I’m fairly speechless about the headline to this article about the “Tooting man” who is believed to be a Hindu goddess?!? Besides feeling flabbergasted about the fact that a man claims to be a goddess (and the villagers believe him), I couldn’t help but laugh about all the references to his hometown in England.

JOBLESS Steve Cooper has found work at last — as an Indian GODDESS who thousands of Hindus believe can cure their infertility.

Pilgrims head to a remote jungle temple to be blessed by Steve, 32, from Tooting, South West London.

He places his third finger on the their foreheads and mutters: “The goddess is here”.

Surrounded by followers, Steve told The Sun: “I love being here. I don’t miss anything about Tooting.

Stop laughing!! This is serious work he’s now doing. I’m not sure why I went to school for all these years.  (By the way, I passed the bar exam and am moving to Florida.  I have no plans to become a goddess though).  Apparently he forgot to tell his brother back in Tooting about his new job in India.

But last night Steve’s stunned brother Justin Cooper said: “He’s just an ordinary guy.

“He never told me anything about this.”

It also seems that not all villagers are convinced that Steve is qualified to be a goddess:

Steve now follows a strict vegetarian diet and sleeps in a spartan room. He lives among 80 eunuchs — castrated men — at the temple. But some have their doubts that he is equipped to be a goddess.

A eunuch called Sudha said: “He is a fake. I checked and he still has a penis. (uh-oh!)
“He is a male so can’t be a goddess. He shouldn’t give blessings.” Steve, who has a tattoo of the goddess on his arm, just insisted: “I am both male and female.”

Fair enough. I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who could confirm the veracity of this Tooting man’s claims to be a goddess.