Devotees at the receiving end.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI; At first glance there was nothing unusual about this year’s annual Ganeshotsav in Mumbai. There has been the usual dose of walking gods, excited dancers and dancing drummers. But the usual became the unusual on Tuesday evening as the finale of Ganeshotsav or Ganesh Chaturthi reached a crescendo (after ten days of fervor) with hundreds of idols being immersed inside the fringes of the Arabian Sea in Mumbai.
About 60 devotees came out bitten and bleedings as they emerged out of water after plunging inside with idols of the elephant god, Ganapati. Yes, it had all the ingredients of a divine wrath. But read on. Doctors and medicos who attended to the stricken devotees say that they are fish bites probably due to sting ray or catfish.
“Stingray bites result in pain. The bruises of some persons were bleeding,” said Dr Mahesh Shah, deputy dean at Nair hospital, where 38 people were treated. Dr. Shah explained that the stingray sting was not venomous, but caused irritation. Stingrays have sharp tail spines and humans are
Marine biology experts say the increase in sea surface temperatures and other ecological imbalances have forced marine organisms to come closer to the shore, resulting in incidents like bites.
“A sudden temperature change forces fish to move to a cooler place. Several juvenile eels nestle near the rocky areas of Girgaum beach to avoid being hunted. They are driven close to the shore in search of food,” said Vinay Deshmukh, principal scientist of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, CMFRI.
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