Watching this video was an out of body experience for me. The devotees are immersing themselves in water that is covered in toxic foam from untreated sewer. Its not like they are unaware of the problem but they have no choice one woman explains - this is part of the religious observance. Maybe if a person has faith this unwavering then can dip into poison and come out blessed with eternal youth but its mind-boggling to see pictures of people playing around with the said foam.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the state of Yamuna but the saddest part of this disaster is the acceptance of fate by people who feel like they have to choose between faith and fear. If they are so easily afraid then their faith is not real or strong enough. Maybe this is exactly the reason there is no impetus for change - the powers that be know very well that people will scale back their expectations, accept their karma and move on with their lives the best they can.
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