For some reason, I end up covering the macabre “random death in India” beat for Sepia Mutiny. Here’s the latest one –
Up to 150 pilgrims drown in India Hundreds of wailing pilgrims have lined the banks of a holy river in central India and prayed for loved ones after more than 150 [previous pilgrims] either drowned or were missing when the gates of a nearby dam were opened. …The [first group of] pilgrims had gathered on the banks of Narmada a day ahead of the new moon, a period which is considered auspicious by Hindus as they feel bathing in the holy river at this time would wash away their sins. …officials at the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC), which operates the dam, said they were not aware of the Hindu fair downstream.
And wash away their sins it did.
For Ambaram Kakaria, it was too late. She sobbed as she performed the last rites over her 19-year-old nephew Babulal, who was due to be married soon. “I would have never allowed my nephew to come to this place had I known that I would be losing him forever,” she said. “I was planning to get him married in a couple of weeks.” …”We found the body of a woman with a one-year-old dead child in her arms,” police constable Ram Singh told Reuters.
Actually, I’m nowhere near as callous as this post makes me sound. It’s just a weird frustration where everytime I come across a headline like this, a little voice inside my head says “oh please, don’t say ‘in India’ ” and sure enough, it ends up being ‘in India.’
I suppose when you’ve got a billion people, an underdeveloped economy, a myth / superstition-fueled culture, and a (relatively) well-developed media, this sort of stuff percolates up moreso than, for ex., in China. But man, talk about wanting to bang your head into a wall.
puts hand between vinod’s head and wall
🙂
They say if u throw a brick up in the air in India, u could end up killing 5 people!
How I wish these never occurred here…
“, a myth / superstition-fueled culture,”
People should stop congregating on the river side because it is superstitious? What rubbish!
Vinod, You know, it is people like you who are the real problem for India. You want dams – development – but not all the systems that go with them. People on the Narmada banks are superstitious and myth-laden, they shouldn’t have been there. I hope you end up in the hell that you deserve. -Arun Gupta
Arun Gupta – you brilliant, God of a man you.
Your intellect is astounding.
Your ability to find a way to blame, uh, me for the deaths of a hundred villagers, thousands of miles away is genius.
Your readiness to castigate … me… rather than … oh… the dam operator … is a fine use of deduction that would no doubt make your teachers proud.
And yet, critics complain that India is being held back by petty, spiteful, knee-jerk, low-brow political discourse. Hmph.
Believe me when I say that I hope you live a long life governed by every ounce of the wit and IQ that I see in your comments here. I’m sure it’ll provide ample blogfodder.
I can’t speak for Vinod, but I was under the impression that what he wants (and what I want) is for these tragic and senseless deaths to stop. Is there anything wrong with that?
Is it the same Arun who wrote both comments? I find it hard to believe that!
“Myth/superstition-fueled culture” is not responsible for this tragedy. The villagers could have been there for any number of different reasons.
Arun might be incoherent, but at least he provides recipes on his blog. That’s way more than I contribute.
Sigh ! Reading some of the latest commenters on SM (exemplified by the likes of TTG/Arun et al) actually makes me nostalgic for GC 😉
While people may have gathered in the river for reasons of “superstition” they would have been just as dead if they had gathered for some fine fly fishing. The problem is that the dam authorities opened the flood gates without checking to see what was happening downstream, or providing any warning. Can you imagine the same thing happening here? Fly fishers congregating and all of a sudden, without any prior announcement, a dam opens its gates? Methinks the problem is more bureaucracy than belief.
I think that has more to do with state controlled media in China than lack of equally weird shit happening there.
When people stampede each other to death on rumors, or get freaked out by the “Monkey Man”, I think there is a hint of superstition.
The comment the way I read it is not claiming that the superstition is the cause of THIS particular incident. Simply, in previous incidents, factors such as negligence (as in this case), supersitions leading to panic, misinformation, etc. has resulted in the death of countless people. This particular tragedy is another chapter in a long line of events that could be avoided if:
a) People are held accountable for their jobs and given the appropriate support. b) Proper information is distributed avoiding and rumors leading to panic and chaos. c) Proper infrastructure is put in place to accomodate the massive volume of people visiting holy places or festivals so you do not hear of a bunch of people getting killed in a stampede or caught in a fire.
These incidents do occur in the US (the concert going up in flames, the chicago club on fire and the following stampede), however they are comparitively anomalous events. Bangladesh (over crowding of boats) and India (previously highlighted events along with rail accidents) seem to have a serious track record that shows no improvement.
You wrote a post about a tragedy in India. Any reason why you must get in a dig about India’s supposed myth-fueled culture? Myths had nothing to do with the tragedy, plain and simple. As you yourself stated, it had to do with a deficient dam/dam operator.
On another note, Indians are hardly alone in being influenced by superstitions. Further one man’s myth is another man’s religion (e.g. curing lepers, parting the Red Sea, Adam + Eve, etc.)
Further one man’s myth is another man’s religion (e.g. curing lepers, parting the Red Sea, Adam + Eve, etc.)
You left out the missile defense system, Social Security reform, and the idea that Jesus was a White capitalist 🙂
Blank,
When people stampede each other to death on rumors, or get freaked out by the “Monkey Man”, I think there is a hint of superstition.
If you’re referring to the stampede in the temple festival, it was because everybody thought there was a blazing fire (and there actually was a minor fire) – it has everything to do with rumors and poor safety regulations and nothing to do with superstition, unless you consider visiting the temple as a superstition. I don’t know what you refer to as “freaking out over Monkey Man”, but I would guess nobody was harmed over that freaking out, right?
Linking the drowning incident with superstition is inappropriate and, I’m afraid, might be prejudiced.
Eswaran:
Read my whole post. What I said was there are numerous contributing factors, among which I did include accountability of neglect, poor infrastructure, and misinformation. I did not link drowning to superstition.
That would be stupid, not prejudiced. I was simply saying that mass hysteria caused by rumors, superstition (which is NOT praying at temples or riverside) neglect, poor regulations, and infrastructure results in loss of life.
As someone said before, the damn operators were at fault. Bottom line if water was going to be released, there should be a saftey protocol for any effects downstream.
I think Vinod was getting to a similar point of not pinning this incident on superstition, but simply saying that in the past false rumors based on uneducated superstitions ideas among others has also resulted in people dying.
The Monkey Man incident if you don’t remember happened in Delhi some years ago where people sleeping in their homes and terrances thought a yeti like monkey man was attacking them in night.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jun/20monk.htm
http://www.ufoindia.org/incident16.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1353187.stm
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_25/ai_77757757
Monkey Man out hurting people: Superstition, rumor, myth.
Praying at a temple, riverside, or lakeside: Religion, tradition, part of culture.
They are not the same. Also, why are people so quick to pull the trigger on prejudice making a personal judgement about someone over a simple post. Thats a little far reaching and defensive.
This is a written medium and at times, many of us simply don’t communicate well enough as these discussion take on an informal tone. Is that enough to warrant charges of prejudice?
Blank,
My bad. My statement about prejudice was not intended against you, but in general about people who seek to link the drowning incident with superstition. It should have been clearer. But I read Vinod’s post again – with myth/superstition and “this sort of stuff” in the same line – and I still wonder if he actually means what you say he means.
Irrespective of superstition being a factor in such tragedies, I am troubled that Vinod considered Indian society as “a myth/superstition fueled culture”. Are there superstitions in India? Yes, many. But it’s nowhere near as important as he seems to imply. There are many important beliefs based in religion that could be seen as superstition by an observer, but that’s true of every society.
I agree that this is all very informal, and I might be unnecessarily dissecting casual statements to imply things that he never intended say. Apologies if that’s the case.
I hope you end up in the hell that you deserve. Arun, That statement is uncalled for and just down right harsh.
Believe me when I say that I hope you live a long life governed by every ounce of the wit and IQ that I see in your comments here. Vinod, Bravo!
Ennis, Ditto. Well said.
Eswaran: No harm, no foul, no worries dude.
all i can say is bathing in the river in india..while its shivering cold in the beginning, is really quite fun afterwards…:D