Tool Secularism

Rachna Vinod
Ramanna was about to open his shop when he heard distant shouts. With his hand still on the door knob, he stood still. The clarity of those distant shouts coming closer put him on alert because that was clear indication of the warning to keep the shop closed. This was going to be another day of protests and agitation where most of the participants as usual were ignorant of the real cause. Many a time, as a victim of mob mentality, a scared Ramanna could not muster enough courage to open his shop and he put back the keys in his pocket. His world was confined to his shop which was constructed in a corner of his house. He would step out of his self-created secure world only to meet needs of his daily life. Barely he was ever seen stepping out and going beyond that. He was a mechanic who had earned goodwill for his expertise in repairing cycles and two-wheelers. If required in emergency, he could repair certain defects in 4-wheelers also. An uneducated but practical person, he had keen desire to learn more and more about the repair works of which he had acquired excellent basic expertise and over the years dealing practically with a variety of vehicles, he had developed sharp sense of finding out the trouble with vehicle and repair it accordingly.
Ramanna’s social life was limited to the customers with whom he would often talk about the weather or the places they belonged to or the places they were going to. He had gained enough knowledge by interacting with different types of customers on different topics ranging from weather conditions to road conditions to family welfare, just to keep the conversation going on while repairing their vehicles. Sometimes the customers would also respond warmly and share his concern but sometimes some of them would be arrogant enough to show their resentment by being just indifferent to his conversation and would reject any further communication with him. A self-taught psychologist whose common sense had made him wise enough to understand the behavioural pattern of the customers. He would deal with them accordingly. So without taking any such snobbish attitude to his heart, he wouldn’t forget to always wish them safe journey whenever they started their onward journey after their problem had been attended and their vehicles put on road to their satisfaction.
An official road-development project had resulted in sudden surprise blessing for him when he found his house hitherto in one of the obscure lanes, standing right on the highway. It proved a boon for his equally obscure shop which picked up buisness rapidly and full-fledgedly he turned it into 4-wheeler repair shop. What started as publicity of his goodwill by word of mouth, had made its visibility on internet also, the use of which he had picked up by attending online classes whenever possible. Thus he remained updated also with different models of 4-wheelers requiring repairs. The boon of having his shop on highway wasn’t without its share of bane. Whenever there was any resentment in public against any issue, the hooligans, the miscreants habitual of availing any opportunity to make their presence felt, would start targetting the shops and force the shopowners to close down their buisness establishments. Such miscreants would barricade the highway stopping any movement. Initially Ramanna used to talk to them out of this unreasonable behaviour but he was snubbed rather threatened with dire consequences if he didn’t shut down his business premise which was very much part of his residence also. Scared he backed out of any peace efforts.
Scumbbing to pressure tactics, Ramanna became silent spectator of such hooliganism which over the period had become quite frequent. Was it a case of bad workman quarreling with his tools? But who was this invisible bad workman quarreling with whose tools resulting in bad workmanship? His customers coming from all walks of life were most valuable to him and to their satisfaction he delivered his services of his workmanship with his tools whom he worshipped. Working with his tools, Ramanna had fallen in love with them. He handled them carefully. Those tools had brought him prosperity. The first thing he would do while opening the shop, was to worship them. He had kept those tools next to the higher prayer pedestal that he had made in his repair shop. In known history of stone age, the nature was taking care of the needs of primitive person who later by hit and trial, started making tools out of stones to make life easier and comfortable with their use. The inherent desire in human beings to live a life of comforts and working hard to earn those comforts was an acknowledged fact. With growing physical and metaphysical taking the primitive person began to feel some divine presence who was talking care of his/her needs and the nature worship started. Bounties of Nature was common to all and bowing before that, was the only religion.
Everyday, the technological improvements were bringing out new tools to make living better and comfortable. These tools were mechanical. Like bounties of Nature, these didn’t have tags of any religion attached to them. These were true secular tools but their handlers were human beings who made huge advancement from being a primitive person to the most progressive person with the most developed minds who could boast of conquering nature hitherto considered Divine Domain. Ramanna was upset over divided and scattered sects and religion where everyone was busy in claiming supremacy over one another at the cost of misuse of tools who had no religion except serving on the whims and fancies of their handlers! His customers were just customers of desirous of good service from him. His tools were tools to help him in providing efficient and satisfactory service to the customers with no other consideration.
Was this a supressed desire of returning back to be a primitive again? Wasn’t fighting over religion an insult to even the primitive person who was unaware of any religion other than Nature whose generous bounties were common to everyone! The unruly mob satisfied at the forced closure of buisness establishments and obliging the owners by not damaging their establishments, started barricading the highway unabashedly. Baffled by the hostile scenario regressive to any further progress, helpless Ramanna, a mute spectator to disruptive mob, kept his repair shop closed and resentfully, grudgingly, unwillingly once again became a victim as well as a part of disorder and disruption in the society.

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