Indian Blog Cheap Tickets to India
 HomeGot Milk? Hindu Gods are Drinking Milk, Again
Categories
America
Android
Arts
Auto
Bollywood
Books
Box Office
Business
Cloud Computing
Cricket
Diaspora
Digital Media
Economy
English
Food
Foreign Movies
Gandhi
General
Health
Hollywood
Humor
Immigration
Incredible India
iPhone
IT Industry
Legal
Linux
Liquor
Malayalam
Microsoft
Music
NYC
Pakistan
People
Photography
Pictures
Politics
Religion
Reviews
Science
Smartphones
Sports
Startups
Tablets
Tamil Movies
Telugu Movies
Terrorism
Tourism
TV
Weird Stuff
American Ramblings

Quickie on 5th Avenue
No Touching, No Licking ...
Desi Bhaiya Illegals Beat Mexican Amigos
Indian MPs Think Clothes Spread AIDS
Got Milk? Hindu Gods are Drinking Milk Again
Almighty Dollar Adorns Almighty Ganesh
Rise of India
Cycle Rickshaws in New York?
Two Desi Women Chatting
U.S Movie Critics Slam Shyamalan
Big B's Big Bakwas
Dosas To Die For in New York
Bollywood & U.S. Democrats
Lexus gets Divine Blessings
Gujju Behns in Atlantic City
Kaavya & Swanson

Got Milk?
Hindu Gods are Drinking Milk, Again

August 21, 2006
Copying or reproduction of this image is prohibited - © Rekha Inc.
Is Lord Ganesh Feeling Thirsty Again?

Eleven years after idols of Hindu Gods all over the world started drinking milk offered by their devotees, the Gods are back at it again.

News reports suggest that idols of various Hindu Gods from across India have started feeling thirsty again.

Statues of Hindu Gods in Kolkata, Lucknow, Bareilly, Kanpur, Allahabad, Kurukshetra, Ludhiana, Mathura, Vadodara and elsewhere are satiating their thirst for milk with help from eager devotees.

It's not just the Elephant-headed God Ganesh whose throat is parched. Reports say that even Shiva, Durga and Krishna, - favorites of millions of Hindus across the length and breadth of the country - have started consuming milk offered by the hands of ardent devotees.

Those with long memories will remember that in September 1995 reports of idols of Hindu gods across India, North America and Europe drinking milk sent devotees rushing to their temples in a frenzy of giddy euphoria.

What explains this extraordinary feeding frenzy that seems to go against all rational, scientific principles?

Were the Hindu Gods just feeling the effects of calcium deficiency that supposedly afflicts those who don't drink milk or are there deeper forces at play?

An impressionistic look at the phenomenon suggests multiple forces at play here - ignorance, blind faith and rapid cultural changes.

Sixty years after Independence from British rule, several hundred million Indians are illiterate, which means they cannot read and write, and therefore usually poor and appallingly ignorant.

Illiteracy is particularly high in North India, where this milk-drinking phenomenon is widespread. Sadly, the Indian state seems to be paying greater attention to higher education - starting more IITs, for instance - than to basic education for the masses.

When you add blind faith of some people to appalling levels of ignorance, it's easier to understand why a phenomena like idols of Gods drinking milk keep cropping up.

Indian society is going through considerable change. Old values are being swept away by the new and increasingly money is the only currency. In these times of tremendous cultural churn, even educated people - let alone the ignorant - become vulnerable and sometimes seek refuge in odd phenomenon such as statues of Gods drinking milk.

Meanwhile, scientists have a simple explanation for the milk-drinking phenomenon of the statues. They say that any stone idol absorbs liquid through a phenomenon called surface tension. Apparently, molecules of milk are pulled from the spoons of devotees by the texture of the statues.

But don't provide this explanation to the devotees thronging the Hindu temples. They are bound to laugh at you. Their faith and ignorance is stronger than yours.

After all, just days before the statues of Hindu Gods started sipping milk, thousands of people in India's financial capital Mumbai began to drink from a dirty Arabian Sea creek believing it had turned sweet and could cure their ailments. The real explanation for the sweetness of the sea water is that the water may have temporarily lost its salinity due to pollution and inflow of fresh water from a close source.

About us    Advertise    Disclaimer    Privacy    © 2019, All Rights Reserved