Baby with tail brings Hindus, Muslims closer

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Baby with tail brings Hindus, Muslims closer

Chandigarh, March 15

 

An 11-month-old baby boy with a 4-inch long tail born to a Muslim

family in Khera, Chandigarh, is being revered by Hindus as a

reincarnation of Lord Hanuman at a time when communal passions are

running high in the country.

 

The baby hailed as Bajrangbali (Lord Hanuman) has been attracting

hundreds of devotees who seek his blessings and offer cash,

jewellery and expensive clothes.

 

An enthusiastic Iqbal Qureshi, the baby's grandpa, gushes that the

divine baby also has nine spots on his body like Hanuman. Whether

true or false, the baby Hanuman has helped in bringing the Hindus

and Muslims together in this part of the country at least.

 

The baby's fans include several Hindu priests who have formed a

group to take charge of his 'spiritual journey'. Their plan is to

take the baby to several temples outside the state where his

devotees can seek blessings.

 

Doctors at the Post Graduate Institute in Chandigarh fear that if

the baby is not taken to a hospital for medical treatment and

surgical removal of the abnormality which could be a chromosomal

defect, its life is in danger.

 

But their efforts to examine the baby have been resisted fiercely by

the baby's devotees led by the head priest of a local Hanuman

temple.

 

"Gods don't require a medical certificate," he thundered. "The baby

is a reincarnation of Lod Hanuman. That's what matters."

 

This is perverse logic, observe the doctors. The abnormality is a

freak genetic mutation, the doctors are convinced. But that hasn't

stopped the devotees from making a beeline to the baby's home.

 

Another child specialist laments that if the abnormality is not

removed, the baby's chances of growing up into a normal adult are

very bleak. But neither the baby's parents nor the devotees are in a

mood to listen.