Baba prays for dev, stands on a bamboo stick

TST- BOKARO(India) : He calls himself Sri Sri 108 Govardhan Baba and his eccentric practices have made him the talk of the town. To appease the gods, he climbed upon a 30-feet long single bamboo stick and has been standing steady there for 36 hours now, singing prayers and bhajans.

His strange practice has drawn thousands of residents to Durga Temple in the Khairachatar area of Kasmar block. They believe that Baba has a divine power with which he has been able to stand on the bamboo stick for so many hours at a stretch.

Baba is a resident of Telo village under Nawadih block of the district. He is a priest in Mahadevgada temple there. The residents saw Baba arrive at 9 am on Friday and install a bamboo stick in front of the temple. He later climbed upon it and has been standing there since.

"Baba will not take any food during the prayers. He will smoke marijuana and take 25 grams of milk once in every hour," said Shibu Mahto, an associate of Baba. Last year Baba had buried himself in the ground while meditating at a village in Dhanbad.

Baba lives in a temple in Telo but he visits the temples situated in other places once a year for spiritual practices. "He has got divine powers. Without it, how can a person sing bhajan and dance standing on a bamboo stick? He never asks for money to do all this. Baba's only plea to the gods is to bring peace and development for the residents of the village concerned," said Mahto.