Binny Mill Circle

While the cross and trishul carrying religious chimps in Karnataka herd and try to convert or reconvert the illiterate and the unwanted from the fringes of society, the poorest in Bangalore are driven by more immediate and realistic spiritual needs. The most popular deities in the slums with miserable healthcare facilities, especially for children, are the Indianised Mary and Infant Jesus in the eastern part of Mahanagara and temples like the one above in the water-starved, not-so-nirmala Benglure central neighbourhoods. And it does not matter what gods or 'peers' the invisible-to-our-government(except during elections) cry and pray to, they all line up every morning outside a small shop on Cottonpet Main Road that sells a variety of lucky charms that will help infants live and stay healthy enough to crawl beyond the first year of their lives. I have tried to click a picture of the shop, with serpentine queues of Hindus, Christians and Muslims, not reaching out at each others' throats, but the person who runs the shop didn't want publicity of the internet kind when I asked him if I could click a picture. And yes, he's minting money.

Our Government is getting away with murder. Karnataka's Infant Mortality Rate (2007): 54 for every 1000 births. Maternal Death rate: 4%!