LAGTA HAI SHYAD UPPERWAALE KE PAAS TIME NAHI HAI, CHALO HUM APNA HI KOI KHUDA DHUNDTE HAI.... BY ALI PETER JOHN

We have got used to finding quick solution for every problem, we also seem to have got used to the idea that anything can be done by corruption by corrupting the other party - Ali Peter John

And now we seem to believe that even God seems to be pleased fast and so we keep trying to find other ways of reaching God and praising him in our own mundane and materialistic ways.

And the most imaginative ways to find an alternative to god who has no time to listen to the problems of all his creations. And the most creative ways of reaching out to god are being found in the people who live and make a living in Bollywood.

Take a look at some of the ways people have found to replace the upperwaala who they in their insecurity and imaginary fear feel that God is not doing justice to them.

There are some classic examples of how film celebrities are finding the alternatives to God and I hope God is taking note of them and their plans to may be to overthrow the gods ruling now.....

The eccentric Kishore Kumar was perhaps the founder of the school to find alternatives (totkain) to God's ways the singer- actor used to breakdown the walls of his house at ‘Gaurikunj' almost every fifteen days and even change the colour of the wall to please his God.

The fact that he changed and colored his wall to hoodwink the income tax officials was a different matter, but he told his friends that he was doing what he did to please god in a much better way than praising God, praying to god or singing out aloud to God.

The singer even hung a number of human skeleton in his bedroom, which he said was his way of driving out evil spirits and evil men and women.

Kumar had many other eccentricities to please god, but what he did in the name of God was beyond understanding or description. They say that two of his wives left him because of his madness to please god.

Rajesh Khanna had a special corner in his bungalow, ‘Aashirwaad' where he invited spiritual priest from all over the world to have hawans' and ‘pujas' to drive away all the shadows of failures from his life.

He also wore charms and amulets and rings which he was told would keep him away from all physical and financial harm.

Pran had charms which he used right from the first film of his career, “Khazanchi" and he did not part with them till the end of his life. He also grew very religious after he was seventy and took active part in ‘pujas', ‘hawans' and satsangs organized by his wife at home.

No one knows much about the little black tabeez' Dilip Kumar wore which was presented to him by his mother when they lived in Peshawar in pre- partitioned Pakistan.

Govinda or Chee Chee bhaiya as he was popularly known can easily recall,“the raja bhaiya of totkain". He performed a puja for several hours from early morning to late afternoon as many of his producers and directors anxiously waited for him to discuss important matters or to take him for their shootings.

He couldn't be in time whatever he did for any meeting or shooting. The one classic example of his being late was when he was to start shooting for “Hum" at nine am .

Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth, Kimi Katkar and the entire unit kept waiting for him, but he only arrived at two pm and without even apologizing to anyone, he went into his room and the director Mukul Anand called for a lunch break and the shooting could only start at four pm and he left the set at six pm sharp.

At another time, he was shooting in Bangalore for “Pardesi Babu". His suite was on the top floor of the hotel and the shooting was in the basement of the hotel. He came down only after eight hours and the producer called for pack up.

He was fired by the producer who was once his mentor and all he told the producer was,“aapne mujhe jhaada, achcha hi kya lekin sabke saamne toh nahi karna tha". For that one ‘crime' committed by the producer, the film was delayed for months and flopped when it was released.

He once kept a buffalo in his modern apartment because he believed that the buffalo was like his mother. He considered his mother Nirmala Devi to be an avatar of god and worshipped her.

What happened after all his ways of finding God is now a well-known fact. He has not had any major role in the last seven years and even his political career came to an abrupt end.

The only thing Shah Rukh believes in are the numbers 555 and he makes it a point that all the numbers associated with him and his close ones have 555 in all their numbers.

He looks with reverence on the tree precious gifts his father had presented him when he was very young, an old chessboard, an old camera and an old remington typewriter which did not work.

He believes that he has learnt many of his lessons from these gifts from his father. And his basic belief is,“try your best to be good to as many as you can and goodness will come back to you".

Salman Khan has only one defense system and that is an expensive ring which he cares for more than his life. This ring was once lost and the world around him was not the same till the ring was found.

Danny Denzongpa had no house or even a room when he came to Bombay, but he had the ambition to built a house of his own in Bombay.

He had once asked a producer for some work and the producer had told him that he could only offer him a job as a ‘gorkha' outside his bungalow.

That moment Danny decided that he would have his own bungalow next to the bungalow of the producer. He prayed to all the gods in the hills of Sikkim, he works very hard and within a few years he fulfilled his ambition and had one of the best bungalows in Juhu.

He named it ‘D'zongrila and designed it exactly like a good house in Sikkim. He says,“dua se zyada kaam hai, kaam karte raho imandaari se aur tumse koi taqaat kamiyaabi ko cheen nahi sakti".

And what Naseruddin Shah has to remind himself that there is a God who helps those who helps themselves are his large body of work as an actor and his amazing collection of books, which he says he has not earned by running after gods and money, but only by pursuing his career and life with passion and sincerity.

YEH CHOTE BADE TOTKAIN YU HI CHALTE RAHENGE, LEKIN AAKHRI BAZI WOH UPPERWAALA HI JEETEGA, USKA BHI TIME AAYEGA AUR WOH DEKHA DEGA KI DUNIYA USKI HAI AUR USKI HI RAHEEGI TAQAYAAMAT.