Yesterday, thousands of devotees had gathered at the Naina Devi temple, in hilly Himachal Pradesh, for the annual nine-day festival of Shravan Navratras. There was a stampede and 146 people were killed.
“Heavy rains and a rumour of a landslide and falling boulders caused widespread panic, leading to the stampede. Many of the victims were children, trampled to death during the panic.”
What was even more shocking to me was that today, this news has not made the headlines, not even in India. Instead, NDTV.com has a story titled: Devotees back at Himachal shrine hours after tragedy.
The website informs us:
“Even as the shoes, slippers and other belongings of victims of Sunday’s tragedy lay strewn early Monday, devotees continued to pour in.”
Does this show our resilience or our disregard for precious lives lost or our blind faith or what?
Courage to tremble 