Bahadur, the Nepalese watchman, suddenly announced two days ago that he was going on leave for a while. He speaks a mixture of bad Tamil and bad Hindi, so it took me a while to understand, but he said that he was going to a temple at Arani, here in Tamil Nadu. He said that he had so many illnesses, and they were all caused by Shaitan - the devil. He had heard that he could be cured at this temple.
Mary says that he has 'gas trouble' (in English) because he eats fish at 3 a.m. (he's on night duty, so that's not surprising), and six eggs at a time. He won't go to a doctor because he insists that it's not gas but jadoo (black magic). She also thinks he'll be back soon, because Arani is a
I'm afraid that his real problem is unhappiness. He wants a wife and a family, and he's not likely to get them. The subcontinent is full of men who have been forced by poverty to leave their villages to find work elsewhere. Even those who are married must usually leave their families behind, and hope to see them once a year or even less often. Bahadur hardly hears from his remote village in Nepal any more. He had a brother there, who died. He is very much a stranger here. He is far from bright. His paralyzed hand prevents him from getting a higher-paid job as a watchman at a factory or office, which might make him better marriage material.
What god can solve his problems?
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