Uber for God: Inside India’s Religious Tech Industry The sun hadn’t yet risen in New York when I opened my laptop and signed onto Skype, but it was almost 5 p.m. Indian Standard Time — my proper muhūrta, the moment at which my planetary energies are aligned. I was greeted by an image of a bright room somewhere in New Delhi, where three men were already well into their preparations for a puja, a Hindu devotional prayer ritual on my behalf. One was the priest leading the ritual, wearing a light-pink kurta. One was a man named Acharya Vivek, who was to be my physical stand-in while I watched on my laptop (the title acharya signifies a learned religious man). And the third was Acharya Keshav, the man who’d organized the puja on my behalf, through a “religious platform” startup called Shubhpuja. Acharya Keshav had made sure I was prepared with a glass of water and a plate of sugar and rice to be used during the ceremony. Portraits of the elephant-headed god Ganesh (who is worshipped before any new venture) as well as the goddess Saraswati (worshipped for success in education) were set up, with a lit candle flickering in front of them. The men were seated cross-legged on the floor, and laid out in front of them were small plates of sweets, bananas, and flowers that would be offered to the gods. Acharya Keshav patiently walked me through the different stages of the puja, as the priest began a series of Sanskrit prayers in a melodic singsong. I was asked to fill in my birth month — July — and birthplace — Colorado — as well as parrot some Sanskrit lines after the priest said them. I watched as a bracelet was tied around Acharya Vivek’s wrist, in place of my absent one. Acharya Keshav instructed me several times to “put some water on the Earth!” by sprinkling a few drops of water in front of my MacBook. Skype dropped the call twice, and we had to reconnect. At one point, the priest blew a conch shell, and everyone stood up, which brought all three men out of my laptop’s field of view. I could still hear young kids playing in the background, and a Delhi train passing in the distance. After about an hour, Acharya Keshav told me I could sign off. As a nice Shubhpuja convenience, the acharyas would continue the next hour of the puja without me having to be present through Skype. I’d gotten my own prayer ceremony without needing to do much more than press a button and fill out a form — basically Uber, but for god.