Aspiring MBAs, Engineers, CAs play ‘Priests’ At Baidyanath Dham

Deoghar: It may sound strange but it is true. Students pursuing engineering, MBA, MCA, Company Secretary and Chartered Accountancy in Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata have abandoned their studies and descended in Baidyanath Dham shrine to earn money. The sojourn is however month-long when income is huge. These modern day ‘pandas’ derogatorily called “visiting Pandas” perform the rituals in jeans and t-shirts. All of them are sons of the priests at the temple.

Panda Dharma Rakshni Sabha (PDRS), the central body of the priests at Baidyanath Dham shrine, is happy that the new generation is interested in the sacred acts. Durlav Mishra alias Kaliya Panda, PRDS general secretary said more than 700 such students have come this year. On an average these students make Rs 30,000 to 40,000 in one month. The money is used to sponsor studies, he added. Few visiting Pandas however use the bucks to buy bikes, laptops or high-end phones.

Meet Shyamal Kishore Parihasht a 5th semester electronics engineering student of Punjab University. Parihasht, 22, is on a month’s holiday here and is helping his father Nand Kishore Pandit, a member of PDRS. “Our ancestors have been plying priests at the shrine. I have just come to help my father. It feels great,” said Parihasht. This boy, however, is determined to become an engineer and not a panda like his father.

Clad in jeans and T-shirt 22-year-old Kundan Pandit, who was photographed making some kanwariyas do certain rituals inside Baba Baidyanath shrine on Monday has already completed two stages to become a Chartered Accountant. “I am determined like hell to become a successful CA. I cracked Common Proficiency Test in 2009 and Integrated Professional Competence Course in 2011,” said proud Pandit.

Son of Anil Pandit, a member of PDRS, Kundan live in Delhi and takes tuition at a prominent private institute. “I shifted to Delhi in 2009 after I completed my schooling from here. I come home to help my father in every Shravani Mela. I hope to crack CA this year,” Kundan added.

President of PDRS Vinodaat Dwariji said that sons of Pandas are internally religious even though they have a modern outlook. MBAs are also in action. Kuldeep Tiwari who pursues two-year course postgraduate diploma in management at a private college in Delhi is also plying ‘priest’ at the shrine. This boy, who gets Rs 70,000 annual scholarship from the college, is also a visiting priest here.

The Shravani Mela also has the IIT-JEE touch. Chandan Kumar Mishra son of priest Dileep Mishra and Amrit Kashyap son of priest Shiv Shankar Khawade were in KOTA for IIT-JEE few years back. Amrit, a gold medallist in his school R K Mission in Deoghar, has cleared AIEEE this year and will take admission into the prestigious NIT-Jamshedpur in a few weeks from now. “Both the students have also been a helping hand to their fathers during Shravani Mela in past,” said Hari Shankar Panda a member of the PDRS.

According to PDRS there are around 150 professionals who take a month’s leave without pay and come to Deoghar in Shravani Mela to serve the God. Amit Khawade, a postgraduate diploma in finance management from Anna Malai University, who works with a MNC in Delhi, is here to support his father Dhhupad Khawade.

Notwithstanding, there are a few detractors of these “visiting pandas”. A life member of PDRS (requesting anonymity) said, “These boys are only attracted by moolah. Each one of them make huge money some even earn Rs 50,000 in a month.”

PDRS general secretary Kaliya Panda however said nothing was wrong in earning money. “The cost of education is huge these days. They support their studies in costly cities like Delhi, Pune with this money,” he added.

Kaliya Panda informed that there are dozens of sons of Pandas here who are currently settled in America, Hong Kong, Germany, China and earn a huge pay packet. “There was a time when all of them used to support their fathers in doing pujas at Baidyanath Dham shrine,” Kaliya Panda said.

PDRS was founded in 1692. Currently it has 5000 life members (the head of a Panda family) and the number of its total membership is 30,000 (approx).

SNAKES MAY FLY FROM RANCHI WITH FLYERS

Ranchi: Remember the scene of horrified passengers in 2006 Hollywood thriller ‘Snakes on a Plane’. In a virtual replay of reel life in real life in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, passengers were equally horrified when snakes appeared in the terminal building of Ranchi’s Birsa Munda airport.

On Monday evening and then again on Tuesday evening two snakes had appeared at the airport terminal building last week. Airport director Raju Raghavendra Kumar confirmed the sighting of the snakes.

“There was enough room for the snake to sneak into the luggage. There were quite a few luggage lying around near the X-ray machine where the snake was spotted,” said Ranjan Sen, a passenger waiting for Jet Airways Kolkata-Ranchi-Kolkata (9W-2859) scheduled to depart at 7:20pm on Tuesday.

A separate terminal building (apart from the existing one) is being constructed at the airport for which over 20,000 sq meter lands has been concretised. “It has destroyed the habitats of the snakes and they are looking for new habitats,” said wildlife expert D S Srivastava.

Ranchi airport has a runway length of 8,900 sq ft and thick bushes surround the runway that work as a safe habitat for snakes. A large number of rats are found in the bushes too which work as food for the snakes.

According to CISF staff on Monday the venomous snake, possibly ‘harhara’, had appeared near Air India’s cabin. Generally passengers drop in their luggage near the cabin while getting clearances done from the airlines. At this point there were chances of the snake sneaking into the luggage.

“Initially we got an impression that the snake has managed to get into someone’s luggage. It was first sighted around 6:45pm and then suddenly disappeared. Not only passengers standing nearby started searching their baggage for the snake but also AI staff looked underneath the tables,” said a CISF inspector, requesting anonymity.

The Go Air Delhi-Ranchi-Delhi flight (G8-714) was scheduled to take off for Delhi at 8:05pm and over 100 passengers were in the passengers’ lounge when the snake was sighted.

The CISF staff, armed with carbolic acid (a snake repellent), started looking for the snake that was found after one-hour search at 7:55pm barely 10 minutes before the departure of the Go Air flight.

The airport authorities got snake repellent medicines spread in and around the airport after the incident. But on Tuesday evening again a snake, some three feet long, appeared near an X-ray machine. The machine is in service and several baggages are x-rayed in it. This snake was also recovered after CISF staff chased it for over one hour.

“The news has shocked me,” said Shahid Ansari, director at a posh city hospital and frequent flyer. In 2008 when 2.47 lakh flyers used the airport for various destinations across the country, sighting one snake in a week was not an unusual affair, said a source.

Airport director Raju, however, said, “There is no chance of a snake getting into a luggage and thus getting into the cargo hold of the aircraft. Before the luggage get into the cargo hold they are handled and checked at five to six points.”

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