You just can't make this up. Thread on hypocrisy in Kerala.

1. During the last two years of PG, I moved into my college's PG hostel for group study. It was a Christian college and there were 15 Christian hostlers and I.

2. Fourteen of the 15 Christian students were deeply religious. Despite being from out of town, they had each identified a local church belonging to their denomination and would unfailingly attend Sunday sermons at these churches.

3. Due to the influence of their churches, most of these students were grossly misinformed about Hinduism. They were taught that Hindus worshiped Satan. They considered India a pagan land full of savages who had to be civilised. There was an underlay of resentment against Hindus.

4. In contrast to their faith was yours truly. While I was openly and strongly Hindu, I did not visit temples. This made the Christian boys think I was easy prey for conversion. Most of them were prodded by their parish priest to bring Hindus to mass so we could be "saved".

5. On Sundays the Christian boys would come to my room and say, "We are going to church, want to join us? Have you ever attended mass? Come on, you may like it." My stock reply was, "If Christianity hasn't made you better human beings, why do you think it'll work for me?"

6. Nearly all these 14 Christian boys came from poor or lower middle class families. The only Christian boy who did not attend church (and was an agnostic) was a wealthy rubber plantation owner's son. The other Christian boys would tease him that he was going to hell."

7. During elections, 14 of the 15 Christian hostlers openly voted for the political party as per the Church's directives. They attended Sunday mass without fail. They read the New Testament daily. They prayed daily. They said only Sonia Gandhi can save India.

8. Coming from a pluralistic background, I was sick of all this. One day I told them: "I've learnt quite a lot from you Christians. I've decided to start visiting temples every Thursday. Like you, I'll also vote for the candidate based on whom our temple priest recommends."

9. Hearing this, these Christian boys sat up and pointing fingers at me, said almost in unison: "Hey, hey, Rakesh, this is bad, you have become communal."

The jokes write themselves in Kerala.

Ends