Suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief, more recently known as 'Manna of Mahim' is not a new phenomenon.
Some 10 yrs ago when I was in high school or possibly junior college someone figured out that Lord (this is to refer to a God not to a member of the Brit aristocracy) Ganesha idols were drinking milk. Go figure. Mind you. This wasn't limited to illiterate, simple minded folk. You are talking doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects here. You get the picture!

So picture this: Friday night. Three friends sitting in a flat, sipping beer and munching on some finger food, waiting for the delivery boy from a decent local restaurant to deliver food. An order placed at 11 pm comes in nearly at 12:45 am!
When asked about the reason for the delay the boy said, rather animatedly, that the sea water had turned sweet. That's great. I mean...so many ideas spring to mind. You could bottle and sell the miracle water, you have a sea of inventory of sweet water (literally) when the world wide stock of fresh water dies out...figure out the $$ you could make there. The potential for 'miracle tourism'. The opportunities are endless. But I'm missing the point of the excuse here.
But we digress.

Some fisherman realized he had a lousy catch for the day and decided to taste the water. Hmmm not that salty. Heck, it tastes SWEET. Thats it. Th e sea water is sweet. His kid sister backs up his assertion. Cool enough.
'Not educated but smart person' thinks "Hmmm something weird here. Sea water tasting sweet is not regular. I should contact the police or some municipal corp person...they will call in some big guy science man who will figure out WHY it is sweet...or less salty".

Your friendly neighborhood uneducated Indian, Muslim or Hindu or whatever think "Oh my God. God has done this. This is his blessing. He has made the water sweet...a miracle...to wash my sins."

Sweetheart, first thing...that's a LOT of sin to wash. Also, if you have seen the water at the beach at Mahim, Mumbai lately...it's going to take God starting from scratch so it looks like what sea water is supposed to look like. Turning sea water sweet is not on the list of his priorities. He might start with cleaning the trash that you throw in it every single day.so people like me dont think they are going to get gastro just looking at the water. He already got you the miracle, the sea, and you fucked it up biatch.

For those not in the know and thinking, what's this man blabbing about here:
Mahim is a part of Central/West Central Mumbai...pretty unnervingly close to the armpit of Mumbai-Dharavi. At Mahim causeway a river, the Mithi (literally meaning 'sweet', talk about irony), full of industrial effluents and toxic waste flows into the sea. At many different points in Mahim, sewage, whether treated or raw, flows into the sea. To add to this, inhabitants of illegal dwellings and shanties in and around the beach crap their asses out on the beach every single day. Excrement, which is carried to sea by the high tide.

Let go off the breath if you have held it too long, for the revelation of the butler being the culprit is at hand.
It is this water, that people had thought had turned sweet.
From 7:30 pm onwards on Friday, 5000 people from the Mahim dargah 'mostly from a minority community' held up traffic as they jumped into the sea for a taste of 'shifa' (not too hard to figure out what that is).

Scientists reached the spot and tried to take samples...they couldnt make it to the sea front due to the number of devotees. Something about Science being held back by religion and God's creatures. I accept that our current knowledge of science doesnt explain everything...and for this reason we can only think that there is something greater...but this suspension of disbelief is pushing 'something greater' to ridiculous limits.

Think of incidents...terminally ill old people or mentally challenged or physically challenged young kids being given this fucked up water...as miracle cure...talk about adding insult to injury.

The Lord Mayor of the city jumped joyously into the sea...and came out saying that it was nothing short of a miracle. Errr isnt there some law that prohibits the First (or second or third ) citizen of a city like Mumbai from acting like an idiot and setting a BAD example for other citizens to follow?
Evidently not, for in India NOT being able to suspend disbelief in the name of God is the bigger crime.

A scientific mind, tempered by some ethical and even 'larger than thou' considerations makes for an ideal recipe. A hard core scientific mind comes next. An idiot mind with no thoughts of science...only looking for divine intervention...is the most evil and dangerous of all.
In this our education system has failed us.

No God is coming to wash your sins darling...you better learn to wash it yourself.

A Lazy Week in the Laidback city

For the amount I gush about Mumbai and heckle Pune there is an undeniable truth. Pune weather beats Mumbai's hands down..and its not a small difference for a person like me. I am extremely sensitive to the combination of heat and humidity. People sweat, I leak like a faucet.

Overall good fun though stayed indoors, at home, for way too long.
Beered frequently, watched a movie, finished a chapter and half and overall was pretty relaxed. Too relaxed. Rained way to hard in Pune in the initial part.