By RK Lakhi Kant
Fifteen years back when I left New Delhi for Manipur the Sai Baba group was not so visible in New Delhi. But as I see it now the problem to be discussed here was about to sprout then. And again, years later, when I was planning to move down to New Delhi as I was getting fed up with the terrorism in Manipur, I noticed around that time the Sai Baba group was spreading it’s influence considerably in Manipur, which is quite a remote place with a small community.That led me to believe that conditions would not be good in New Delhi either. Why I was thinking in these terms was because I had heard and read from authoritative sources that the Sai Baba is quite a crook. New Delhi I found was in a very bad shape with Delhites deifying the Sai Baba in all temples in the city. And also there was hardly any shop in Delhi which did not have a picture or two of the Sai Baba displayed prominently or sharing the worship area with other gods in small altars, in the shops. And the consequences are there for all to see although the people seem not to see or refuse to address the cause because of mass delusion created by easy money. And as I had mentioned in a article in the Imphal Free Press on February 6, 2014 skin diseases like vitiligo/leucoderma is rampant, there is an unusually high occurrence of baldness apart from gastric illnesses, infertility and mental behavioral problems in New Delhi.
At least leucoderma and baldness, because of their easy visibility, are diseases which can be physically counted at random in the streets and markets of New Delhi – first hand proof if anyone wants to know more about these diseases and their spread in New Delhi. In Delhi, one can see many men and women every day who are affected by leucoderma. While leucoderma was a very rare ailment noticed only once in a long while, nowadays leucoderma affected persons are seen daily in New Delhi. There are others also whose bodily and facial skins are as if bleached repeatedly with large doses of bleaching agents. This is apart from the full blown cases of vitiligo/leucoderma where the whole body is affected by white patches. Some internet sites I visited pointed out that forget about there being a cure for leucoderma, one does not even know what causes this disease. Diseases without cure are commonly attributed to the realm of god and supernatural elements in which the patients find solace. And the Sai Baba is claiming to be precisely this element. Whenever there is lying and cheating against the scriptural truths enunciated by God, the masses get affected adversely in some way or the other, as is evident in this case of unethical holding of high stakes in political, economic and religious affairs by the Sai Baba group in cahoots with their political and business connections. God in other words means morality, ethics, spirituality, truth and such similar synonyms and whenever self proclaimed godmen like the Sai Baba try to represent these superior qualities in men everyone falls sick. In the case of these diseases too we are far from being presumptuous when we lay the blame on detractors of god like Sai Baba.
Like in the instance of leucoderma, the same goes for baldness too. In previous times children used to snicker behind the backs of bald men whenever they came across one. But today the disease is widespread and one can only wonder at the lack of awareness even among those affected by the disease mentioned here. Anywhere in the city I go, in every group of about 20 or so men, I have physically counted on any day four to five men in various stages of diseased baldness. In buses, metro rails, markets etc., wherever people gather in good numbers, the problem of abnormal balding and graying of hair can be seen plainly. The balding is in most cases around the sensitive top part of the head called the cranium. And in the Delhi buses one can find it very funny and also tragic at the same time that we have been unable to notice this illness which is very obvious when we are standing or seated in the rear portion of the buses and see these bald heads bobbing up and down and sideways. Citing Indian trichologists and foreign experts Anand Holla of the Mumbai Mirror informs in a Times of India article in March, 2014 titled “Why men are balding in their 20s” that “premature balding is turning out to be more of a trend than rarity. And the way we live our lives has more to do with it than genes or plain bad luck.”
The instance of the diseases mentioned here spreading and the instance of the foolish, but lucrative, mass worship of Sai Baba in New Delhi has happened simultaneously. This is not just another coincidence but a confirmation of the way the Sai Baba group has caused permanent damage in most cases to the health of ordinary Delhites who have no way to confirm the cause of illness spreading in New Delhi, except by a psychologically painful personal experience which the patients find difficult to explain. Yes, I am putting the blame for the increasing number of those affected by the diseases mentioned here on the Sai Baba group. I had reported on the same lines in these columns in Feb, 2014 also. Statistical reports also show that New Delhi had the highest percentage of leucoderma patients at one time in the Indian sub-continent. Practical observation also shows that during these times New Delhi accepted the Sai Baba as the most worshipable popular figure and display of such sentiments is one reason for the Sai Baba empire being worth Rs. 40,000 crores at the time the Sai Baba died in 2011.
Also, the last decade or so of Congress rule in the country, just before the government changed, was also the bountiful years for business, but disastrous as far as health is concerned in New Delhi. And it is not just a coincidence that Sai Baba thrived under Congress years. This trend started when people like Narasimha Rao, the then Indian Prime Minister and leader of millions of men in the Congress party did not find anything wrong in announcing publically that he is a devotee of the Sai Baba. In the same manner Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were also not discreet in attending the funeral of the trickster in 2011.
Not many may be aware but even a casual look at the heels of men and women wearing chapals or barefeet shows discoloration and depigmentation in the soles and the doctors are clueless about the cause. The diseases as far as I have observed in the streets, markets, holy places, while travelling and while shopping is quite similar in proportion to what an epidemic scale might be. Gastric problems are also linked to skin problems like leucoderma and also falling hair. All the diseases which we have discussed in this write-up seem to be interconnected in some way in a subtle manner. Is it once more a mere coincidence that gastric outbreaks have occurred in parts of New Delhi in the past 10-15 years, and even before that, when it was a stronghold of the Congress. Dr. Brett King in a report in the Hindu newspaper “Breakthrough in treating leucoderma” has mentioned that a drug used in curing arthritis has been effective in curing a case of virtiligo/leucoderma and further has been successful in treating hair loss too. I feel it would be one coincidence too many in the way the leucoderma cure and the hair loss cure were carried out using the same medicine. Another research by a European hair specialist and scientist duo names stress, vices, pollution and poor nutrition as four enemies of hair growth. This couldn’t be more nearer to the truth. All four causes named by them are symptomatic of immoral behavior, spiritual negligence and poor nutrition. Food alone is one foremost cause for diseases mentioned here. Food is today neatly packed, easily handled and cooked, and sold hygienically. But the seeds are bad (genetically changed) producing tasty but under-nutritious or falsely nutrition balanced foodstuff. The seeds are altered under laboratory conditions to cater more to business considerations than the ordinary palate. The biggest threat is the effort to industrially replicate the process of a tree or a plant in producing it’s fruits or vegetables – a most foolish effort. The sickly diseases mentioned here is a commentary on the socio-religious and socio-medical conditions available in the city as of now. Three years on in New Delhi even a short walk in the neighborhoods produce all the proofs required about the practical occurrence of these diseases. And through these years there is no sign of the diseases subsiding or abating and this shows that any medical treatment the patients may be getting is hardly making any difference. It is sad to know that falling standards of business ethics has created fear and intense insecurity in the lives of Delhites. Also because of this psychological anomaly caused by mistrust of god and trust in the opposing false elements people cannot trust other people causing straining of relations on the mental and emotional platform. This too results in behavioral damage to the mind and the society in New Delhi is a example today of mass psychological crisis. Statistical data also show that infertility too has risen to more than 50 percent in both males and females.
And for those who may not like to accept this line of explanation finding it a rather queer mixing of religious philosophy, spirituality and modern medicine, they still have to accept at least the fact that many Delhites’ lives have been badly disrupted by these diseases which in any case are affecting thousands of New Delhi residents. These diseases have become so commonplace and routine in New Delhi today that most people have become negligent and careless toward it; which is a rather strange posture taken in the face of an evident threat to a mass of people from disease. Behavioural illness is increasing as people refuse, or do not even have the mental capacity, to see good as good and bad as bad. I always had a great deal of respect for Delhites and never thought they could be fooled so cheaply. But that’s the way it is. In any case it cannot be denied that New Delhi is sick today – whatever the cause might be.