A reason for unreason

Government digs for gold, and India explodes with laughter

Ever since the Enlightenment unleashed its powerful intellectual tools of Reason and Rationality, the limits of both of which are constantly being tested by human beings, open unreason and irrationality have come to be seen as a form of lunacy. Still, without a contrapuntal note being struck from time to time by the mad hatters of the world, life would become unimaginably dull.

Apparently, no other society has recognised this truth more wholly than has India. Thus, whatever else may be said about its baleful effects, there is at least never a dull moment here. Thanks in large measure to the drenching character of 24-hour news television, Indians are treated, virtually on a daily basis, to one overwhelming distraction or another. And such is the hype and hullabaloo that surround each of these distractions, for a day or two the country seems to go completely bananas. The latest to join the long list of such dramatic goings-on, from corruption, murders, natural disasters and sundry scandals is the brouhaha over the extraordinary dream of a self-declared spiritual leader, or swami, named Shobhan Sarkar.

A few days ago Mr Sarkar dreamt that 1,000 tonnes - yes, 1,000 tonnes - of gold lay buried under a temple, or possibly a palace, in a village called Daundiya Kheda in Uttar Pradesh. Ordinarily, no one would have believed him. But as happens with perfect media storms, two independent events combined to lend credence to the dream in the eyes of the public: the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is the custodian of the ruined structure, began digging; and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) joined in. It has been denied that they did so as a result of Mr Sarkar's night-time vision; but the simultaneity of the three events was enough to start the fun and frolic at the site. Television reporters from India and abroad thronged into the scene. Local residents joined the frenzy; the swami blessed the spot. The district magistrate decided to have the whole digging operation recorded on video.

The ASI official in charge at the site said he didn't know anything about any gold and has been quoted as saying, with an air of offended dignity: "We have not come here for gold. We are archaeologists who have a scientific way of working." Earlier a report by the GSI is reported to have said that "This prominent non-magnetic anomalous zone occurring at 5-20 m depth indicative of possible non-conducting, metallic contents and/or some alloys etc may be tested by excavation for further interest at the specified site." That should have been enough - but who was going to believe the official agencies? So, as a bemused country watched the goings-on, Indians further burnished their global reputation as a nation of spirituality-obsessed eccentrics.

Many are understandably aghast at the influence of swamis, or at the gullibility of the public, or at the mindlessness of live television. They are clicking their tongues, shaking their heads, wringing their hands, raising their eyebrows, pursing their lips, and making acidly sarcastic comments to each other. But here is one crucial point that these hand-wringing multitudes might wish to consider: in the midst of all the dreariness that normally permeates the life of Indians, such episodes come as highly welcome comic relief. By Monday, things will perhaps be back to their normal state of unmitigated gloom; but, until then, the conjured-up prospect that the austere scientific agencies of the majestic Government of India are digging for gold at the direction of a hitherto unknown swami will, no doubt, cheer up this much-battered country.