Loser lines and fast lanes

I was perhaps 10 or 11 years old when the family, including paatti (grandmother), went to Tirupati.  For a visit with the presiding god.  We stayed in one of the cottages owned and operated by the temple trust.

It was a carefully planned trip--as it always was the case with anything that father did--that included special and expensive tickets for us to bypass the long lines of the faithful, and head straight into the temple to spend quality time with the god during a pooja.

I could not understand how a god could allow such separate and unequal treatment of people. His own followers were sifted through the sieve of affluence?  I mildly voiced my question, which went nowhere.

And when paatti twisted her ankle and could not join us for the special pooja, I wondered if it was a lesson from god. Ah, yes, those were the early years when I was a true believer--teenage and rebellion hadn't kicked in yet ;)

The practice of paying for the privilege of getting quickly to the temple gods, and even boasting about it later on, continues in the old country where privileges such as caste never ever seem to go away.  For instance, I read in the newspaper, The Hindu, that there are special tickets that the faithful can buy in order to catch a glimpse of the idol that is brought out every forty years at the Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Kanchipuram.

If one can buy the access to god through money or influence, well, the market can easily take care of that in everyday life, right?

The concept is thought of as an American phenomenon but is now spreading worldwide. Queues can effectively be skipped everywhere from airport security to music festivals. Just buy a fast-track ticket or “VIP access” pass.

An "American phenomenon"?  Did the writer even bother to check the conditions in India's temples? ;)

Does the phenomenon dictate a two-tiered society? It seems the answer is “yes” – but as columnist Baggini points out, that two-tiered society always existed.

Yes, it has always existed.  And it will continue on. After all, even the gods don't care!

At the Varadaraja Perumal Temple (Kanchipuram)