Chapter 30: Prayer Ceremony during the Plague Period After ending the ambiguous topic about the Indian goddess, Li Wei and Wang Qiu naturally talked about the "Great Indian Plague", which is currently the focus of world public opinion and is conquering cities and territories around the world, causing people of all ethnic groups in the five continents to suffer.
"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 have piled up, and students in many schools have been on holiday.
Both Shanghai and Beijing have implemented martial law, and the military We took to the streets to crack down hard, and the situation was still relatively stable, but Hong Kong was the hardest-hit area, and it was almost dead.
Taiwan was also in chaos.”
Pointing to the pictures on the computer screen, Wang Qiu said to Li Wei, "On the mainland, the People's Liberation Army can take to the streets to enforce 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 money.
It is said that there are still Someone started a fire and committed a terrorist attack.
They sent political groups to pour sewage on the heads of the troops stationed in Hong Kong.
While mobilizing students to surround the military camps and cause trouble, they blamed the mainlanders for causing chaos in Hong Kong.
I heard that the entire Hong Kong Island has been completely shut down, and even the subway has been suspended.
Okay, this is the first time in decades Not to mention Taiwan, there are a bunch of members of radical political groups who themselves are the main force in vandalism, smashing and looting.
Some people in North Korea are so rebellious."
"It sounds chaotic enough.
After all, we Chinese are not as docile as Indians.
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 with the disease, and pig farms and pastures in Inner Mongolia are also miserable.
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 milk. , can’t eat fried chicken, can only drink cold water It’s time to eat bread.
To this end, the central government is urgently formulating a publicity strategy to promote a vegetarian diet for all, and requires party members and civil servants to play a leading role.
Of course, the benefits are not without them, and the same goes for rats in the sewers and stray cats and dogs on the streets.
As a result, many people died from the plague.”
The current global outbreak of a weakened version of the T virus is probably equivalent to a comprehensive upgraded version of the foot-and-mouth disease avian influenza Spanish influenza.
Although humans have suffered heavy casualties due to the raging disease, various domestic animals with even worse medical conditions have actually died.
What's more, 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 go in Mumbai, Calcutta and Patna streets."
Levi curled his lips, "But Indians are basically vegetarians, so it shouldn't be a big deal if they eat less meat and eggs."
"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 koalas in Australia They are dying in large numbers, and the situation of sloths and kiwis is also terrible.
Hundreds of our pandas in China also died in a few days, and the staff at the panda breeding center in Sichuan were almost crying to death."
Wang Qiu continued, "Zoos in several major cities in China were almost wiped out.
In addition, many pet shop owners were forced to close their doors and go bankrupt because all the cats and dogs in their shops 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.
How can we care about these animals?"
Levi shrugged, "Let's stop these discouraging words for now.
By the way, I have been staying in the hotel for the past few days.
It must be quite boring.
It just so happened that there was going to be a big event here recently.
Chandra was with me last night.
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I said, in order to pray for the protection and blessings of the gods and to eliminate the panic among the people, the religious people in Bodhgaya are planning to hold a grand procession and ceremony the day after tomorrow.
Are you interested in going with us?"
"How come the festival and parade don't even have this basic common sense when this infectious disease is prevalent?"
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 the best way to spread the plague.
Ah, isn’t this seeking death?”
"So what if it's seeking death?
Why are you talking about science with a bunch of magicians?
This is not the Black Death.
Once you contract 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."
“The local government in Bihar seems to feel that stabilizing and appeasing people is more important than isolation and epidemic prevention.
Since the government’s reputation in India is so bad, it is only more effective to ask eminent monks and priests to take action.
As for the central government in New Delhi, for this kind of On the other hand, they can neither take care of local matters nor bother to take care of them, and they may not care about the death of thousands or tens of thousands of people.
There are really too many epidemics like this in India."
The design of the political structure of modern India can be regarded as a model of democratic "small government".
The authority of the central government in New Delhi is very limited, and the local governments of various states 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.
At best, it is only slightly better than the modern European Union.
At least the language of the United States is better.
It is always unified, but India has more than a dozen official languages printed on its banknotes.
Indians in different places cannot communicate with each other at all.
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.
Opponents are exerting pressure; promises to state and local governments There are various unreasonable "autonomy" demands to gain the support of 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's great to be able to fulfill an achievement.
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 they Indians don't care about their own life or death, why should we foreigners worry so much?"
Levi concluded this, and then thrust two beautifully printed tickets into Wang Qiu's hands, "I heard that the festival would be very exciting and should be worth seeing.
So I specially asked Chandra to help get some VIP tickets.
If you have a seat ticket, don’t forget to go see it together when the time comes.”
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. .
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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 supposedly 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 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, it 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 Bodhgaya took action, regardless of the sewage accumulated on the streets and the garbage around them, holding up the statues and amulets with pious faces, and chanting 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, there are huge paintings and gods and Buddhas erected on the vehicles.
The statue is 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 that although this kind of religious activity cannot really borrow divine power to sweep away the epidemic, at least it seems to be very effective in soothing people and eliminating fear.
There are some effects: 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.
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 Mr.
Chandra.
Arrange a car and prepare 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 had 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 attracted the After a period of high incidence of wormholes, a grand era of time travel for all people has begun.
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 place where Buddha attained enlightenment oshow7: