Lamkhutteshwor Mahadev: The Mosquito-lord Shiva

While the government of Nepal seems to be doing nothing effective to control the recent dengue outbreak in the country, Birodh Khatiwada (MP, Nepal Communist Party) came up with a genius idea during the parliamentary session on 18th September. He came up with one of the most miraculous ideas the country has seen to control the dengue outbreak – building the Mosquito Shiva Shrine. No, he didn’t come up with this idea out of the blue neither was he under effect of any drug. He presented some precedents like building of a Sansadeshwor Mahadev (Parliament-lord Shiva) to take care of the parliament in the past and that of a Santaneshwor Mahadev (Child-lord Shiva) to bless the infertile couples.

Khatiwada came up with such an idea because he said that calling gods and goddesses (to take care of the situation) have been the tradition in our part of the world after all other measures fail to tackle a calamity. Well we have chosen brilliant people to sit up there in the house that runs the country, thanks to us!

Here, we have three things to think about two of which are utterly useless. Is dengue outbreak caused by gods? Or devils (for that matter)? If it is caused by gods, then we now know what a god really does to seek attention of members of parliament like Mr. Khatiwada. If it is caused by devil, then what in the earth are the gods doing? Drinking milk poured upon them in thousands of temples?

The third and the useful thing to think is about the actions and policies of the government. Is Mr. Khatiwada sitting in the parliament is frustrated by the futility of the vigorous attempts by the government to check the outbreak? Or is the government waiting for foreign aids by making the situation worse? Or is it only Mr. Khatiwada who is in fact thinking a lot about the measures to control the outbreak while the health minister and others responsible seem to be having fun abroad during the outbreak (except for occasional visits to the country)?

In the federal budget for fiscal year 2019 – 20, NRs. 56, 118 million is allocated to health which is 3.67% of the total budget (NRs. 1.53 trillion). We can see how much focused the government is on health. But it must be admitted that in comparison with our nearby countries, it’s not too low. Even of the budget that is allocated most of the parts seem to be flying around in useless stuffs. Thanks to the corruption.

Now, let’s talk a bit about ‘The Mosquito-lord Shiva’. The proposed shrine for this brand new lord of mosquitoes will most definitely give job to some architects, labors and pundits which is definitely not bad. Being new to the world, the mosquito repellent god seems to have a difficult job ahead of him (if his shrine is indeed to be erected). Had the lord been experienced like the child-lord or the death-lord himself, the faithful most definitely would have expected miraculous results. But it is sad to see the faith of even the most faithful ones quite shaky on this brand new god.

I urge the faithful people to have faith both in their chosen member of parliament and the mosquito-lord. Let the greatest mosquito repellent be erected in the lap of Himalayas to prevent our land of Buddha from the attacks of mosquitoes. May the Mosquito-lord Shiva protect us all from dengue.

PS: Anyway, sleep inside mosquito nets. Go to the nearest hospital if you have any of the signs of dengue fever.