It was a great winter month, but more importantly it was a month of many good news for the people living in the lost village of Kokara in the state of Odisha, India; for finally they have been discovered by concrete road, electricity and the rest of the world. Kokara was cut off from the world when a water stream falling in the lake Chilika changed its direction and flooded the surrounding area though some might say that it was a blessing in disguise for the villagers in Kokara had been spared by war and subversion; and they meet the world in a new and independent India. Since the water stream dried, the village was discovered by the youths of the nearest village who were on the mission to kill boredom and find something delicious to eat.

The first prominent human to visit the village was the collector of Ganjam, the district under which the village was marked. The story of the visit made it into the national newspaper and soon the village was inundated with visitors. The academics came with their never-ending questions; the tourists came for their never-ending curiosity. The visitors brought all kinds of alien and fascinating items: packets of biscuits, juices, cakes and all kind of edibles. The villagers were so pampered by the outsiders that soon most of them fell sick, which was a blessing in disguises because soon they received healthcare, perhaps quicker than any other village in the history of human existence. Roads and electricity followed afterwards. The lost village featured every day in newspaper and on television. There were so many stories about their eating habit, their rituals and customs, their language which was in some way similar to the current language of the region and their amazement at this newfound world beyond their watery borders. This discovery was a boom for newspaper industry because their sale almost doubled since everyone wanted latest news about the lost village and it took almost two months for the newspaper sale to return to normal. Even Kokara was unrecognizable post this duration, because concrete bridge was built to connect it with the mainland, the inner village dirt roads were transformed into the brick road, there was a torrent of incoming motor vehicles which fascinated the youth of the village yet the life of people in that village was still same, fishing and planting but mostly fishing.

When the dust settled and the newspaper stopped talking about it, they came; when the discovery was a mare past memory among the masses, they came; when the number of visitors has dwindled a new unique visitor, man in his late fifties, arrived, not for curiosity or amazement but with a self-proclaimed vital mission in his mind.

The man named John arrived at the village in his long hat and black robe, he had lost most of his hairs and his face was wrinkled with worries of years. He went to the first young man he could find and asked him to gather everyone for he has brought something valuable for all. The young man who was by then used to the amazing eateries and instruments was neither delighted nor disappointed by this encounter since he has nothing more interesting to do, he did what he was told and soon whoever was getting bored gathered under the shade of a Neem tree.

Once old John saw that no more were coming, he went to each person, shook their hand and chanted, “God is merciful!”. People looked at him in amazement for all the crazy things they had witnessed in the last few months, it was a clear winner. “God is merciful”, John continued, “for he dried the river so that I can come and save your souls, you see my good people, you have been under the influence of demons, worshiping it and offering it your prayer while God was an unknown to you, but it’s never too late, you can still renounce your demons and start believing in the God and his son…..”. While some were still trying to make sense of these words, those who were smart enough to follow with John’s words came closer to him, grabbed him by the neck and started pulling him out and they didn’t stop till they were at the bridge. If the reporters would have been around, they would have got their headlines, for it was first recorded instance of violence by the people of Kokara in the known history.

The forceful expulsion of John for demeaning remarks against village culture reached the ears of Saga-ram, the most ancient being in the village. He was unhappy with the incident and he reprimanded the people involved for acting crazy around the crazy.

The village life resumed as usual, there was now a school in the village to teach the young mind, but the arrangements were not like other schools in the region. It was operational only once a week and every month there was a new teacher who would arrive and teach. Teaching was just too important a job to conduct regularly by a few permanent teachers. The youth and the kids were learning to write what they have normally conversed on a regular basis, and kids were specially fascinated. That one day of the week was a day they always looked forward to because it broke the monotony of their normal existence. Even this routine was finally broken by the return of good old John, some five months after his expulsion. He returned with two of his female colleagues and a new teacher. Villagers, still annoyed by John’s last visit were simply looking for some excuse to make the visit more interesting, they were disappointed since all four went straight to the school.

The teacher of the month very happily announced that, John and his colleague would help them teach. They would come every day except one to teach while the weekly visit of a teacher would continue. That day it was mostly about setting things up by the newcomers. The next Day John and his colleagues arrived in the late morning. Kids gathered but there were not as many as there was the day before. Some families were skeptic about this new arrangement while others had too much work to send their kids and teens to study for more than one day of the week. This didn’t bother any of the newcomer. While John sat on a chair, his colleagues, Martha and Agnes started interacting with the kids. They continued teaching the kids alphabets of Odia and English, writing words and sentences and history of India. In the afternoon before ending the education session, John took over the teaching and began his monologue. “Kids! Today I will tell you how the world was created.” He continued, “On the first day, God created the Earth and heaven, and he said let there be light and then there was light. On day two, God separated heaven from Earth, on the third day God created ground and sea and plants. On the fourth day, God created Sun and Moon and on the fifth day …..”
“How do you know it was fourth day when there was no Sun?” Asked, Ghungru, the smartest of the class. “God knows everything,” replied John.
“On the fifth day, God created fishes and on the sixth day, God created Animals and then he finally created us Humans, on the seventh day, God rested, that is why we don’t work on the seventh day, Sunday.”

“Did God sleep in the night like we do?”
“Sure, yes, we are in Gods image, so definitely God worked during the day and slept in the night.”
“Did other Gods help this God in the work?”
John wanted to say a lot, yet he couldn’t, the direct method of communication was not working. John was after all a smart person. He remembered the raze, a college professor felt during a confrontation with him during one of his roadshows of “Words of God.” The professor was questioning his faith with stupid question, such as how do know that your god isn’t delusional when he taught you that Sun revolves around Earth and John replied that, isn’t it obvious, we do see Sun rise up in the east and set in the west. The professor lost his cool over John post that argument. How can people believe in stupid facts like “Evolution”, “Earth is not the center of the Universe” or “God could be wrong”.

The new routine worked like a clock, and since the folks in the village were now well aware of the calendar, they were able to guess on what day John and his colleagues would not arrive or on which day government teacher would arrive. Sunday was a day of break for John and his team while Wednesday was the day on which the teacher would teach and asses the progress of education of the folks of the village. The village teens and kids were making sound progress in their useless education. All of them, since the time they could speak, had been training in fishing, boating, agriculture, crafting etc. the skills directly translated into visible outcome. They had hard time imagining the usefulness of being able to read some piece of paper, yet they persisted because they understood that in the outside world, one can produce food by reading from a page and they were eager to learn that magic. The classes were not too bad, and they enjoyed the final session of the day which to them was story time. Story of a particular god who created the world, destroyed the world, helped someone, impeded someone else, send messages, send his family members, give different instruction in different stories. Even though weird, stories were fun to listen to. The same fun was not there for John. While the education was going great, he was still unable to show progress to his peers. After a year since he came, there was nothing to show for, forget about being able to convert a villager, he was not able to do any sermon. He tried to organize a few, yet no one showed up except his bored students. He was criticized by his peers for his opening. Once trust is lost, it is difficult to regain was something he heard often from his peers, which he made a note of for his future missions. It was agreed within his organization that John need a helper, someone who could be the new face of their endeavor. Andrew was selected for this job to be the new face of their mission. They also decided to change the tactics and invest more time in understating the current culture of the village which could help in forming strategies in saving the villagers, after all ensuring that the villagers believe in their version of God was of vital importance, even more important than surviving and so they believed.

Andrew was a proactive and pragmatic middle-aged man who loved to converse with people even beyond the realm of faith. He began door to door campaign to understand the current faith of the people. During his visits he would listen and ask questions patiently and he tried his best not to validate their stories against his own stories, which was off course one of the most difficult tasks he had ever undergone, and he proved stronger than John for he didn’t blurt that the people there, were believing in the false stories and what actually happened was part of the book available to him. God was perhaps lazy and couldn’t reach to these people on time to tell the truth, now it is up to people like John or Andrew to correct God’s mistake. Through their stories, Andew got a clear picture. The people of Kokara believed in many deities, but mainly worshiped Sea and the Sun. The manifestation of both were in a shrine under an ancient Peepal tree. They also believed that the stream was a minor deity. The sea held a lot of power over them, it was a source of food, yet it was a cause of destruction; Sun held a special place because in the presence of the Sun, the Sea was calmer.

One day, Andrew came in contact with the village elder, Saga-ram, a man who was over 80 years old and was the sole problem solver of the entire village. He was also the reason for lack luster performance of John, Andrew and company because everyone consulted Saga-ram and Saga-ram never believed in a single word of the John and Andrew, though Andrew was not aware of this passive resistance by village’s most ancient being. Andrew found Saga-ram in the front yard of his home, lost in deep thoughts that only Saga-ram could follow. Andrew reached out to Saga-ram and held his hand and in a loud whisper said, “God is merciful!”. This was the signature greeting of the organization, Andrew, John and others were part of. Saga-ram just listened. After the greetings, Andrew went with basic icebreakers which ranged from “How are you?” to “Do you think it will rain a lot this month?” After the icebreaker, Andrew jumped guns.
Andrew: “Do you believe in higher power? Someone who creates controls all of our life and the Universe.”
After the pitch, Andrew went silent and patiently waited for Saga-ram to respond.
Saga-ram: “I do believe in a power greater than anything else.”
Andrew was delighted with this response because every time he has pitched the question to someone else, the response had been vague and close ended.
Andrew: “We too believe in a higher power, just one power.”
Saga-ram: “Good! good for you.”
Andrew was disheartened by that close ended response, still he forced the conversation.
Andrew: “Do you know why I am here? I am here because that one true power inspires me to spread its words, it fills me with a purpose to ensure that there is no one in the world who doesn’t believe in that power. That purpose has led me here in this village.”
Saga-ram was amused by the monologue, because he understood exactly why this person was bothered to sit with him.
Saga-ram: “You want me to believe in a higher power, but I already believe in that, everyone in this village believe in that, you think it is us who ensure that our boats return safely from the sea? No! The higher power ensure that we get back safe and sound.”
Andrew was frustrated inside but made a calm demeaner, smiled and thought to himself, this is my chance, I should make my case.
Andrew: “You may believe in the higher power, God, but you pray to the devil.”
Saga-ram: “What is a devil?”
Andrew: “A false god, a trickster.”
Saga-ram: “But you said that there is only one higher power!”
Andrew: “God is the highest power, he created angels, lesser power than God and devil is one of those lesser powers.”
Saga-ram: “And you think that we worship that devil, when we worship the Sea and the Sun.”
Andrew: “Yes! Precisely.”
Andrew was feeling triumphant, finally someone was getting his message. Though his good feeling was ephemeral.
Saga-ram: “Which one? Which one is the devil, the Sea or the Sun.”
Andrew: “Devil has many underlings?”
Saga-ram: “Like God has angels.”
Andrew: “Yes! Precisely.”
And Andrew was feeling triumphant again.
Saga-ram: “You are very funny, Sir; you say that there is just one higher power and then you bring devil a rival power and then you bring minions of both the higher power. How are you able to believe in such complicated stories, you must be crazy.”
Andrew: “You are not being reasonable, don’t you see I am trying to save you.”
Saga-ram: “Save me from what?”
Andrew: “If you won’t believe in God, devil will take your soul.”
Saga-ram: “Why is it bad that the Sea will take me with her.”
Andrew: “The hell is not in the sea; it is place of eternal suffering.”
Saga-ram didn’t say a word; he remained silent and amused at the fuming face of his visitor. Finally, he asked.
Saga-ram: “What do you do?”
Andrew: “I am the messenger of god, I save people.”
Saga-ram: “No, I mean other than this.”
Andrew: “This is what I do, I save people’s soul.”
Saga-ram was left bewildered for a moment. It took him some time to compose his thoughts and then he replied.
Saga-ram: “I have loved the sea since forever; it is my place of worship and enlightenment, I used to bring food, the fishes from the sea and I have been the best at it. When I grew old, I taught this skill to my children, now they do what I did. We lead a simple life here in the village, but I heard the outside world is far ahead of us, there has been men on the moon we see in the night sky, there are talking machines and in all that you are saying that your only task is to be a crazy and convert others to make more crazies like you. Your life must be very meaningless.”
Andrew stayed silent and thought, there is no getting through to these people.

Andrew left the place went to school to his colleges John and others. The last few months has been frustrating for him. Though he was able to deliver his message to the others, there was no outcome. They were unable to convert a single person with all the effort they put overtime and the conversation with Saga-ram was a final blow. Andrew, who was so sure about his new strategy earlier, was then contemplating the reasons behind their lackluster performance.
Agnes: “What should we do, next, continue the teachings or leave.”
Andrew: “No, we must not lose hope, and regardless, teaching is a service, and we should continue that.”
John: “Why do you think, it’s not working out for us.”
Andrew: “Ah, well! Whenever I bring the subject of saving their soul after death, they seem to become uninterested in the conversation. As if death is something too far or inconsequential.”
John: “Strange! Are they not afraid of death.”
Andrew: “They are, they are, however, they seem to be devoid of need to lead a good life after death, and I think I might know why.”
John: “Is it because they don’t have afterlife in their cultural belief?”
Andrew: “No it’s not that; I think their life is sufficiently fulfilling. They have enough land to build home, they have enough food in terms of fishes and produce, they are even independent for clothing. They have nothing to pray for, nothing to bribe for.”
John: “You might be right, Andrew! in that case, I think it’s clear what we must do.”
Martha: “What is that brother John!”
John: “We must hope and pray to God that their boats return empty handed, their crops fail, and they are marred with diseases. They should suffer in this life so that they long for deliverance in the afterlife and start believing. Then we shall be able to save their soul.”
All: “Absolutely.”
Andrew: “God must help us here, after all, we are trying to save them.”
With that remark, Andrew looked up the sky for any sign of approval and right then it began to rain.