Mohan Lal and his wife Anju are impoverished farmers in this northwestern Indian state of Rajsathan. Mohan and Anju (not their real names) have four children and came to the conclusion that suicide was the only way out of the shame and poverty of their lives in rural Rajsathan. They had sacrificed and prayed to the small area of Hindu idols in their home. No answer, the cycle of poverty continued and they had no hope that anything would ever change. They decided to drink some of the insecticide and end it all. As they were preparing, the electrical power in the whole area went off and their house fell into darkness and their television flickered off….
One of the recurring problems in the India today is what the INDIA TIMES calls a “spate” farmers committing suicide. Over 300,000 have choosen death as a way out of the grinding poverty. This is a continuing problem as famers get into debt borrowing to purchase seed (and eat themselves) and “gamble” that the monsoon will come at the right time to for irrigation. Then there is the wait and caring for the crop – borrowing yet again to feed the family – hoping there is no need for fertilizer or chemicals against pests, waiting and weeding until harvest – selling the crop, paying the landowner (most are tenant farmers), paying off the seed and fertilizer and chemical loan and hope there is something left so they could eat.
The cycle of Poverty, Debt, Shame all contributed to the Lal’s decision to end it all – They had been farming all their lives and just before harvest they learned that their wheat crop would only fetch half of what they planned and borrowed for. There was no way out. Others in a similar situation had sold their 10-year-old daughter into sex slavery but Mohan and Anju could not bring themselves to do that and decided to drink poison.
Meantime, in the cable television office in the neighboring city, the operators were struggling to get the channels back on and “by mistake” tuned to a Christian TV station that was playing a Christmas Story produced by Shepherd Media in Chennai!
The entire family decided to follow Jesus! Now, they are still impoverished and still in debt but now they have Hope in Jesus Christ! If you want to see what they saw, look at http://youtu.be/cxQocyVSnSoA man very like Mohan Lal looking for peace at the Kumbh Mela. This is an early version and the year was changed in the one that was telecast.
Shepherd Media is a Christian production company based in Chennai. The photo could be a man very like Mohan Lal looking for peace at the Kumbh Mela. It was shot by Dan Henrich at the 2010 Kumbh Mela Hindu Festival in Hardwar, India. CLICK HERE for more photos.
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