Chapter 30: Prayer Ceremony during the Plague
After ending the romantic and ambiguous topic about the Indian goddess, Li Wei and Wang Qiu naturally talked about the current focus of world public opinion - the "Great Indian Plague" that is conquering cities and territories around the world and causing widespread suffering among people of all ethnic groups on the five continents.
"...The domestic situation is very tense at the moment, and the national economy is in a state of semi-paralysis. Because of civil panic, transportation difficulties and business depression have caused transportation difficulties and business depression. Goods in factories are piling up, and students in many schools are on holiday. Both Shanghai and Beijing have implemented martial law. , the army directly went to the streets to crack down, and the situation was still relatively stable, but Hong Kong was the hardest hit area, and it was almost going to die... Taiwan was also in chaos..."
Pointing to the pictures on the computer screen, Wang Qiu said to Li Wei, "... Mainland China can let the People's Liberation Army take to the streets to impose martial law, but Hong Kong is more troublesome. As a result, countless hooligans have emerged, robbing homes and taking advantage of the chaos to make a fortune. It is said that It seems that there are also people setting fires to carry out terrorist attacks, and opposition political groups. They also poured sewage on the heads of the troops stationed in Hong Kong, while mobilizing students to surround the military camp and cause trouble, while accusing the mainland people of "causing chaos in Hong Kong" and creating a mess. I heard that the entire Hong Kong Island has now completely paralyzed traffic, and even the subway has stopped operating. , this is the first time in decades!
Not to mention Taiwan, a bunch of members of radical political groups are themselves the main force in vandalism, smashing and looting - there are people in North Korea who are so rebellious! ”
"...It sounds confusing enough - we Chinese are not as docile as Indians after all. Even if Indians die more." Levi shook his head.
"...Moreover, this plague has infected not only humans, but also poultry and livestock. Major chicken farms across the country have been forced to cull more than two billion chickens, as have pig farms and pastures in Inner Mongolia. It’s terrible. Meat prices are expected to skyrocket several times or even more than ten times this year.”
Wang Qiu sighed and continued, "...even if you want to import meat from foreign countries to replace it, it is impossible, because the livestock industry in the United States and Argentina has also suffered a devastating blow. It is estimated that the poor in the United States will soon be unable to drink. There was no milk or fried chicken, so I had to eat bread with cold water. To this end, the central government has been urgently formulating a publicity strategy, preparing to promote a vegetarian diet for all, and asking party members and civil servants to play an exemplary and leading role... Of course, the benefits are not without them. Rats in the sewers and stray cats and dogs on the streets are also plagued by this disease. Many died..."
——The current global outbreak of a weakened version of the T virus is probably equivalent to a comprehensive upgraded version of foot-and-mouth disease + avian flu + Spanish flu. Of course, humans have suffered heavy casualties due to the raging disease, and various domestic animals have worse medical conditions. , in fact, there are even more deaths - most of the so-called antiviral drugs currently available to humans are actually just to enhance the body's immunity, and have no direct ability to eliminate viruses.
"...The same is true here in India. I heard that tens of thousands of sacred cows died in one breath on the streets of Mumbai, Calcutta and Patna..."
Levi curled his lips, "...But Indians are basically vegetarians, so it shouldn't be a big deal if they eat less meat, eggs, meat, and other meaty foods."
"... Cattle and sheep will never die no matter what, but those rare and protected animals that were originally small in number are in danger of becoming extinct after experiencing such a large-scale death. For example, the trees in Australia Wombats are dying in large numbers, and the situation of sloths and kiwis is also terrible. Hundreds of our pandas in China have also died in a few days, and the staff at the panda breeding center in Sichuan are almost crying to death..."
Wang Qiu continued to add, "...Zoos in several major cities in the country were almost wiped out...In addition, many pet shop owners were forced to close their doors and go bankrupt because of the cats in their stores. All the dogs died - I heard that some shop owners jumped off the building because of this! ”
"...Hey, in this current situation, we can no longer even care about human lives, so how can we care about these animals?"
Levi shrugged, "...let's stop these discouraging words for now. By the way, staying in the hotel these days must be quite boring! It just so happens that there will be a big event here recently - Chandler La Zai told me last night that in order to pray for the protection and blessings of the gods and to eliminate the panic among the people, the religious people in Bodh Gaya are planning to hold a grand procession and ceremony the day after tomorrow. Are you interested in going with us? ”
"...Festival? Parade?! When this infectious disease is prevalent?!!! Why don't you even have this most basic common sense?"
Wang Qiu's voice suddenly rose an octave, with a look of disbelief on his face, "...don't they know that when an infectious disease spreads, such large-scale gatherings of people are exactly the best way to spread the plague. What a good idea! Isn’t this seeking death?”
"...So what if you are seeking death? What kind of science are you talking about with a bunch of magicians? This is not the Black Death. Once you catch it, you will definitely die."
Levi rolled his eyes and said, "...You don't know how high the illiteracy rate among Indians is, and how addicted they are to religion. Compared with the difficult-to-understand health and medical knowledge, These pious people are still more interested in kowtow and burning incense.”
"...Doesn't their government care? Even if ordinary people lack knowledge, there should be a few knowledgeable people among the officials, right?"
"...The local government in Bihar seems to feel that stability and comforting people are more important than isolation and epidemic prevention. Since the government's reputation in India is so bad, it can only be more effective to ask high-ranking monks and priests to take action. As for the central government in New Delhi, for They are unable to take care of such local matters and are too lazy to take care of them... Besides, they may not care about the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of people - there are too many such epidemics in India..."
——The design of the political structure of modern India can be called a model of democratic "small government". The authority of the central government in New Delhi is very limited, and the local governments in each state have a high degree of autonomy and do their own thing, just like a country within a country. Each state in India not only has its own armed forces, but even its spoken and written languages are not unified. The power distribution model of the entire country's political system is somewhat similar to the United States before the Civil War, and the degree of national cohesion and centralization is probably not as good as that of the United States at that time, and at best it is only slightly better than the modern European Union - at least in the United States The language is always unified, but India has more than a dozen official languages printed on banknotes alone, making it impossible for Indians in different places to communicate with each other.
In the early days of the founding of India, when the strongman Nehru came to power, with the high prestige of him and the Gandhi family, he was still able to monopolize power and command all states to do whatever they wanted. But after Nehru's death, the power of the Indian central government became less and less powerful, and the internal intrigues became more and more fierce. Some used corruption and bribes to form gangs; they bribed a bunch of professional protesters to protest every day. There are those who exert pressure from their opponents; they agree to the demands of state and local governments. There are various unreasonable "autonomy" demands to gain support from local separatist forces; as for indiscriminate welfare and amnesty for criminals to win people's hearts, it is even more common - although most of them may not be implemented in the end, they are often 10% promised. It would be nice to be able to realize an achievement inside.
In short, up to now, New Delhi can still maintain a unified attitude externally, but domestically it has reached the point where it can do anything and manage everything in theory, but in fact it can do nothing and control nothing. Even investing in building a railway across two states can be debated for 20 to 30 years. As for such trivial matters as Bihar holding religious processions and festivals during the plague, no one would care.
"...In the final analysis, since Indians don't care about their own life or death, why should we foreigners worry so much?"
Li Wei concluded like this, and then thrust two beautifully printed tickets into Wang Qiu's hands, "...I heard that the festival will be very exciting and should be worth seeing. So I specially asked Chandra to help get some. Don’t forget to go see the VIP seat tickets when the time comes..."
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On the morning of the third day, as Levi said, the entire Bodh Gaya became lively. Whether they are Buddhist monks, priests of Indian temples, or believers of all kinds, they all put on their most glorious clothes, painted their faces colorfully, and carried out gorgeous statues and flags of gods. Floats decorated with garlands, reliefs and religious splendor were rolled out, and gongs and drums were beating loudly in preparation for the parade to begin.
The only fly in the ointment was that on the night before the festival, there was a sudden heavy rain. The amount of precipitation was terrible, and it quickly flooded several streets. The water level did not recede until after dawn. So as soon as you step out of the luxurious hotel door, you can see pedestrians and vehicles outside the door struggling to move in knee-deep dirty water, with feces and garbage floating everywhere on the water, which is really disgusting. .
——To be honest, there is no real paradise in this world, and there are also many dirty and messy places in Chinese cities. But when Wang Qiu was in China, he never felt uncomfortable because of this, but when he went to the streets of Indian cities, he often felt sick to his stomach.
The reason for this is that although there are indeed many places in China that are dirty, in China generally only the places that should be dirty are dirty, such as garbage stations, septic tanks, construction sites of unfinished buildings, back alleys of restaurants and some Urban villages, etc.; and those places that should not be dirty, such as citizen squares, business office buildings, comprehensive commercial buildings, landscape avenues, etc., although their respective facilities may not be perfect, at least the Chinese will try their best to clean them. Therefore, although there are dirty places in Chinese cities, they are foreseeable and avoidable, and the Chinese people are mentally prepared for them.
Not so in India. The dirty places in India are certainly very dirty and unbearable to look at, but the places that shouldn’t be dirty can also be surprisingly dirty, from hospitals to squares, around the so-called holy temples, and even In wealthy areas where garden houses are dotted, people would walk and suddenly find a large pile of cow dung or garbage on the ground in front of them! And no one ever seemed to want to clean it up. You can often see tall modern skyscrapers and large shabby and dirty shantytowns standing next to each other, forming a very sharp contrast.
Therefore, the dirtiness of Indian cities is very sudden, unpredictable, and makes people psychologically unprepared. A traveler originally thought that he had finally escaped from the dirty slums and was planning to go to the square in the bustling city center to enjoy the tropical sunshine. Then he looked up and saw a pair of young men and women dressed in fashionable clothes, casually walking around. Flirting between all kinds of trash. Or the solemn priests and monks, sitting in the middle of the green belt with feces everywhere, chanting sutras and meditating... This feels really bad, it can make people mistakenly think that they are staying in a giant garbage dump!
But no matter what, the Indians in Bodh Gaya still took action, regardless of the sewage accumulated on the streets and the garbage around them. They held up idols and amulets with pious faces and chanted various scriptures and hymns. , moving slowly in this land where Buddha once attained enlightenment.
Behind them are pickup trucks, minibuses, buses, convertibles, and even tractors decorated as floats... Although the chassis is not very good, the huge paintings and paintings erected on the vehicles The statues of gods and Buddhas are very exquisite and magnificent. Some floats are also equipped with loudspeakers, which continuously play deafening religious music or songs.
Many Buddhist monks and Hindu priests in dazzling costumes, as well as some beautiful girls dressed up as goddesses or fairies, stood on the car and waved to the believers on both sides, holding various metal or wooden instruments. Salute. Some Indian snake charmers dressed in weird costumes were also playing flutes in the car and directing the pet snakes in small bamboo baskets to dance. There was even an Indian Christian priest who came from nowhere, holding a tall foam cross, standing on the bed of a pickup truck, and swaggering through the parade.
In this dark moment when the plague is raging, Indians who are already devout believers in God are clasping their hands, praying silently, and even worshiping, hoping that the gods will appear as soon as possible and put an end to this epidemic that has claimed countless lives. The "big flu" will dissipate as soon as possible.
However, even though the organizers carried out such a lofty and compassionate theme, in general, at the parade site, there was still not much solemnity that is common in religious ceremonies. Instead, it was more permeated with the characteristics of a rural temple fair. Bustling, bustling and noisy. There were also many tourists from various countries who were forced to stay in Bodh Gaya due to the epidemic. They held up their mobile phones or cameras and took photos of the parade with smiles on their faces. Whenever a gorgeously decorated float passes by, all kinds of weird cheers come and go, filling the scene with a carnival-like atmosphere.
Looking at the joyful atmosphere in the crowd, Wang Qiu couldn't help but realize something - although this kind of religious activity cannot really borrow divine power to sweep away the epidemic, at least it seems to be able to soothe people and eliminate fear. It is still very effective: there is a limit to anyone's psychological endurance, and once the string in the heart is broken by fear, many crazy things will often be done, causing huge disasters to society.
A grand religious ceremony can relieve the negative emotions of believers to a considerable extent and avoid certain riots and tragedies.
Alas, no matter how hard they try, judging from the outbreak cycle of infectious diseases, the "Indian Flu" has already passed its peak. Domestic targeted and effective vaccines have also begun small-scale production, and it is expected that the epidemic will be brought under control in a while... Wang Qiu thought this while dragging Marikawa Shizuka, who was still looking around, and went straight to Qian De I pulled the car arranged by Mr. and prepared to go to the festival venue to watch the excitement.
However, Wang Qiu forgot that although the "Indian Flu" catastrophe caused by the leakage of a weakened version of the T-virus from another world has begun to come to an end, it will no longer cause much harm to the world. However, as a former reincarnation who escaped from infinite space, before the terrifying main god system was completely destroyed, he himself was a living and mobile source of disaster... and the countdown to the next disaster has already begun!
——As fellow refugees who escaped from infinite space in the past, Nohara Shinnosuke once attracted alien battleships and interstellar aliens, Haruhi Suzumiya attracted the God of Death, Doraemon attracted freezing ice and snow storms, and Wang Qiu had also previously It triggered a period of high incidence of wormholes and opened up a magnificent era of time travel for all people... So, what kind of "surprise" will Wang Qiu unknowingly bring to the happy Indian people? Some kind of unimaginable and terrifying haze has quietly enveloped this holy land where the Buddha attained enlightenment...