By Onochie Anibeze, Group Sports Editor

Where do I begin my Indian story?

If, while discussing with a few people in an evening atmosphere, you repeatedly did a dash like an athlete taking off in a 100m race but ended up doing only a metre or two especially to different directions, you could probably be taken for a mad man in Nigeria.

But if you did that here in India they would know that you are a visitor trying to escape from mosquitoes. Before now I thought that Nigeria was the biggest breeding ground for mosquitoes. I now know better after more than a month stay in India. Mosquitoes swarm on you yoom yoom yoom as if they were sent by some forces.  You are forced to do those short runs

So, do I dwell on mosquitoes? But the funny thing is that I have never seen an Indian spike to kill a mosquito.

Why is it so, I asked Yashvi, a young staff of Fortis Hospital, Noida.

She merely smiled. I did not need to probe further. Indians are so humane that, in their real nature, they can hardly hurt a fly. It is more with the Hindu religion.  They are pure vegetarians. They don’t eat meet or fish. It is a sacrilege to kill any living thing to eat. They respect animals as God’s creations that must not be destroyed by man. They extend this respect to even flies and birds. Their respect for animals is such that they are even reluctant to control them. And this is why India has world record in the number of stray dogs on their streets. Nobody touches them. They are harmless but at night their barking could be harmful to your health. They deny you a sound sleep. Needless to emphasize on this as Indians are used to them.

After a few days in India, you could also be at peace with dogs even if you detest their haggard looks. One need not mention cows as they are sacred animals. A cow is seen by Hindus as God’s pet and they, in some sense, worship it. When a cow strays onto the road, cars avoid it and everybody allows it as much time as it would want to spend on the roads including highways. How dare you touch or order God’s angel, they could reason. So, do I leave mosquitoes and continue with religion?

“The mosquitoes would all be gone after the Diwali,” assured Yugender Arya and his brother Sandeep.

“Why would they disappear like that?” I probed. “The smokes will kill them,” they told me. I wondered how smokes without insecticide properties could kill mosquitoes. I did not need anybody to tell me they were right after the celebrations to mark Dewali, the short name for Deepavali.

It is celebrated in November. It marks the beginning of a new year by Hindu Calendar. So families leave some footstep markings on the floor from their gates to inside their houses and to their rooms. These markings are expected to guide into their rooms the god of wealth that they believe would visit at night and mark a new dawn. But, in the main, Diwali is the festival to mark the return of Lord Ram after 14 years in exile. Lord Ram returned to the kingdom of Ayodhya to reign as King after he was forced into exile by the step mother who wanted her own son to be the king. Her son, knowing that the mother was wrong, did not accept the throne.

And for 14 years that Lord Ram was in the forests, the kingdom remained kingless. 20 days before Diwali, Lord Ram had defeated the demon RAVAN that had kidnapped his wife and which was perceived to have caused the confusion in the land. This victory called the victory of good over evil otherwise known as Dusshera is another festival in India. Huge caricatures of devil are made and burnt in common places or grounds where people gather to witness the destruction of the devil. The burnt effigies are kept at some parts of homes to keep evil spirits away.

The countdown to Diwali starts from this festival of victory of good over evil. The country is in a festive mood. It is the biggest festival here, what you may liken to the Christmas celebrations all over the world. It is their own Christmas although they also mark Christmas. They shop and exchange gifts. Diwali is the Festival of Lights. Never have I seen where lights are used to beautify houses. Lamps are placed everywhere decoratively. In offices and homes, decoration is such that it is competitive. Everybody strives to outdo each other.

It is so with explosion of crackers and fireworks that will follow on the eve of Diwali and Diwali day. There’s nothing like that in the world. Imagine where each building in a city fires up to 400 very loud and deafening crackers and some 200 fireworks then you may have a distant picture of the noise and heavy smokes that engulf regions of India on the night of Diwali. It is simply setting the cities on fire.

And this lasts from 8 pm to about 3 am. It is simply unbelievable .The fumes and other emissions from these explosives cover the skies and descend into every base. Yes, they smoke out insects including mosquitoes but that is temporary as it takes hours for mosquito larvae to breed. But the fact that they truly smoke out mosquitoes underscores the intensity of the pollution the people gladly celebrate in two days. But there’s no doubt that the event  is unique and watching the fireworks was a big fun. For the first time since my arrival in India I saw an event that cowed the dogs. The shelling sounds of crackers and fireworks made them disappear. From Bangla Sahib where I had gone for evening mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral to Rajiv Chowk and all the way to Anand Vihar where I stay, I did not see stray dogs as Delhi exploded in celebration with crackers and fireworks.

The bombing of the skies was indescribable. Diwali is unbelievable. But it is just one of the many festivals of India that attract public holidays. With between 10 to 14 public holidays in a year, India, to my knowledge, holds the record of public holidays in the world after UAE. Somehow, it has to do with their religious nature. These festivals are to celebrate different gods and deities that they worship. There are 2.5 million gods which are worshipped everyday in India. Note that the Hindu religion teaches that God comes in different forms. “God is visible and at the same time invisible. He has a form but also formless and He is in big and small things including particles”, according to Hindu.

Indians are very religious but they respect other religions too. There are  Christians and Muslims but they are in the minority.  By nature, Indians are very peaceful and friendly. It is not uncommon to see a Hindu passing by a church with statues of Jesus Christ and our blessed mother ever Virgin Mary to kiss his hand and bow in respect and worship of God. They believe that God is everywhere and that God is in all the deities and gods that they worship. That’s why they have many festivals. Actually, one of such festivals inspired this piece. The other day, there was another public holiday and I asked what the festival was this time.

Yashvi explained that it was for married women to pray for success of their marriages and for the wellbeing of their husbands. I went, “INDIAAAA, INCREDIBLE INDIAAA.” Everybody around burst into laughter. There’s a god that enhances good marriage and the women pray and fast during the day.

*Dogs like these are worshipped

For that there’s a public holiday to mark Karwuchaut festival. There is a festival to pray to the god of good harvest for farmers. When I asked why there were no music, dancing etc during Diwali, they told me that those were for a festival called Holi, a very popular spring festival that commemorates the slaying of Demon, Holika by Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

There are as many festivals as the different gods that they worship in India. These festivals make the people happy and they revere them just as they revere all their gods. Religion has had serious impact on the lives of Indians. While one can argue that it has made them conservative it could also be said to have strongly added to their family and moral values. This is a country that is known globally for their entertainment industry. Their Bollywood makes our own Nollywood a child’s play. But there’s no basis of comparison so let me not bring in our matter here. What any observant visitor would notice is the irony in the life they paint in their movies and the real life on the streets of India. I thought of doing a separate piece on this with a headline, INDIA, WHERE IS THE LOVE THAT YOU ACT?

Eighty five per cent of Indian movies are on love affairs. Their acting portrays India as a love wonderland even as they are known to detest obscenities. Their movies are full of romance but devoid of sex displays largely due to the moral values inherent in their different cultures that are weaved around religious antecedents. Yes, they are conservative and timid in display of intimate actions in comparison with Europe and America but that does not mean that they lack love. It’s just that it’s not in the air here. You can’t see it as you fantasize it while watching their movies.

On the streets of Europe, in their trains and public places, it is common to see people intimately entangled, kissing and clogging in such manner that the first time visitor would ask if they can’t wait to be home. There are no such things in India, not even anything close to them.

There are no obscenities. Boys and girls don’t put on their wears to expose their undies, a new dirty style of dressing that some describe as sexy. But I’m only writing what I have seen. That Indians don’t act love on the streets doesn’t mean there are no explosive actions in their homes. One thing I know is that marriages last here and family and moral values are high, something that they should be proud of.

“I run this business that my husband set up. He doesn’t know what I do and I don’t know what he does. He comes back about 11 pm daily and sometimes he is out of town. But he has never suspected me over anything and I have never dreamed of suspecting him over anything. Marriage should be strongly based on trust, mutual respect but the woman should never think about Western attitude of equality. From the beginning of time, men are the heads of their families.

Even when I’m sick I get up to prepare food for my husband when he returns. If the woman keeps her own side of the coin, the marriage will always last unless the man is something else,” said Deepwavri, the manager of the guest house I stayed in at Noida before I moved to Anand Vihar in Delhi.

This stay in India has given me the hope that Nigeria can work some day even if it’s not in my life time. In some places in the cities here, you see the type of poverty you can’t imagine. Immediately after the Commonwealth Games, the beggars returned to the streets. They are aggressive and can grab you on the leg if you do not attend to them. The homeless are many. Keke Maruwa is a well organised means of public transport. Some are built in a way that they accommodate up to eight passengers.

There is also a three-tyre cycle with a carriage to take up to three or four passengers. On television and in their newspapers are stories of corruption, just like you have in Nigeria. There’s poverty in India. The type of poverty you imagine in the rural areas of Nigeria is glaring in the cities of India. But the great thing about this country is that their institutions are working. Healthcare is good, power supply is good, education is sound and metro line is as good as you find in some European cities. The trains are working. Other public utilities are functioning and the people are happy even if their politicians are daily fighting with so much acrimony like their Nigerian counterparts.

If they could be this way with their over 1.2 billion population I believe that some day Nigeria could rise to the occasion of good governance and the attendant benefits. And we may not need emissions from crackers and fireworks to smoke out mosquitoes. Clean environment and some government policies can ensure that and boost the health of our nation so rich in natural resources but so sick in leadership and governance.