Pop goes faith!

ALLEN O'BRIEN / TNN / Sep 22, 2005, 22:56 IST

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For Gen X, religion is about fashion, choice, reinvention.

For Gen X, religion is about fashion, choice, reinvention.
*The past: To high IQ psychologist Sigmund Freud, God was nothing but a pathological trick of the mind.
*The present: Neurochemist Candace Pert, awarded for having the highest SQ (spiritual quotient) in 2005, feels religion is the single driving force in life. "I don't feel awe for the brain.I feel awe for God," she says.
*The future: EQ and IQ will be passe. Delhi Times on what will matter: New Age SQ...

Gen X versus Baby Boomers
The older lot claims to "practise" religious rituals. The new ones feel their faith is here to stay. The SQ of teens today is perhaps more important than their IQ. As sociologist Arindam Sen of DU says: "Gone are the days when SQ was all about visiting the temple thrice a week or fasting on alternate days.
For the youth today, SQ is all about an intelligence associated with their spirituality." Not to forget the 'cool quotient' where God is essentially viewed as a buddy rather than the Fear Factor in their lives.

"Youngsers believe in the buddy syndrome. Hence they are most comfortable with personalised ways of expressing devotion to the one they worship." Adds counsellor Anita Dhongria Bhasin of Youth Intelligence, a Mumbai-based trend forecasting company: "The devotion of the youth to God is a reliable predictor of how well they'll do not just in school or at the workplace, but in life, which ultimately is what matters to them."
Faith as fashion
From tank tops to toe rings, secular fashion with a religious message is pushing into the mainstream. Says designer Rupali Singh, "It's 2005. Religion has become a brand -- and right now it's hot."
Now picture this:
*Christian themes are increasingly present in pop culture. The Passion Of The Christ Ts, since their February launch, have sales exceeding $360 million.
*Madonna, devoted to Jewish mysticism, has a 'Mary Is My Homegirl' T. So does Pamela Anderson.
*In the desi market, there are creations with imprints of Krishna, Buddha, Om and the Gayatri Mantra.
"You don't have to be a hardcore Christian to wear 'Jesus is my Homeboy'," argues 19-year-old Nishita Bhatt of JMC. Such merchandise works at two levels: fun fashion for the faithful, irreverent commentary for others.
"Either way, deity apparel is enjoying a moment of hip legitimacy," says designer Jattinn Kochhar. Adds Jaye Hersh, who runs a West LA boutique called Intuition, "A lot of my clients want shirts, along with leather cuffs and belts stamped with the Ten Commandments or Om."
Alternate spirituality
Next in line are those teens for whom SQ is taken for granted. "It's just furniture in their lives," says Sen. "Hence, they personalise it into anything they can articulate." Like a Ganesh tattoo. Says body-piercing expert Ganesh Saahay, "Two in every three teens want such a tattoo on the forearm or back."
Adds DJ Vishal Mallick, "A tattoo helps you communicate on a friendly basis with the deity." So does that mean a Krishna devotee would only want a Krishna tattoo? "Not really.
While most teens abroad want Krishna tattoos, there are many Hindus who want something written in Urdu as well," says Saahay. There's also a following for alternate spirituality vis-a-vis feng shui. Says wedding planner Amrish Pershad, "Wearing a bracelet to ward off the evil eye is also about communicating with the peer group."
Religion remix
Who said religion is all about bhajans? It could be a remixed version. As Vishal, who has cut an album for ISKCON, says: "This remixed version of Hare Rama Hare Krishna is more about relating to and enjoying religion."
It's about following religion intelligently. "Teens are influenced by intellectual fads and moral relativism -- such as all religions are basically the same or who are we to judge another culture?" says designer Leena Singh. And it is this overpowering secularism that makes pop religion cross-cultural, national, global...It's a faith in a pluralistic cult that celebrates a different kind of monotheism: mankind as ONE!

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