Mumbai Diary
Villagers force evangelists to flee
From Anil Nair in Mumbai
The villagers in Malad-Mumbai attacked American missionaries and got them deported. Three missionaries who were involved in conversion of local people to Christianity were beaten up by the local fishermen when they tried to lure them with money and miracle cures. A senior police officer at Malad police station told press reporters that he had reports of the missionaries preaching when they were only holding tourist visas, which also violates the visa rules.
The three missionaries attacked by the people were part of a group of eight Americans which had come to India on a missionary trail. But the similitude with Graham Staines does not end there. One among them, Craig Philip, in a replay of Mrs Gladys Staines? magnanimity, said ??we have forgiven the people who have attacked us??. The preachers belong to Church of Christ, North Carolina, and were to be in India for three weeks. Interestingly, earlier the missionaries insisted on baptism to consummate the proselytisation, but now the church does not get into such niceties. They only want the converts to pray to Christ and add to the numbers.
Monsoon delay keeps Mumbai corporate world on tenterhooks.
The corporate world seems to be agonised over the prospects of normal monsoon this year. Petrol prices, interest rates and political stability of the government have all taken a back-seat for most people at the corporate lobbies and stock market gullies. The delay in monsoon has made many to predict that the economy will head for a crash even though most of the official GDP growth predictions talk about redemption even in the wake of failing monsoon.
Newly designed trains for Mumbai suburban service
People in Mumbai might have always griped over the condition of their local trains but now comes the news that newly designed trains will be introduced from March 31, next year. Some of the local trains running in Mumbai are so old that people consider their daily commute as part of antiquated conducted tours. But the new trains will only have larger windows and better seats. We are still eons away from air-conditioned coaches on suburban lines because the railways have not even taken such demands into consideration. If one thought that the metro kind of rail coaches would replace the local trains, then you have another thought coming!
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