An idol

 An idol, by definition, is worthy of supplication. An idol gives us a sense of being protected, of infinite possibilities, of great, good guidance. Remember the Ganapati festival? We install the idol, and that image becomes a source  of infinite inspiration, gives us a feel of  great reverence, adds an aura of its own to mundane lives.

An idol is ideal, in brief.  Hence idols are  to be located not only  in the field of religion but in all the spaces that  give us a feel of intense betterment. In other words, an idol is found in the worldly areas, too. Since childhood, our parents are our idols. Without even saying so, they craft our identities. Every which way, they give us birth as they design, permanently permeate our personalities, too.

When the socialisation process starts, a committed, caring, and brilliant teacher, especially during the late teens, early twenties can be an idol, too. As we grow up, start forming our own opinions through observation, through reading, our idols come from spaces that include history as well as all the social-political-cultural arenas. 

Well, as our idols influence us immensely, we must choose them wisely, too, right? Hence I feel bad when most youngsters choose some film star, a cricketeer et al as idols. Nothing wrong actually! Unfortunately, however, such idols mostly add a mere stylistic effect, right? So you have a Ronaldo or a Shahrukh hair-cut flooding  the streets as the World Cup or the release of some film happen to be imminent.

An idol who thus merely affects mere looks, sheer fashions is not worthy of truly being an idol, right? Such an ideal is more a tool of the consumerist market place, right? It is capitalism cooking up identities to make the richer still more richer at our expense, right? Nyke shoes make not a Beckham, nor Levis jeans a Shahrukh. But these as models make both the company and the model filthy wealthy, right?

In brief, the moral of the story is choose your idols wisely!

Pratima@ Sant Gadge Baba as an idol  made many Maharashtrian villages ideal, clean every which way!