This is India

"American detained for Puri temple visit"
Times of India
Friday, March 2, 2007
p. 15
Read the follow up story

This is an article we found in the Times of India newspaper a few days ago. We are so baffled by the actions of the Indian people and authorities. Here are a few snippets that we found interesting:

"Roediger, a Christian, was handed over to the police, after an embarrassed temple administration took a fine of Rs 209 from him even as some shrine priests insisted that the 'bhog' for the day be dumped as it had been defiled by the presence of a non-Hindu inside the temple."

What? The temple priests collected the fine? Why not make it 210 rupees? There must be something auspicious about 209.

"'I am innocent. I wasn't aware of any restriction. The signboard announcing the restriction may have been in a corner of the entrance and hence escaped my notice,' Roediger told TOI. He was still in detention till the filing of this report."

This foreigner sounds dangerous. I'm sure glad he's under the surveillance of the Indian police.

"The police did not know what to do with Roediger as there is no legal provision barring a Christian or foreigner from entering the temple."

The solution seems pretty obvious to me: release him. If no laws exist barring a foreigner from entering the temple then he is innocent and shouldn't have been arrested in the first place, right? Not even the police know what to do with a man that hasn't broken the law, this is embarrassing.