"GOD" Killings

The recent incident at Godavari Pushkaralu where 29 people died in a human stampede has really got me thinking. I went back and looked at the statistics of deaths by human stampede in India related to "GOD" (quotations were intentional) for the last 10 years and it added up to a whopping 1276. Just ponder on that for a second, "GOD" with his/her mythical power took 1276 lives of houseguests leaving thousands more injured in just 10 years. 

Leading at the top of the list is an incident happened in 2005 at Mandhar Devi temple in Maharashtra where over 340 people died and 200 more injured on an auspicious full moon day. Reports confirm that the stampede started when devotees slipped on the steps covered with coconut water and blood from the sacrificed goats. Why would "GOD" want his house and himself to be cleaned with slimy and smelly liquid? I am no GOD but that sounds awful.

Next in line comes Chamunda Devi who claimed 224 lives injuring 400 more in 2008. The nature of the stampede follows along the same lines as above except that most of the women were spared this time as it happened in the all male queue. Is Chamunda Devi sexist?

Several incidents followed similar stories which brings me to the current incident at Godavari Pushkaralu where millions of sinful men and women gather to wrestle and rumble for their chance to shift+delete all their sins, clear their conscience and start afresh with a clean slate. They have 12 years to commit new crimes and for their next dip. Almost all of the prayers in Hindu mythology talk about clearing you sins which in itself is giving license to commit more sins.  I have always wondered about the origins of this sin-cleansing traditions. Did "GOD" create these loopholes? In which case he definitely favors rich and powerful who can perform yagas and take dips anytime they need or were these created by intelligent sinners to have a systematic way of cleansing their conscience. 

In any case, if a society believes in "take a dip to heaven" policy then they should not complain about corrupt leaders, financial scammers and policy abusers as those people are taking full advantage of the policy. In fact, I would suggest every religious person to stop caring about righteousness, do what your filthy mind tells you to do, accumulate as many sins for a period of 12 years and let Godavari  take care of them.

Back to the tragedies, How can we address them? Do we even have to?

For the argument sake let there be “effectors” and “protectors”

A) Effectors:

These are the devotees who believe in higher power. They would go any distance to get their share of "GOD’s" blessings. To these people death on this auspicious day in the God's own house should be equivalent to karma, "GOD" has usurped those of you to heaven. Effectors should not complain about it. Government or anyone for that matter is not responsible as you intentionally walked into his/her house in return for life-long benefits and since "GOD" works in mysterious ways he devoured few of his/her devotees. Yes kids are innocent and their deaths are uncalled for but to the almighty all of us are equal. If you think dipping on the first day is sure shot to heaven then get ready to reach there sooner rather than later.

B) Protectors:

For the rest of us it is obvious that the fault lies with the “protectors” the government. Government is responsible to save human lives and should act above all cultural, religious and social beliefs. Government should have expected this congregation and should have taken extra measure. They could have sold 100,000 tickets for a special access straight to the ghat without scrumming with the masses and raise enough money towards the additional security. 

1276 deaths in the last 10 years is bad. How bad? Guess how many people died from terrorist attacks in the same duration. Everyone remembers 2008 Mumbai attacks (thanks to RGV), hyderabad bombings, 2006 train bombing and if you add up all the deaths it comes to 1090. While the whole nation rose to terrorist attacks with countless debates, thousands of articles, increased border security funding, better armed forces etc., no one bothers to regulate the “GOD” industry.  

May be I am just ranting for no reason, at the end he is omnipresent, knows everything and sees through all of us and I guess approves all of this. By the way "GOD" in his mysterious ways is making me write this article...he is just awesome, don't you agree?