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Writer's pictureVinay Payyapilly

From Happy Holidays to Spring Spheres

Here we go again, pandering to imaginary demons. A school in Seattle Washington will allow the distribution of Easter Eggs provided they are called Spring Spheres.

I would be worried about sending my child to a school that calls an egg a sphere. It’s a bloody ovoid you nincompoops. What next the rectangle and the square are the same thing?

Merry Christmas became Happy Holidays. Easter is now Spring. What next? The Cross will become a tree. The image of Jesus hanging on the cross will be replaced with an orange hanging of the branch of the tree.

Diwali can become Zippo lighter day.

Id-ul-Fitr will be called Breakfast.

Whom are we fooling? Whom are we pandering? For the life of me, I cannot understand who would feel bad if I celebrate a religious festival.

I grew up in the Middle East. During the month of Ramadan, you are not allowed to eat or drink in public, irrespective of your religion. I was still in school then and I picked up a can of Mirinda before getting into a cab. The Muslim cab driver gently reminded me it was Ramadan and asked me to sit lower in the seat and finish my drink. It was such a sweet gesture.

Another wonderful image that sticks in my mind is from the same time. School started at 1 pm for us. So while we waited we usually played a game of cricket or football. After the game, we would rush to the water coolers to drink water. The Muslim boys who were keeping Ramadan, would just wash their mouth and spit the water out. Amazing! It didn’t matter to them that the rest of the kids around them were drinking water by the mouthful.

It doesn’t matter to me that goats are sacrificed on Id or that the air is polluted on Diwali and the water on Holi. It is one day. A day when we leave behind the weights on our shoulders and let our hair down. Are we going to rob ourselves of all our joys?

How small a brain should someone have to think that Easter Eggs will hurt someone’s sentiments?

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