A kali yuga business

A kali yuga business...          Abhijit Das Gupta

So a new deity is Nathuram.  Nathuram mandir will soon come up just like many mandirs that sprout up overnight opposite hospitals, to block new constructions and also to earn that extra penny. This Nathuram male God, unlike most of the Hindu Gods, has a pierced nose for a nose ring!

Godse was brought up in under a sheathe that hid his gender.  Ramchandra who later became Nathuram, was brought up as a girl, had his nose pierced. So he was the Ram with the nose pierced.  A dropout from school, he grew up with a flawed mixed character. His personality must have taken a beating when she became a he. His self protective mechanism possibly worked as a catalyst to make him sectarian.

His connections with some Hindu organizations at this point of mental change possibly influenced him into becoming a hard core imbalanced being. He started a news paper ‘Hindu Rashtra.’ Completely indoctrinated in Hindu fanaticism, the pro-violence traits in him were to become his defense. Offence is the best defense. There is the proverbial Bengali saying ‘the mother of the thief raises her voice most.’ And like fanatics of all religions, he too failed to see the strength in peace.

He failed to appreciate the power of Non violence and looked at it as a sign of unreasonable leanings and weakness. That the British succumbed to the Non violence was of no consequence to this young s/he.    

Now why the temple? Why not? Highway Baba Mandir, Boulder Baba mandir, Ghat devta, Truck Baba mandir – why not Nathuram Baba mandir? After all, it sounds better – doesn’t it? Look at the business prospects. The ghat baba gets ‘paid’ only when trucks get to the ghat roads.  The truck Baba is only to safe guard against trucks going turtle. I am not too aware of who all visits the boulder baba and why. But going by the mushrooming of round stones with garlands or calendar pictures in frames with tilaks, around street corners, the project plan is near perfect. Taking into account the number of murders every year and the rising trends of all kinds of crimes, there’ll be no dearth of devotees. But, but there is a problem. If the footfall increases, the police will erect another temple by its side. One will have to pay homage there too. Otherwise their close circuit cameras will certainly find it easy to spot the possible offenders. And then the ‘suddhikaran’ itself will become painfully expensive.

Legend has it that Isis, the ancient God of Egypt, who married her lord of the underworld brother, became a symbol of power. In fact, Isis means the throne! So in this Kali yuga, if Nathuram occupies the throne, why be shocked? Better accept it with grace to avoid the wrath.