With two large tattoos that declare him to be an "atheist" covering his forearms, 33-year-old Ravi Kumar says he realised there was no God when he was just six or seven.

"On Diwali every year my father bought a lottery ticket and prayed to the Goddess Lakshmi but he never hit the jackpot. And then one day, four boys were beating me up and I prayed to Lord Krishna for help, but he didn't come to my rescue," he says.