To the left of the altar, a string of blinking Christmas lights surrounded a statue of Mother Mary and Jesus as child of about eight. Adjacent to the statuary was an object that looked like a tent. The priests walked down from the altar, and positioned themselves in front of the tent that was representative of the cave where Jesus was entombed after the crucifixion.

With candles ablaze, lights blinking, and the priests chanting, I started to pay close attention...I knew something big was happening. The organist started making low bass rumbling sounds, a bright light flashed from the tomb and Father Christie reached up to separate two pieces of foam that represented the stone covering the cave.

At this point, I was pretty sure that this type of Easter service was not the norm in the heavily Catholic state of Swabia, in southern Germany, where my wife's family would be attending Easter service. By now, more lights were flashing inside the cave, and a two foot figurine of Jesus swaddled in white smock was pushed to the front of the tomb. The sound man cranked up the volume from the organ. Firecrackers went off, both outside and inside the church.

So, this was Easter in Bangalore, a tableau of the life of Christ - Jesus at eight next to a 33 year old resurrected Jesus - surrounded by smoke, the air thick with the smell of gunpowder and incense. This was Southern India Karnataka kitsch at its spiritual best.

As smoke from the firecrackers filled the church, I was positive that my mother-in-law would be shocked at this interpretation of Christ rising from the dead, even as the priests solemnly chanted Easter prayers. Back in her small village of Unterschneidheim, the Catholic church doesn't light firecrackers inside the Church. Blinking lights are also verboten.

Then I thought about how I would describe this to my mom and sister, devout Greek Orthodox. They wouild be celebrating Orthodox Easter on 14 April. They laughed and said that they didn't know that there were many Catholics in India.

My heretical friends would also laugh and them give me a short lecture on the problem with any religion. Some would probably compare it to the prosteltizing of a right-wing Christian preacher. I, however, imagined being a twelve year old altar boy gleefully lighting firecrackers in church and thought that was pretty cool. And if that's not a method to guarantee faith in young kids, than I don't know what is. Christ has risen, truly he has risen, and in this instance, I'm sure the acrid smoke in the cave hastened his ascension to Heaven. Amen.