The Man who Sued God

Has it ever happened to you that something bad happens and finding nobody else responsible, you simply bow down to fate and say, “Whatever happens, God destined it to be that way!” Well, think about it. If God planned something to happen in a particular way, is he responsible for it? If so, is he liable for the damages caused by his plans? Quite intriguing isn’t it?

Well, the movie, “The man who sues God” takes this thought to a near reality. Based on a true case in Australia, the story is about a man, an ex-lawyer, who loses his boat in a lightening and loses the insurance money as they declare it as an “Act of God”. Feeling helpless and knowing that suing the insurance companies would be useless, he takes the other route: he sues God! That’s right; he sues the almighty, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God!

The movie starts out being a vindictive action by a man who has lost his only possession – his boat. Yet, when the case begins to develop, it really gets interesting. The first point he makes is, if the Church and other religious institutes call themselves as the representatives of God on earth, are they responsible for such calamities? If a flood occurs and it is called as an “act of God”, will the church bear the expenses of re habilitating the people who have suffered the losses?

The next point that he makes is that if we as humans knew what was going to happen, then, why would we even insure? If an insurance company can’t insure against a potential risk, saying it is an “act of God”, then, why have insurance?

The other point that he raises is, who are the people representing god on earth? Is is the Church or the insurance companies? If the insurance companies can come up with a clause of “act of God”, do they have experts in the areas of working of God?

All this leaves the Church and the Insurance companies fuming. The conundrum for the church is this: If they call themselves the representatives of God, then, they must be liable for the damages caused by “acts of God”. To get away from this liability, they’ll have to prove that God does not exist. If this is the case, the, the Church would be the biggest and most fraudulent organization in the world. All the money collected in the name of God and charities would all be in the name of an entity which they can’t prove exists!

For the insurance companies, the confusion is this: They represent investors, not God. So, how can they violate the copyright of representatives of God, namely Church! Also, the insurance companies would have come up with the clause of “Act of God” against any scenario which could be caused by some never before recorded incident. For this, the hero reads through the bible where it would say that anything that happens has already happened before. There is precedence for everything. Hence, the very basis of on which their rider is built is wrong!

The end in the movie is a bit of anti-climax. The church and the insurance companies agree to split some expense and close the case. Since the hero has no money to continue the litigation, he accepts the money and manages to get some extra so that he can settle the amounts that many of people with similar problems.

The amazing thing about the movie was the way it was presented. What turned out to be an absolutely dumb thing became a real legal challenge. I mean, the Church having to prove that God does not exist to win the case seemed to be truly incredible. A poor guy, with no money and not even his boat manages to hold the Insurance and the Church for ransom!

Chennai in London!

Last weekend, we had been to East Ham to see some houses for rent. Our office is shifting again (!!!).

East Ham is an area that is about 40 minutes from the Waterloo Station. Yet, in those 40 minutes, it felt like we had traveled from London, UK to Chennai, India!

The place is amazing! The first site after getting down out of the station is a South Indian Dosa restaurant. Beside it, there is a video shop, selling (believe it or not!) only Tamil movie DVDs and VCDs. Just to check out the shop, we went in. The shop keeper was like any typical Tamil shop keeper. We asked him, “Do you have any Hindi movies?” He just took one bunch and gave it to us. I said, “Do you have Jaane bhi do Yarron?” He said, “See, I don’t understand Hindi. There are the Hindi CDs I have. Please select from his bunch!” Well, at least it made sense. Learning Hindi in UK is not really very useful, unless of course, you are staying in Southall! (Punjabi would be more useful)

After getting over the initial shock, we went to the real estate agent to show us the house. The guy, it turned out was called Ray (he called himself Ray of Sunshine). This guy looked at us and said, “Where are you from?” So, we went into giving the typical biography, “Hello! Myil from Chennai, Sriram from Pune and me from Pune” So he said, “Ok. Don’t you want to ask where I am from?” So, I said, “Where are you from?” He said, “I am a half Indian, half Pakistani, a half-Muslim and a half-Hindu!” Oh yeah, one of his parents is from Gujarat and the other from the area that is opposite to Gujarat on the other side of the border. Talk about a world without borders!

The houses though are not worth mentioning. They were so-so. So, we were roaming around the place. We found a eating joint called “Chennai Dosas”. It looked really inviting, given the fact that it was 3 pm in the afternoon and we had not eaten since 9 am. On entrance, the fresh aroma of filter coffee mixed with the enchanting smell of hot sambar wafted around. This moment was sheer magic. It was like a moment in heaven! After weeks and weeks of curd rice (with no pickle) and one day of Sandwich (minus cheese, salad, butter, salt and pepper), the very aroma was titillating.

Savoring this captivating moment, we sat down. I had starter as Dahi Vada and then, as a main course, Rava Masala Onion Dosa. The climax of this gustatory miracle was a Filter Kapee. Anyone who is an connoisseur of coffee in India would have been happy here. More so, if for 4 months, all you have been drinking is water+coffee powder – sugar – milk!

Well, I thought the surprises would end here, but, there was one last miracle. As it was not yet time to return, we were perambulating near the shopping center. We discovered a Temple -a Balaji Temple. Paying heeds to the God in UK, we came out and behold! There was a shop selling chakkali/murukku and mixture and all the condiments that moms make during all the festivals. We barged into the shop and literally ransacked the place of these condiments and 5 bottles of pickles (for the curd rice that we would be having over the future) we left for home. Thus ended the amazing trip to Chennai of UK.