Diary of a Gadhimai protester

[Catherine]

The whole thing is really messed up. I admire the people who went in there to try and fix things and to get the truth out to the rest of the world.
It is a major world health hazard to bring a million people together like that. If any kind of infectious disease got loose, the returning pilgrims would spread it all over. We might not be able to contain it without thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dead. Could you imagine Ebola getting into that crowd. Even a bad influenza virus would spread like crazy.

The meat is not handled hygienically so there could be massive food poisoning outbreaks. That is the practical side of it.

The idea that religion needs bloody sacrifice goes back to ignorant superstitious days. The world does not need to be that place any more and religion does not need to be that way any more. I think we recognize that the God who created this incredible world could not be ignorant and superstitious. The world is too amazing for that. God has been waiting for us to grow up and leave barbaric superstition behind.

All those trying to stop Gadhimai now and in future are very much doing the work of God. Maybe we are seeing signs of change and a brighter future. After all, the numbers were down and the whole thing looks like the mess that it is.