Kathantaran

A man stabbed another man in the stomach and said, “Here, take this knife. You too, stab someone else.”

The second man took the knife and plunged it into the stomach of a third man. Following the tradition, the second man also handed the knife over to the third man, ensuring that what had happened to him would be repeated by the third man against a fourth.

Now, the entire country has a knife wound in its stomach, and everyone has a knife in their hand, which they are using to stab someone else.

When someone tries to stop them, they say, “This is a matter of our faith. Do not interfere. You are hurting our religious sentiments.”

(From a story in the collection)