This was a response to the prompt "Discuss Mr. Kumar and Pi's description and respect for him."
When meeting someone for the first time, you may get a first impression immediately just by their appearance. When Pi describes Mr. Kumar in the novel Life of Pi, he is an interesting man with an interesting shape. A triangular head and body stuck upon two sticks called legs. An odd shape, yes, but if you were to get past the first impression what would you find? A man full of knowledge and a love for science is what Pi sees behind the façade of an oddly shaped person. Though Mr. Kumar is an atheist, Pi does not mind as long as he has faith in something. The weak are those who claim they are too strong to put their faith anywhere for support.
As an atheist, Mr. Kumar believes that God is not real. He said himself to Pi one day, "Religion is darkness." "Why tolerate darkness? Everything is here and clear, if only we look carefully." Mr. Kumar then pointed to a rhino standing in front of him referencing him as the light in life. It shows that his "religion" is science.
Once, Zeno the Stoic said that it is better to feel nothing than to feel good or bad. If you believe this, you could also say that it is better to put your faith in nothing than to put it in something good or bad. When Pi is thinking about his talk with Mr. Kumar he says to himself “It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while." "But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation." Pi is saying to that life by doubt or to put faith in nothing, you are making life as hard to live as you possibly can.
If ever in life were you to take a leap of faith, where would your faith be? This question is one that would have a variety of answers. The point that Pi or Yann Martel is trying to get across is that if you ever have to be asked that question, you should know exactly where you put your trust and faith. Not the trust you have in a bank for keeping your money safe, but the faith that you may realize that something is greater and more powerful than yourself and you trust it with your life. Pi's respect for Mr. Kumar is not about his knowledge, but that he has faith in something he loves -- that he could take a leap of faith with science by his side.
