amarnath

Every year devout hindus trudge up the mountains, braving the kashmiri militants, to offer prayers at the amarnath cave. This cave has a naturally occuring Shivalingam, a ice formation that resembles the traditional round headed obelisk that symbolises lord shiva. This year the ice shivlinga looks funny and there are stories that say that global warming has led to the non-appearance of the shivalingam and the one that is being worshipped as the very symbol of Lord Shiva- is fake! Newspapers have printed before and after pictures which do add credence to this theory. The current shivalinga looks very much like a stone and cement and white paint job. Its rather too geometrical to be a natural ice formation. This is one story that we are all following eagerly as it mixes global warming and conspiracy theories witha healthy dose of religion and geopolitics thrown in..