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This story is from December 3, 2006
Sourcing faith back home!
If business was being outsourced before, it's the turn of religious services to be 'outsourced' by faithfuls abroad.
Forget online pujas and virtual prayers — outsourcing faith has become an easy way to solve the problems of the NRI faithfuls. Religious services are being outsourced by many who either don't have the time or the resources to get the pujas done in their adopted country.
Namrata Singh, who stays in Los Angeles was told to conduct a Chandi path for the well being of her daughter. Unable to come to India for the puja, Singh sent money to her relatives who got the puja done in their home town. Singh says, "My parents insisted that I get this puja done for my daughter and since in LA it would have been difficult, I sent the money. The puja and the feeding of the brahmins was done in India."
Many devotees who can't travel long distances but want to offer prayers, contact pandits here who then do the needful.
Acharya Ashok Pandit, has got a number of such requests. "Many of my NRI clients come down once a year and get their pujas done. But in case there is a puja or a ritual they need to do urgently, they call me and I do it for them. Most of these are grah shanti pujas. And yes, through them I have also got in touch with people staying abroad for generations," he says.
Online pujas too have picked up with a number of sites offering virtual darshans of the most renowned temples like Dakshineswar Kali temple, Tarakeswar and Kasi Vishwanath Shiva Temple and Mahesh Jagannath Temple.
Vijay Kumar Singh, who has been running an online puja site says, "They have become popular because people want solutions to their problems and if they happen to stay abroad then we provide them with solutions."
And the trend is visible across religions. Nadeem Jaffri, a communications professional says, "For people who are staying abroad, it does tend to get difficult to follow all rituals as they have a lot of constraints. So they send in money and friends and close relatives do the needful here in their name."
Sociologist Nandini Sardesai feels this trend speaks of a sense of insecurity that the diaspora has. "In many cases they tend to be more religious than the people back home. And by outsourcing rituals, they try and justify the sense of guilt that they have of not doing enough. Also by getting such religious services done, they feel connected with home."
shivli.tyagi@timesgroup.com
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