The Present of Travelling

Tourists gather in a small hotel lobby where wifi is available to connect with their lives. Even though one can physically be thousands of miles away from the strifes of modern life, one’s mind, for better or for worse, does not stray more than a click away.

Kumbh Mela 2013: Day Seven (14th February)

I made it to the water at 5.30am and this time with my camera AND memory card.  The crowds have grown exponentially in preparation for the 15th which is another holy day and the last of six bathing days for the sadhus.  It is incredible the number of people straining to get to the water so early in the morning.  Many of them come out shivering after having spent more time than they should've inside, completing their prayer rituals.

There is a bonanza of pictures today as it is my last day at the Kumbh.  I'm not staying for the bathing day on the 15th as it was next to impossible to get transport connections out after this date.  I'm writing this last Kumbh entry from the departure lounge at Delhi airport.  I'm quite confused how I actually made it here on time for my flight... my train was only 2 hours late.  Next stop, Bangalore.

Kumbh Mela: Day Six (13th February)

I woke up intentially and immediately to the first sounds of the prayer music that blasts through the loudspeakers every morning at 5am.  The early morning is a special time at the kumbh.  It is when most of the devotees come to bathe in the Ganges and the lighting as well as the pilgrims commitment makes for an interesting sight.  Upon arriving at the Ganges I realised that I had forgotten to put a memory card into my camera... I will have to wake up early again the next day too!

Photos 1 and 2:  This sadhu is reported to have kept his arm raised for over 38 years (according to web sources).  His arm is locked in an upright position and emanciated to the point of being just skin and bones.  His fingers locked shut in an inoperable fist sports long spiralling finger nails that seem to grow despite the arm being for all intents and purposes, dead.  His purposes for raising his arm up is reported to be for world peace, however he refused to answer my questions directly, saying that he was busy, but most likely he was tired of the shear volume of questions that are posed to him.

Photo 3:  This group of sadhus pass our camp every day, singing and marching, whilst collecting donations for blessings.

 

Kumbh Mela 2013: Day 5 (12th February)

The Kumbh Mela ground is so big it has taken us a few days to explore it.  Here are a few more pictures from the mela.

Picture 1: At 5.30am the river side is at it's busiest with thousands of pilgrims crowding the banks for an early morning dip.  They needn't worry about setting up their alarms to awake for the occasion as music starts blasting out of the loudspeakers all around the Kumbh Mela at 5am rendering even the best earplugs useless.  The bathers all have their own rituals that they perform depending on their sect or religious intensity.  Most bathers, often in water waist deep, drop their knees and dip their heads into the water several times in order to cleanse their souls.  Inbetween dips they whisper the names of relatives and loved ones that are not present in order to cleanse their souls too.  Some collect water in bottles that they will take back for their relatives to perform rites and cleansing with the auspicious waters. Others, typically women, light a tea light on a paper oragami boat filled with flowers and send it on the river as a prayer for the long life of their spouses.  Saddhu's have their own particular rituals:  One blew a conch shell several times before entering the water.

Picture 2:  The Kumbh Mela camp stretches off into the distance as far as the eye can see.  The camp is shrouded in wood fire smoke in the evening and early morning as a million cooking fires fill the air with acrid smoke.  The smoke stings the eyes whether one is sitting within the tent or without.

Picture 3 and 4:  A woman is engrossed in prayer at an even more holier place than the banks of the Ganges at the Kumbh Mela.  The confluence of the rivers:  Ganges, Jamna and Sarasvati provides the holiest place and which quite handily is only 100 metres from the shore  of the Kumbh Mela camp.  But due to the shear number of visitors we had to walk four kilometres in order to find a boat to take us out to the confluence.  Fortunately the river is very shallow at the confluence allowing Indians, who are almost all non-swimmers, to partake in the rituals safely.

Picture 5:  'Swinging Saddhu'.  This holy man has not sat or layed down in over five years.  When he is at rest he leans on this platform like swing.  Many saddhus believe in some sort of sacrifice or penance in order test their strength and determination.  The control of mind over body, they believe, is essential in order to reach a higher condition.

Picture 6:  New digember (naked saddhus covered in ash) recruits go through a difficult initiation process that stretches months before they can be ordained.  They must sit there completely naked for at least a month until they are completely comfortable being naked.  The recruits have five gurus who they must obey without questioning.  They too will be subjected to penance in order to strengthen their mind and resolve in order to go beyond what was previously possible.

Kumbh Mela 2013: Day Four

The mass migration for the 10th February became an exodus and people were leaving in their thousands on the 11th.  Nevertheless new people arrived and the millions continued to bathe in the Ganges.

Kumbh Mela 2013: Day Three - 10th February

If I thought that I would get a full nights sleep here on the 10th February I was sadly mistaken.  Indeed the singing in the neighbouring tents went on until the early hours before starting again in gusto after only, what seemed, an half hour respite.  Everyone is excited by today, the most auspicious day of the Maha Kumbh Mela which only comes around once every 144 years.

Wake up was at 6am for Bapu to get ready for the procession that will precede the bathing of the saddhus.  I had no idea what my part in this process would be but I guessed I was to be sitting on the sidelines watching, hopefully having a better view than the masses.  But when Bapu popped his head around the corner and told me to hurry up and get ready I was a bit confused.  I entered the main part of the tent to find that all of the men were being dressed in orange robes.  After a quick examination I established that we were to accompany Bapu and that we all must be dressed in orange robes.  I rushed to get ready in time, failing blindly at wrapping the robes in any respectable fashion.  Fortunately someone was there to help me and I was soon dressed in cloth that I never expected to be dressed in.

Every Saddhu has a tractor pulled float to transfer the saddhu and his disciples through the 'streets' of the Kumbh to parade to the pilgrims before arriving at the river for the bathing.  The float always contains a raised throne like seat for the saddhu to sit on and his disciples crowd around.  I was given the honour of bearing the danda, a celebratory defensive weapon, one side of the seat.  We were crowded on the float and indeed not everyone could climb abroad.  The others would have to walk alongside, not straying too far though or they might very well be sucked into the crowds massing on the sides.

Finally the procession started and our tractor lurched to a start slowly following the other tractors in front of us.  As soon as we were out of the VIP area we saw the extent of the crowds.  They stretched the horizon in every direction and the cheer was deafening.  We advanced slowly to the sounds of the police whistles desperately blowing to keep the crowds back and the procession moving forward.  Some floats threw garland flowers to the outstretched hands of pilgrims who caught them enthusiastically and prayed to the flower.  One woman even reached down and grabbed some of the sand that our tractor had passed over and sprinkled it onto her head in prayer.

The crowds near the river though for the police to control and the floats had to stop a hundred or so metres short.  We got off the float, one by one, but were immediately separated from each other by the crowds.  Each to themselves we fought our way through the crowd to the water.  I had lost everyone that we came with and was being shoved about like a disowned ragdoll.  Someone fell in front of me and there was a real danger of them being crushed by the swarming crowd.  A saddhu next to the fallen woman started pushing everyone back whilst straddling the victim, protecting them.  A few others helped keep the crowds away and eventually, luckily, she was dragged to her feet.  Disaster averted.

I reached the water where there was a little more space for each other.  I took of my robes and pushed through the crowds into the water.  People were ecstatic of being there and the joy in their faces was electrifying.  Following cue, I dunked my head into the water three times on this holy of holiest days of the Maha Kumbh Mela.

By the end of the day it is reported that over 30 million people bathed today.

Kumbh Mela 2013: Day Two

Pilgrims just kept on arriving.  There was no let up in the flow of arrivals and it only increased as the day wore on.  Carrying their possessions on the their heads or bales of hay for bedding they walked their way into the camps.  All roads are now closed and the bridges that served us in our cars are pedestrian only.  It is for the 10th February, tomorrow, that they have all come.  The most auspicious day of the Kumbh Mela and indeed of the last 11 Kumbh melas as this alignment of the stars only occurs every 144 years. 

Kumbh Mela 2013: First Impressions

Their flight was late.  Great!  I had rushed to get to the airport in good time leaving well before rush hour and avoiding having an early dinner in a respectable but cheap restaurant.  At the aiport I succumbed to boredem/hunger and ate my fill and a few days budget at the airport restaurant.  Two hours late, their flight eventually landed and I stood with a few other people included a garland welding bapa at the arrivals gate.  People started to flow out, tourists mainly, followed by bapu in his typical orange robes and turban who floated out in a statement of serenity and confidence.  It appears that the other people waiting alongside me were all part of the same party and all rushed to greet him.  The traditional way to greet a man of reverence is to bow down and touch his feet and for his particular sect with the greeting 'hari om'.  I was in a dilemma, everyone else was bending down to the floor to his feet or even dropping to their knees but on our previous interactions with bapu he rejected this show of respect from me and indeed he clasped my hands and greeted me before I had a chance to decide.  His entourage with him was twenty four strong and with the extras, including me, meeting them at varanasi airport we were a thirty strong crowd.  We left after much cramming into the three cars we had at our service a little after 10pm for the three hour journey to Allahabad and the Kumbh Mela.

4am.  We finally made into the Kumbh Mela.  The traffic management was atrocious and much of our journey was ground to a halt from incompetent traffic officers.  As we, finally, drove through the entrance and over the bridge overlooking the camps the makeshift city brandished for the month and a half of the Kumbh was a sight to behold.  The night was alive with the beaming of thousands of street lamps that lighted up the grid shaped city from here to the horizon.  We descended into this temporary city along with a constant crush of cars each looking for their camps.  Each camp is made for/by a particular saddhu to cater for his disciples and himself during the Kumbh Mela and each entrance is decorated with an elaborate facade in a power play with their 'rivals'.  The 'big' saddhus with thousands of followers and disciples have large camps and their entrance would have a constantly moving LED display as well as several large pictures of the saddhu in various poses dependant on the views of the graphic designer.

We eventually found our 'street' and followingly our camp.  No elaborate facade ordained our camp but as we entered our tents I was astonished.  This is not the rough style of camp I imagined but rather a show of civility, maharaja style.  Upon entering the mess tent dinner was served immediately for all of us weary travellers in the early morning.  The army of cooks had stayed up all night waiting for us and making sure dinner was prepared.  The sleeping tents consisted of two large canvas tents to house the 30 of us.  Mattresses lined the floor, dormitory style, in these well lit rooms with blankets and sleeping bags provided for the cold weather.  Bapu had his own private quarters but having expected three tents instead of two declared that a number of us shall share his tent too.  Concrete constructed toilets lined the back  of the tents with shower cubicles and hot water on demand.  Power points provided in each tent provided the means to charge the prefora of devices ordained by pilgrims.

After this long and eventful night we finally prepared ourselves to sleep.  I was looking forward to a long sleep waking only to the heat of the midday sun.  It was not to be, at 5am the morning prayers started on the megaphones of a particular camp which was immediately taken up by neighbouring camps creating an eruption of song and prayer that not even my ear plugs could withstand.  It is now 8.30am.

Kumbh Mela 2013: Brint it on!

I have written half a dozen first sentences and each one seems to go nowhere.  I'm trying to describe my thoughts about my imminent attendance of the kumbh mela, the largest religious gathering in the world, but each thought I have erodes into half a thought and then a whisper, balled over by another stronger thought that is equally as fragile. 

What do I expect?  What am I hoping to see?  What am I afraid of?  These are a few of a hundred questions running through my mind.  The last of these though is the easiest to answer, indeed it is the one that I have spent the most of my time deliberating over:  I am afraid of falling ill from the poor hygeine conditions.  I am afraid of losing all my valuables (or them getting stolen).  I am afraid of dying in a stampede of pilgrims - one person gave some kind advice about this last point and said that there is only one way to go if a stampede starts, that is up and jokingly pointed upwards towards heaven.   Funny!

But I am also hoping to see and experience so much more than what my fears can drown.  I am hoping to see godly devotion so strong that pilgrims, in their tens of millions, travels thousands of miles to attend.  I am hoping to see the extraordinary colours and patterns adopted by both pilgrims and saddhus alike: a massive canvas of human art unlike anything seen before.  Finally I am hoping to meet some incredible people and fall into some deep discussions that I will struggle to get out of.

All in all, I'm hoping for a lot, afraid of a few things but expecting nothing.  Bring on the kumbh mela!

Varanasi: First Look

Varanasi is, in a nutshell, a great big cauldron of excrement and faith.  People's devotion and the colours, though, make this a photographers dream and never before have I seen so many dreadlocks and extremely expensive cameras in one place.  Some pictures below (of the faith part):