Chapter 30: The Blessing Festival in the Time of Plague

After putting an end to the peachy and ambiguous topic of Indian goddesses, Li Wei and Wang Qiu naturally talked about the current focus of world public opinion -- the "Great Indian Plague" that is conquering cities around the world and causing people of all nationalities on five continents to mourn. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

“…… At present, the situation in the country is very tense, the national economy is in a semi-paralyzed state, because of the panic among the people, transportation difficulties, business depression, factory goods are piling up, and many school students are on vacation. Shanghai and Beijing both imposed martial law, and the army went directly to the streets to crack down, and the situation was barely stable. But Hong Kong is the hardest hit area, and it is about to become a dead port...... Taiwan's side is also in a mess......"

Pointing to the picture on the computer screen, Wang Qiu said to Li Wei, "...... On the mainland, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) can be put under martial law on the streets, but Hong Kong will be more troublesome, and as a result, countless ruffians and hooligans have emerged, robbing houses and houses everywhere, taking advantage of the chaos to make a fortune, and it is said that there are still people who set fire to carry out terrorist attacks. Opposition political groups have also insisted on pouring sewage on the heads of the troops stationed in Hong Kong, mobilizing students to surround the barracks and making trouble, while accusing the mainlanders of 'disrupting Hong Kong' and creating a miasma. I heard that the entire Hong Kong Island has been completely paralyzed by traffic, and even the subway has been suspended, which is the first time in decades!

Not to mention Taiwan, where members of a bunch of radical political groups are themselves the main force in smashing and looting -- some people in the DPRK and China are so rebellious! ”

“…… It sounds chaotic enough - we Chinese are not as docile as Indians after all. Even if the Indians died more. Levi shook his head.

“…… Moreover, the plague affected not only humans, but also poultry and livestock. More than 2 billion plague chickens have been forced to be culled in major chicken farms across the country, and pig farms and pastures in Inner Mongolia are also miserable. It is expected that the price of meat will skyrocket several times or even more than ten times this year. ”

Wang Qiu sighed and continued, "...... Even importing meat from abroad to replace it is impossible, because the livestock farming industry in the United States and Argentina has also suffered a devastating blow, and it is estimated that the poor in the United States will soon be unable to drink milk or eat fried chicken, so they will have to eat bread in cold water. To this end, the Central Committee has urgently formulated a propaganda strategy to promote a vegetarian diet for all, and has asked party members and civil servants to play an exemplary role...... Of course, the benefits are not without it, and the rats in the sewers and the stray cats and dogs on the streets have also died from the plague......"

-- Now this weakened version of the global outbreak of the T virus is probably equivalent to a comprehensive upgraded version of foot-and-mouth disease + avian flu + Spanish flu, and although human beings are all kinds of domestic animals that have been killed and injured under the ravages of the disease and have worse medical conditions, they are actually dying even more full of pits and valleys -- the vast majority of the so-called antiviral drugs available to human beings are actually only to enhance the body's immunity, and they do not have the ability to directly eliminate the virus.

“…… It's the same in India, where tens of thousands of sacred cows died in one breath on the streets of Mumbai, Kolkata, and Patna......"

Levi pursed his lips, "...... However, they Indians are basically vegetarians, and it should be nothing to eat less meat such as eggs, milk and meat. ”

“…… Cattle and sheep will never die no matter what, but those rare and protected animals that are not in large numbers are in danger of extinction after this large-scale death. For example, koalas in Australia are dying in large numbers, and sloths and kiwis are choking enough. Hundreds of pandas in China also died in a few days, and the staff at the panda breeding center in Sichuan were about to cry to death......

Wang Qiu went on to add, "...... Zoos in several major cities in the country are almost completely wiped out...... In addition, many pet store owners have been forced to close their doors and go bankrupt because all the cats and dogs in their stores have died - I heard that there are even shopkeepers who have jumped off the building because of this! ”

“…… Hey, in this situation, I can't even care about human life, where can I still control these animals? ”

Levi shrugged, "...... That's all for these discouragements. By the way, staying in the hotel for the past few days must have been quite boring! Chandra told me last night that in order to pray for the blessings and blessings of the gods and to dispel the panic among the people, the religious circles of Bodh Gaya, who are going to hold a grand procession and festival the day after tomorrow, would you be interested in going with us? ”

“…… Fiesta? Parade?!! At the time of the epidemic of this infectious disease?!!! Why don't you even have the most basic common sense? ”

Wang Qiu's voice suddenly raised an octave, and his face was full of disbelief, "...... Don't they know that when an infectious disease spreads, a large gathering of people like this is precisely the best means to spread the plague! Isn't this death? ”

“…… What if he dies? What kind of science are you talking about with a bunch of gods? This is not the Black Death, once you get it, you will definitely die. ”

Levi rolled his eyes and said, "...... You don't know how high the illiteracy rate is among Indians, and how obsessed they are with religion. Compared with the knowledge of health and medicine that is difficult to understand, these pious people are still more interested in kowtowing and burning incense. ”

“…… Does their government not care? Even if ordinary people lack knowledge, among the guys who are officials, there should be a few people who understand, right? ”

“…… The local government in Bihar seems to feel that stability and reassurance are more important than quarantine, and the government's reputation in India is so bad that it is more effective to have high-ranking priests come out. As for the central government in New Delhi, it is neither at ease nor too lazy to take care of such local matters...... Besides, they don't necessarily care about the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of people – there are so many of them in India......"

-- The political structure of modern India is designed to be a model of democratized "small government", with the authority of the central government in New Delhi very limited, and the local governments of each state have a high degree of autonomy and act on their own, as if they were a state within a state. Not only do the states of India have their own armed forces, but they also do not have a unified language. The distribution of power in the whole state polity is somewhat similar to that of the United States before the Civil War, and the degree of cohesion and centralization of the state is probably inferior to that of the United States at that time, and at best only slightly better than that of the modern European Union - at least the American language and writing are always unified, and India has more than a dozen official languages printed on the banknotes alone, and Indians in different places cannot communicate with each other at all.

In the early days of India, when the strongman Nehru was in power, with the high prestige of him and the Gandhi family, he was still able to monopolize power and dictate all states. However, after Nehru's death, the power of the central government of India has become less and less powerful day by day, and the internal intrigue has become more and more intense, and some have used corruption and bribery to form gangs; There are those who buy a bunch of professional protesters to protest every day and put pressure on their opponents; Acceding to unreasonable demands for "autonomy" from local governments in various states in order to gain the support of local separatist forces; As for the indiscriminate distribution of welfare amnesty to criminals to buy people's hearts, it is even more commonplace -- although most of them may not be implemented in the end, and often 10% of the promises can be fulfilled in a good way.

In short, up to now, New Delhi can maintain a unified attitude towards the outside world, but at home it has reached the point where it can theoretically do everything and manage everything, but in practice it cannot do anything and manage nothing. Even investing in the construction of a railway across two states could take twenty or thirty years. As for the small things like religious processions and festivals in Bihar during the plague, no one cares.

“…… In the final analysis, since they Indians don't care about their own lives or deaths, what do we foreigners care? ”

Li Wei concluded, and then stuffed the two beautifully printed tickets into Wang Qiu's hands, "...... I've heard that the festival is going to be exciting, so it's worth watching. So I asked Chandra to help me get a few tickets for the VIP seats, so don't forget to go and see them when the time comes......"

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

On the morning of the third day, as Levi said, the whole Bodh Gaya became lively. Buddhist monks, priests of Hindu temples, and devotees of all stripes dressed in their brightest clothes, painted their faces in colorful colors, carried ornate idols and flags, drove floats decorated with garlands, reliefs and religious splendors, and marched in a procession.

On the night before the festival, there was a terrible downpour that quickly flooded several streets and the water level did not recede until after dawn. As soon as you step out of the door of a luxurious hotel, you can see pedestrians and vehicles struggling to move in knee-deep dirty water, and there is 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 many dirty and messy places in China's cities. But Wang Qiu never felt much uncomfortable because of this when he was in China, and 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 it is generally only dirty in places that should be 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 civic squares, business office buildings, comprehensive commercial buildings, landscape avenues, etc., although their respective facilities may not be perfect, but at least the Chinese will try their best to clean. Therefore, although there are dirty places in Chinese cities, they are predictable, avoidable, and psychologically prepared for them in Chinese.

This is not the case in India. From hospitals to squares, as well as around the so-called holy temples, and even in the rich areas full of garden houses, they will walk and suddenly find a large lump of cow dung or garbage on the ground in front of them! And it never seemed like anyone wanted to clean up. It is not uncommon to see tall modern skyscrapers and large shabby shanty towns standing side by side, creating a stark contrast.

Therefore, this kind of dirtiness in Indian cities is very abrupt, unforeseeable, and psychologically unprepared. A traveler had thought he had finally emerged from a dirty slum and was about to soak up the tropical sun in the square of the bustling city center, when he looked up to see a pair of fashionably dressed young men and women, flirting casually among the garbage. Or the priests and monks with solemn appearances, sitting in the middle of the green belt full of dung, chanting sutras and meditating...... It's a terrible thing to think you're in a giant garbage heap!

Regardless, the Indians of Bodh Gaya, despite the sewage on the streets and the garbage around them, held up idols and amulets with reverent faces, chanted all kinds of scriptures and hymns, and slowly moved slowly across the land where the Buddha had attained enlightenment.

Behind them, pickup trucks, minibuses, buses, convertibles, and even tractors are decorated as floats...... Although the chassis is not very good, the huge paintings and statues of gods and Buddhas set up on the car are very exquisite, which can be called splendid. Some of the floats are also equipped with loudspeakers, which constantly play deafening religious music or songs.

Many Buddhist monks and Hindu priests, dressed in dazzling costumes, and some beautiful girls dressed as goddesses or fairies, holding various metal and wooden ritual utensils, stood on the carts and waved to the devotees on either side. Some strangely dressed Indian snake charmers also played flutes in the car, directing the pet snakes in the small bamboo baskets to dance. There are even Indian Christian priests from nowhere, holding tall styrofoam crosses, standing on the body of a small pickup truck, and swaggering through the procession.

In this dark moment when the plague was raging, the Indians, who were originally devout and believing in God, folded their hands one by one, prayed silently, and even bowed to worship, just asking the gods from all walks of life to appear as soon as possible, so that this "great flu" that has claimed countless lives will dissipate as soon as possible.

However, despite the noble theme of the organizers, in general, there was still not much solemnity that religious ceremonies generally possessed at the parade site, but more of the noise, noise and noise of a temple fair in the countryside. There were also many tourists from all over the world who were stranded in Bodh Gaya due to the pandemic, holding up their mobile phones or cameras, smiling and taking pictures of the procession. Every time a richly decorated float passes by, all kinds of strange cheers come and go, filling the carnival-like carnival atmosphere.

Looking at the joyful atmosphere in the crowd, Wang Qiu couldn't help but realize that although this kind of religious activity could not really borrow divine power to sweep away the epidemic, at least in terms of calming people's hearts and dispelling fear, it seemed to have some effect: anyone's psychological tolerance has a limit, and once the string in his heart is broken by fear, he will often do a lot of crazy things and cause huge disasters to society.

And a grand religious festival can relieve the negative emotions of believers to a considerable extent, and avoid some riots and tragedies.

Alas, no matter how they toss anyway, according to the outbreak cycle of infectious diseases, this "Indian flu" has also passed its peak. Domestic targeted vaccines have also begun small-scale production, and it is expected that the epidemic will be brought under control after a while...... While thinking so, Wang Qiu dragged Shizuka Jukawa, who was still looking around, and went straight to the car arranged by Mr. Chandra, preparing to go to the festival venue to watch the excitement.

However, Wang Qiu forgot that although the catastrophe of the "Indian flu" caused by the leakage of the weakened version of the T virus from another world has begun to come to an end, it will no longer cause too much harm to the world. However, as a former reincarnation who escaped from infinite space, he was a living mobile source of disaster in his own right before the terrifying main god system was completely destroyed...... And the countdown to the next disaster has begun!

――As a friend who escaped from infinite space together in the past, Shinnosuke Nohara once attracted alien warships and interstellar aliens, Haruhi Suzumiya attracted death, Doraemon caused a frozen ice and snow storm, and Wang Qiu also attracted a round of wormhole high incidence period before, opening a magnificent era of national crossing...... So, now that Wang Qiu is unknowing, what kind of "surprise" will it bring to the happy Indian people?

Some kind of unbelievable and terrible haze has quietly shrouded the head of this holy place of Buddha's enlightenment......