The Salvation Army

Mangu Oraon lives in village called Potka, 150 Kms from the city in East Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. Potka has not seen any development since independence. Not long ago it was surrounded by forests, a small seasonal rivulet passed through the village which became spirited with the onset of monsoon. Mangu and his brother learned to collect forest produce from his father. In the monsoon they use to sow dhaan (paddy) in the fields.

But with the passage of time things have changed, not particularly in the villagers favour. The forests have shrunk to one fourth of its size, thanks to the illegal cutting of wood. Whatever is left is now occupied by Naxals. The rivulet water has also turned grey with the setting up of an upstream cement industry, he can’t use its water for irrigation anymore. All the above incidents has pushed him and his family to the brink of starving. People of Potka, men and women alike, have migrated to areas of Delhi, Punjab and even Kerala as contract labourers. But somehow Mangu cannot deal with the idea of leaving his ancestral land and moving somewhere else. His uncle tells that their forefathers’ spirit resides in the village.

After a long wait, his patience bore fruit. He knew that the spirits are there to help him in this troubled times, in whatever form. The missionaries from Ranchi have arrived in the Potka. They are offering 2 kilos of rice, free clothes and 500 Rs for converting each person to Christianity. He got this news from his brother, who is already a Christian now. After an initial resistance, his wife has also agreed to change her religion. With two of their children and one sister, its five of them to convert. They can now have enough money and food to survive for one year, may be more. It would have been better, if I had more kids, Mangu thinks. Meanwhile his sister is considering becoming a nun, the father (Priest) has told her that she should join the missionaries, with free food and lodging, what else she may ask for! Truly they are the messengers of God that have arrived in the village.

Almost half of the adivasis of the Potka are now converted Christian. A church is being built in the village. The ignorant villagers are being taught about the life of Jesus, his miracles and rebirth. They are also taught about Bible. Mangu doesn’t seem to draw much sense out of it. His children however love the cake that the priest distributes after the Sunday Mass.

Far off in the city of Ranchi, things move at a faster pace. The elections results are declared; NDA has got a majority and is forming a government. However Mangu is unaware of these happenings and his immediate concern is survival of his family. A year has passed since their conversion and they are now running out of ration.

But truly the spirits have mysterious ways of helping him. A group of activists from VHP and Bajrang-dal have arrived in the Potka. They are offering free dhotis and 1000Rs for reconversion of Christen adivasis. Mangu again wishes that he had more children!

(All the names/characters are fictitious but their resemblance to any living human being/situation is purposeful)

Note:
The budget of church to operate global Christianity, runs around 150 billion dollars!!! It has a quarter million foreign missionaries, over 400 institutions to train them. In India, during the last 30 years the Catholic population has increased by nine folds. In three out of the seven Sister States, Christians now constitute the majority - Mizoram 85 per cent, Nagaland 82 per cent, Meghalaya 55 per cent.

(Source of data: www.hindu.com)

The Consumed Lord

Let me begin by asking a simple question: Why do we visit temples? To remember god, to ask for forgiveness or to clear our conscience. Whatever be the answer to above question, the rituals we perform remains more or less the same. It begins with a ‘thali’ with offering of sweets and ends with giving dakshina to the pundit/brahman.

The value of offering improves along with the grandeur of temple. You may not be offering the same local halwa or 10Rs note when you go to Tirupati, isn’t it? After all we travel this far not to offend the lord. But one may not be consciously aware that there lies a great business in it, behind the scenes, of a mammoth proportion!

The turnover at Tirupati Balaji easily crosses a whopping INR 500 Crores each year. Following are the approx. figures:

The temple also has 5 tonne gold reserve! (Note that this is only the reported figure).

All this money doesn’t come that easily; everybody has to work hard, including lord himself. And god has his own ways of rewarding his pupils. If you are willing to sacrifice more from your wallet (say around 10,000 Rs), then you can get into VIP line, where you don’t have to wait much, you get a chance to get close to your almighty and also get more time for the darshana… see how generous the god is!

There are other lucrative schemes also:

-Pay Rs 1 lakh and get a chance for darshan for 2 days a year for 20 years for six people

-Pay Rs 50,000 and get a chance for darshan for 2 days a year for 10 years for six people

The lesser mortals who are unwilling to part with their money (for whatever reasons) get to wait for as long as 12 hrs, the darshana lasts for meagre 2 seconds…as you sow so you reap, rightly said!!!

The temple administration (TTD) has devised novel ways to improve the reach of the lord; the sinned souls can now donate the money online through their Citibank credit cards, get rid of the sin and sleep in peace.

The god himself works from 3am in the morning till 1 am (22 hrs, and he gets no holiday!), the doors of temple are closed for pilgrimage only for two hours (and we cry foul of our long working hours!), during which god sleeps in velvet mattress, suspended by gold chain. Of course the pilgrims outside sleep under the open sky, on the floor...because pain purifies their soul!

May the god keep bestowing his kindness and forgiveness to us poor humans, may his temple stand erect till eternity, relieving us from the burden of felony, but wait…in which temple should I pray for it?

(Sources of data: www.hindu.com, www.tirumala.org )