied in a Christian institution for 16 years and have had friends from every caste and creed and never, EVER, felt the need to discriminate.

Christianity is like my second religion. It's hard to study in Loreto and not know so much about Christianity. But Loreto has ALWAYS taught me about how peace-loving the religion is, and has told me all about how good it is. In fact, I haven't just been told, I've learnt first hand about the goodness from principals who were really amazing.

I have had Muslim friends and never given a thought to the animosity that is supposed to exist.

And, I have had Sikh, Sindhi, and Zorashtrian friends.

I also have friends of different castes and people from different states. And we all know, that in India, different states practice a different brand of Hinduism....so it's as good as making friends with people of different religions. I have also always wanted to make friends with a Pakistani.

My boyfriend's half Parsi, half Coorghi.

I have a Gujarati aunt, an Italian uncle, a Maharashtrian brother-in-law, a Parsi aunt.

And everyone has always happily coexisted.

Yet......yet.....YET.

Today, at the bus stop...two strange things happened.

I was sitting next to a guy who I assumed was Indian. He looked me up and down, and turned away. It pissed me off but I didn't bother. Then a Korean girl sat down on the other side and he started chatting. He said he was from Kashmir, and the girl said "India?". He got so mad. He said "No. Kashmir belongs to Pakistan. Don't you know that? Why's the world so ignorant?" And then he turned around, looked straight at me and said "Bloody Indians!"

At another bus stop, another guy came and sat down next to me and started chatting with me. Suddenly, he asked me "Do you believe in God?"...Obviously taken aback that the guy would ask me something like that in a conversation that had been going on for only 5 minutes...but I very hesitanty replied..."Y-Y-e-ess." Then it started.

He went on and on about how Jesus is coming back and how he is the supreme God. I told him that I didn't believe that..and Jesus wasn't the supreme God. He got so mad. He got up, very calmly told me that it didn't matter what I believed, Jesus was coming back and I would regret it. And, he said I could go back to him because he would forgive me.

Maybe I'm not just talking about religion...but differences really. But I'm just a little pissed off, a little shocked, a little irritated...and a little something I can't explain.