travel

On the Upcoming Global Buddhist Summit in New Delhi

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , ,

So this tweet regarding the Global Buddhist Summit being conducted by India landed up on my TL some time back and triggered a chain of thoughts that I shall attempt to share here.

Let’s see how it goes ..

Note : Before moving ahead, do go thru the video on the tweet above, even if in form of snippets.

I’ll begin with a disclaimer : This blog post is NOT about religion or evangelism, if at all. Instead, I intend talking a bit about our Buddhist heritage and how it has great potential in deepening ties with the near and far neighbourhood.

First & foremost, as expected, I searched for & quickly found a hashtag about the upcoming Global Buddhist Summit that seems to have been created by some good folks: #GlobalBuddhistSummit .
The event is apparently being organised by International Buddhist Confederation, New Delhi.

The existence of the International Buddhist Confederation itself was a revelation for me!
That such an organisation exists in the country speaks volumes about those who realized the importance of this heritage and the need to preserve and share it.

The motto of the @IbcWorldOrg itself give away the intent : ‘Collective Wisdom, United Voice’.

THIS is what holds a huge potential for the near and even far neighbourhood.

The common heritage of Buddhism directly links India with almost all its direct neighbours less East and West Pakistan.
Nepal : Birth Place of Lord Buddha
Bhutan : Buddhist Majority Country
Myanmar : Buddhist Majority Country that is also credited with saving the practice of Vipassana in its true form as taught by Lord Buddha Himself. Sh. Goenka Ji discovered it while doing business in Myanmar and brought it back to India.Sri Lanka : Yet another Buddhist Majority Country.
Tibet : The Birthplace of the current Dalai Lama, as also thought to be the custodian of a large number of priceless Buddhist manuscripts.

Then there is Japan from where a steady stream of visitors keep landing in Bodh Gaya for pilgrimage, many of whom then settle there in matrimonial bliss with Indian spouses. This is what Google tells me 👇

However, the first Global Buddhist Summit only happened in 2023. We were perhaps a bit late in realizing this common heritage. But as they say: Better Late Than Never!
I’d say that we have been in an overdrive since then, ‘spreading the word’ & getting like-minded folks together!

The first inkling of the sheer GOLD that India has in terms of Buddhist heritage was the reception in Thailand of the sacred relics that were sent there by us. IIRC, it was the IAF that flew the relics to Thailand and back.

(Link to above tweet : https://x.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1764395457189413163 )

The relics subsequently travelled to Russia and Bhutan as well in 2025.
In fact Prime Minister Modi himself was there in Bhutan when the relics were on display there for the faithful.
Talk about Diplomacy with common heritage links!

The case of Russia is even more interesting, though.
Who knew that a region in Russia would be a Buddhist majority region .. and that too in the EUROPEAN part of Russia.
So technically, the relics also travelled to Europe last year!

On that note, do watch the video in the tweet below for the reception accorded to the holy relics in Kalmykia by the locals.

Bottomline : This common Buddhist heritage has a lot of potential to thicken the already existing bonds of friendship and cultural imprints throughout the Indian Subcontinent and even farther away.

IMO though, the acme of this shall, however, lie in not only deeper cultural linkages but also in deeper economic linkages.

Remember, it was an Indian businessman in Burma – Sh Goenka Ji – who brought back Vipassana to India after millennia. What is to say that the current ambassadors of the Buddhist heritage won’t find a way into translating this forum of Global Buddhist Summit into business partnerships as well?
Especially if a gentle nudge or two is given by the GOI as well?

In any case, as mentioned in the interview in the beginning of this blog post, delegates for this Global Buddhist Summit include not only religious scholars but academics as well.
Here’s to hoping that subsequent iterations will also see businessmen as well!

And as always, when it comes to the question of Buddhism, there is always the China factor as well.
Especially wrt the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama, whenever that happens.
In fact here is what I wrote about that 14 years ago!

And true to their form, China didn’t disappoint either!
This is what they did after the First Global Buddhist Summit was held in India.


Come to think of it, we weren’t the only ones who were late in recognizing the potential of the Buddhist legacy!
And the Chinese just copied us!

This time round, thought, they have been a bit smarter .. they did theirs a week before the Indian event!

As I conclude this chain of thoughts, all I’ll say is that the upcoming Global Buddhist Summit might just be a much larger event in terms of eventual impact than what we think currently.
This is exactly what triggered this thread after I first came across the report regarding it.

It is as much about sharing the common heritage of Lord Buddha as it is about deepening existing bonds throughout the near and far neighbourhood. And I hope this includes economic bonds as well because in addition to religion, nothing else binds more strongly than money!

True impact of events such as the Global Buddhist Summit can only be seen with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps a few years or even decades after the event. One can only hope and pray that we steer this in the right direction for common good of all.

For Europe and USA, Buddhism is truly one the most ‘popular’ religions that have originated in India, thanks in large part to the charisma of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. In fact, Richard Gere even got banned from travelling to China for talking about Tibet!

However, the question of Tibet is not triggered this thought. That will be decided in due course, probably whenever the Dalai Lama reincarnates next.
That said, this unrelated event by Buddhist monks in USA is also worth following 👇

With this I conclude this chain of thoughts.
I hope the Global Buddhist Summit becomes a regular event, either annually or bi-annually & that dividends shall include peace and harmony for all concerned.
On that note, I’ll leave this post here as well, to tickle your brains!


:Fin:

On the Original Names of Rivers / Places in Kashmir Valley and Jammu / Ladakh Regions

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

Folks, sharing some data points on the traditional names of various places / rivers in the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu / Ladakh Regions .. names that are slowly but surely being erased from our collective memories. That, and a bit about the Kashmir Valley in the Vedic Era.

Here goes ..

During the Rig Vedic Period, Kashmir was under the SatiSar lake, created by Lord Shiv for Sati Mata. Within it resided the demon ‘Jalodgar’ who had a boon from Lord Brahma that he couldn’t be killed while he lived in the Satisar Lake. He terrorized inhabitants in & around the lake.

Fed up with his tyranny, Rishi Kashyap prayed to Lord Vishnu and with his blessings, drained out the Satisar Lake from a place that came to be known as ‘Varah Mool’, or the Molars of the Boar (Lord Vishnu as Varah dug up an exit for the lake).

Varah Mool is present day Baramula.

But with the lake drained and the Varah Mool Pass now open, the area was devoid of water. Thus Rishi Kashyap once again prayed to Goddesses Parvati, Saraswati and Lakshmi and urged them to incarnate in the form of life-giving rivers.

Devi Saraswati & Devi Lakshmi descended as Rivers Rumbiara and Veshaw respectively.

Devi Parvati descended as the Vitasta River into which these first two rivers drained.

Vitasta was renamed by invaders as the Jhelum. She is Ma Parvati herself, flowing and nourishing these lands.

The source of River Vitasta is said to be Vernag, where Lord Shiva struck the ground with his Trishul, creating the source of the River Vitasta.

Vitastā, means “the spanning one” or “the river that extends widely”. It is still revered & celebrated on the Vitasta Festival, that was recently revived by the Govt.

(Painting by Bishan Singh, 1872 : Kashmiri Hindus performing Sūrya Namaskār at the banks of the Vitasta)

The name Kashmir itself is said to have been derived from the name ‘Kashyap Meru’ as it came to be known after Rishi Kashyap established his ashram there once the three Goddesses descended down as the three key rivers in the valley.

Baramula itself was called the Varahamulaksetra or Varahaksetra, after the incarnation of Lord Vishnu that helped create an opening for draining the Satisar Lake.

Coming on to the original names of the other rivers in the region .. I got hold of this map some years ago. Took a while before deciphering the current names of these rivers mentioned here.

Sindhu, in the initial part, was called the Rasaa River. It was also called as the Vaajinaavati in Ladakh before becoming the Rasaa and thereafter the Sindhu River as it cleared the Himalayas.

Shyok was called the Trishtama.

One of the tributaries of the Shyok River was called the Anitbha .. or the one with a dull colour.

Gilgit River is said to be the Shwetyavari River, or the one that is white in colour.

Zanskar River is said to be the Oornavati River, while the Shigar River is the Susartu River.

Silaamavati was the original name of the Suru River.

Of course, many know that Chenab was the Chandrabhaaga River.

Kishanganga has been renamed as the Neelum by Pakistan because of obvious reasons.

Name of Sarayu River got corrupted over the ages to become present day Haro River.

Chenab is Asikni.

Ravi is Parushni or Iravati.

Sutlej is Sutudri/Zatadru.

Beas is Vipaasa.

Kabul River was known as the Kubha River.

इ॒मं मे॑ गंगे यमुने सरस्वति॒ शुतु॑द्रि॒ स्तोमं॑ सचता॒ परु॒ष्ण्या।

अ॒सि॒क्न्या म॑रुद्वृधे वि॒तस्त॒यार्जी॑कीये शृणु॒ह्या सु॒षोम॑या ॥

O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri, Parushni, follow my praise! O Asikni Marudvridha, Vitasta, with the Arjikiya and Sushoma, listen! – Rig Ved

In fact the Sutlej was called the Sutudra till as late as 18th Century. Guru Gobind Singh Ji concludes the Chaupai Saheb as: भाद्रव सुदी अष्टमी रविवारा तीर सतुद्रव ग्रंथ सुधारा (This book was competed on the banks of Sutlej on Sunday, the eighth Sudi of the month of Bhaadro)

Now coming on to the original names of towns / villages / other places in Kashmir.

Tithwal was called Teerthwal.

The full name of the Dal Lake was the Sureshwari Dal, after Ma Durga.

Gulmarg was Gauri Marg where a temple for Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati existed. The temple was destroyed by Yousuf Shah, who ruled Kashmir in 16th century. He renamed the place as Gulmarg. Maharaja Hari Singh built a new temple there for his queen, now called the Maharani Temple.

Pampore was Padmapura.

Bijbehara was Vijayeshwara,

Here is an excerpt from the book ‘Ramanand Sagar – An Epic Life’. Apparently, Vijeshwar was established by Mahadev during the Treta Yug!

Ganderbal was Gandharapura.

Anantnag was the land of Nagas with King Ananta as their ruler.

Bhaderwah was BhadarKashi. The town is variously referred to as Bhadarwasa, Bhadarkashi, Bhadar Avakash and Bhadar Pura. Here is an extract from the Wikipedia page on Bhaderwah:

 

Kishtwar was KashtNiwar / Kashthavata.

Pir Panjal was Panchaldhar.

Mattan was Martand.

It is Hari Parbat, not Koh ‘e Maran.

It is Shankaracharya Hill, not Takht ‘e Sulemani.

And it is Martand Surya Mandir not Shaitan ki Gufa, as christened by some Bollywood idiots! It was the zenith of Kashmiri architecture, constructed by the legendary King Lalitaditya Muktapida. Of course, the invaders destroyed it too.

Then there is Pahalgam, which is very much in news these days. It means the First Village, i.e. the beginning of the Shri Amarnath Yatra. Interestingly, here is what the late Rishi Kapoor had to say about Pahalgam in his Autobiography :

Some more names, though not part of Kashmir are: Ghaggar used to be a tributary of Sutlej (Satadru). Its original name was Drishdvati.

Peshawar was Purushpur.

Afghanistan itself was Asmavraja.

Of course, Delhi itself was Indraprasth!

As I bring this thread to a close, let me ask you a question – Can we go back to OFFICIALLY naming these places / rivers back to their original, Sanskrit names?

An addendum for those who think it will cause some issues – Do you talk about Burma, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Ceylon by their old or new names? Heck, even Turkey has become Türkiye!

Food for thought, no?

In the end, I will just plug this Twitter thread here. Parts of it give some more context to what I wrote above:

:fin:

A Visit to the Maha Kumbh

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

This chain of thoughts was shared on twitter on the night of 17 Jan 2025. Link to the thread on twitter : https://x.com/CestMoiz/status/1880267596702052855

Folks, Sharing snippets from my trip to Prayagraj to witness the Maha Kumbh earlier this week. Missus and I spent four days and five nights in the city, reaching there on the night of 11 Jan and returning back home on the night of 16 Jan.

Here goes ..

First and foremost, MUST plan a trip to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh!

It is a once in 144 year event and we are blessed to be alive at this point in time to be able to witness it. For so many people, a Maha Kumbh won’t ever be even a once in a lifetime event.

As we drove into the city, we could sense magic in the very air. The entire city was in an upbeat mood, despite waves after waves of humanity descending there. Thankfully, we had booked our stay in the month of October itself and were comfortable that way, unlike many others.

Having parked our car, we just let it remain there for the next four days. This was partly due to us not quite knowing the city and partly also because of the traffic restrictions put in place by the police in order to facilitate the floods of pilgrims that had come for the event.

We realized later that the massive crowds were there because the first two days of the Maha Kumbh, i.e., 13th and 14th Jan were for Shaahi Snaans of Magh Poornima and Sankrant. After Sankrant, the crowds visibly thinned down. Will come to that in a while.

Morning of 12th was our first day in the town. We took a rickshaw for the Ganga Ghat near Naag Vasuki Mandir. Thankfully, the rickshaw driver lost his way and we ended up across Maa Ganga, at the entrance to the Mela Grounds!

We entered the area & were pleasantly surprised to see the arrangements put in place by the administration. The various ‘shivirs’ were very well laid out. The entire area is divided into a vast grid with lanes criss-crossing each other at right angles, making it easy to navigate.

The pathways are paved with metal boards for ease of driving for vehicles permitted inside the Mela Grounds. The various ‘Shivirs’ too are fairly well decorated, depending on how deep the pockets of the organisers are!

Sharing one particular camp that I found really interesting!

And of course, it being UP, Shri JCB Ji was there as well, though this time for a very benign purpose!

The sheer Bhakti and Devotion that the crowds from all over the country brought along with them was something that could be felt in the very air we breathed. I kid you not when I say that it was almost as if one could actually ‘see’ the beautiful vibes in the air.

The first day was spent volunteering at a Shivir where tea / bhandaara was a continuous affair from 5am till 11pm every day. Three out of our four days were spent volunteering at this Shivir, in fact. Such was the bhakti, that the person managing the Shivir had actually quit his job to be able to spend the 50-odd days there, managing and serving for nearly 18 hours a day, along with his wife & kids. They all and some more volunteers were in fact staying within the camp itself.

Serving food to folks from different strata of society was a strangely spiritual experience. One could see that devotion in even the poorest of the people. And also see how content many of them actually are. They took extra care to ensure not a morsel was wasted, and only took just as much as they needed. This included packed meals for a parent or a child or even a sibling who wasn’t able to come for the Bhandaara. All prasad was gratefully and smilingly accepted and consumed.

Talking about the prasad, the first day’s fare was kadhi-chawal. Once again, I kid you not when I say that even though cooked in bulk, it tasted heavenly. The only reason that I can fathom for that is the Bhaav with which the cooks were preparing the prasad. They worked round the clock, but with the same energy throughout the four days that one saw them, regardless of the time of the day.

This brings me back to the arrangements. Each ‘Shivir’ had an electricity connection and atleast 4-5 tap water connections with water supply at good pressure throughout the day. The sheer logistics of it all are actually mind-boggling.

Then there were the Safai Karmachaaris. I had read somewhere before coming to Prayagraj that nearly 10,000 Safai Karmacharis were employed. While there, I could actually see them in action, working without supervision and ensuring cleanliness of the highest order.

Hats off indeed!

They would invariably form a decent chunk of those coming over for the Bhandaara as well.
In fact, it was an eye-opener for me to note that the entire city of Prayagraj is amongst the cleanest ones that I have visited thus far.

And I say this after having seen Indore as well.

There were more than adequate sanitary facilities as well for both genders that too were being cleaned almost round the clock by dedicated safai karmachaaris.

By the evening of our first day in the Mela Grounds, it became a bit cold and there was a light drizzle as well. This had me a bit worried.

Why?

Because next day was the first day of the Maha Kumbh and we planned to take a dip in Ma Ganga in the morning!

And I was already shivering!

So here is how the next day went ..

But before that, a quick word about the local police. They are on duty everywhere, as are thousands of additional policemen requisitioned for the duty. They stand on their posts in bitter cold, amidst a sea of humanity out there in full force. Yet, each and every policeman that we stopped by to ask for directions or any other information, was really polite and actually happy to help. Not just us, but the 100s more that would have stopped to seek guidance from them.

As I said before, the entire air was alive with Magic!

Coming back to the morning of the 13th.

It was the first day of the Maha Kumbh and we planned to take a dip in Ma Ganga at the Dashashwamedh Ghat instead of going to the Sangam that day. We got up early and moved out.

Btw, this time I was wearing a newly purchased chappal instead of the leather sandals that I wore the previous day because they had given me a shoe-bite! Looking back, I think it was only appropriate because I dared to wear leather in the holy Mela Grounds!

So we hailed an e-rickshaw and he promised to take us as far as the police would permit!

This meant alighting about 2km before ‘Daaraganj’ and commencing our walk as part of the large throngs of devotees headed that way. This pic was clicked by the Missus that morning. It perfectly captured the faith and devotion of folks who travelled that way from each and every part of the country. I’ll just leave it here without any further comment.

Thankfully, we were able to find an e-rickshaw after walking for about a kilometre. Apparently, some were voluntary ‘stuck’ on the other side of the barricades and would only ply within that area because once out of there, they would not be permitted back in!

Thus we reached the Ghat. Heartbeat grew faster as the moment of the snaan came closer.

It was partly due to anticipation of the event that had build up over the past 7 months when we had decided to visit the Maha Kumbh, but partly also due to the cold winter morning of that day!

However, a snaan had to be undertaken and so it was.
The waters were cold, no doubt, but the snaan was so beautifully invigorating and cleansing that one cannot describe it in words.

I will try to do so as I talk later in this thread about the snaan in Sangam the next day.

Let it suffice to say that the day just became even more beautiful after the snaan.

Once again the ghaat was really clean and being continuously cleaned all the time as well. There were good facilities for the ladies too to change after the snaan.

And then there was the famous ‘Nimbu-Chai’ as well as my weakness – Cotton Candy. Both were consumed before we walked across Ma Ganga via Bridge 15 – one of the many temporary bridges constructed for the event. The bridge took us straight to the Mela Ground.

This was when I remarked to my wife – ‘Now I understand why it is called a Mela!‘

The previous day, we had entered the grounds from the other end, where there were all the Shivirs. This day, as we entered from the Ganga Ji side, we realized what a beautiful Mela was underway!

There was pure festivity in the air, along with the unmistakable aura of bhakti. So we stopped before going to ‘our’ shivir and had steaming hot bhuna hua chana, with a cocktail of masalas adding to the flavour. Sheer Bliss, I tell you!

As we turned towards the Shivir, a speeding SUV suddenly screeched to a halt. In it was a ‘V.I.P Babaji’ (Copyright for this term rests with Shri @cestmoiz Ji! 😁🙏). The driver was in a rush, even as I signalled with my hand for him to slow down, lest he run over some poor soul!

I made eye contact with the ‘V.I.P Babaji’ while doing so and he politely smiled at me.

But the driver glared at the walkers for daring to slow him down!

Two different sides of a coin, I’d say.

While on the topic of ‘V.I.P Babajis’, on our last day in the Mela Ground, a vehicle crossed us from behind at great speed, with sirens blazing. I thought it was an ambulance, till the time I saw it to be a private vehicle, followed by yet another SUV of yet another ‘V.I.P Baba’!

Anyhow, back to the Mela on day two of our trip which was also the day one of the Maha Kumbh. Once again, the day was spent serving food to folks who came visiting the little Shivir that we were volunteering at.

It was sometime in the midst of this that I had an epiphany of sorts.

Where we had spent months and weeks agonizing over planning our trip, where to stay, how to commute etc, many such simple folks had just gotten up and reached Prayagraj, trusting fate to take care of them.

That day the Bhandaara lasted from 11 am till 5pm & was still on as the Missus & I left the camp. On the way out, I couldn’t help but think of all those stories in the movies about kids getting separated in Kumbh ka Mela. It seemed very unlikely that day, seeing the arrangements.

But as luck would have it, at just about that time my wife and I got separated!

Thankfully, she called up on my mobile and we could find each other again, without having to wait for so many years as might typically happen in a bollywood film!

Next day we had planned for a dip in Sangam on the occasion of Sankrant. Sadhus and various Akharas had already taken the dip during the early morning hours of between 3 and 5 am that were reserved for them. We commoners started from our lodgings at about 8:30 am.

This day, traffic was halted nearly 7km from Sangam. Crowds too were massive, even when compared to the day prior. However, crowd control was excellent and there were one-way lanes for pilgrims in order to avoid any ‘dhakka-mukki’.

And unlike the crowds in say, Karol Bagh Market of Delhi, these crowds didn’t make me perturbed or short-tempered. We were all one in our pursuit of the spiritual experience at Sangam.

All energies all around us were pure and blissful as the sea of humans snaked thru the streets.

The crowds were really thick, but one never felt claustrophobic. Space and traffic management was excellent and never once did we encounter a ‘traffic jam’. Such was the beauty of the traffic management, that we were even able to halt in the middle of it all and take this video!

The police were very ruthless in restricting access to even fellow policemen in uniform who wanted to reach their place of duty on their motorcycles!

We decided to take a boat to Sangam from the Qila Ghaat. Looking back, this turned out to be a great decision!

For one, the views were fantastic!

The Qila Ghaat is situated on the banks of the Yamuna River. From here, it took about 20 minutes for us to reach Sangam by boat. The boatsmen charged a mere Rs 400 per passenger for the 80-90 minute round trip instead of attempting to rip us off.

There were eight of us on the boat, including four women and a guy from a Gujarati family. They were in great spirits, joking around with each other, with us and with the ‘Kevat’ as well.

Once again, there were hundreds of boats in water and yet, a perfect method to the madness.

At the Sangam, we were taken to an area where there was a sandbar on which water was about chest deep. Once again, a snaan was done, with this time one extra dip devoted to all those who had outsourced their own ‘Paap-Dhulai’ to me upon hearing of my trip!

Once again, the snan was pure bliss. The body and the heart felt so warm after the snan that I cannot describe in words. One could actually sense the changed mood in the boat during the return journey, as the same Gujarati family, after some minutes of chit-chat, started off with Hanuman Chalisa followed by bhajans, with rest of us too joining in.

The walk back was leisurely. The Missus was, however, tired.

And as if on cue, two young guys appeared and offered to drop us off to wherever we wanted, on their bikes which they had managed to bring in!

No price was negotiated and no demands were made. They just said that we could give them whatever we wanted. Naturally, we got on the bikes.

My driver talked all through the ride about doing this as a seva (it wasn’t a taxi!), and offering me advice for rest of my stay there. We reached a few minutes before the other rider reached with my wife. While waiting, he saw I was carrying a pitcher with water from Sangam. He asked for some of it and performed a ‘Panch-Snan’ by sprinkling it on his head, face and feet.

Once the Missus too reached, we paid them what we thought was a fair price, plus some more! Thankfully, they were happy with it.

This brings me to another aspect about the public transport in Prayagraj. Mind you, this is purely based on my anecdotal experiences, so feel free to disagree. I felt that the e-rickshaw drivers too were polite, helpful and not at all overcharging despite so much clientele.

In fact, the entire city of Prayagraj is currently seeing major disruptions in their daily routine. On days of Shaahi Snan, a large chunk of locals cannot even go about their business/jobs or even take out their vehicles Imagine such a thing in Delhi & the chaos that would ensue!

I have no hesitation in saying that entire citizenry of Prayagraj are earning so much Punya merely for hosting the Maha Kumbh and the Kumbh every time they happen.

Then there are the security personnel who continue to be on duty and yet may not be able to have a snaan themselves. In fact, I actually asked one guy on the Qila Ghaat whether he had had the opportunity for a snaan in the midst of doing his job and he was happy to report that he had gone by boat at 3am itself and had a snaan!

So much Bhakti all around ..

That day we couldn’t go to do seva in the Shivir because of the sheer amount of time it took to go to Sangam and come back. The evening was, instead, spent visiting temples outside the restricted zone.

Our fourth and sadly, last day in Prayagraj was the 15th of Jan. It started off as a bitterly cold morning and I half-jokingly mentioned to my wife that instead of a dip, we should only do a ‘Panch-Snaan’ in Ganga Ji. Anyhow, we took an e-rickshaw to go to the Dashashwamedh Ghat.

To one’s surprise, the rickshaw took us right till the Ghat!

There were no traffic restrictions this day, they having been lifted last night after the Shaahi Snaan was over! To add to the surprise, the crowds too had massively thinned out!

We enquired from our rickshaw guy and he told that towards Sangam too, the walk this day would be barely 1-1.5 km! (Note: this was later corrected by someone on Twitter who said that rickshaws can go as close as 200m to Sangam.)

Anyhow, the morning was still bitterly cold and we were already on the Ghaat! However, once there, there was no question of not taking a dip!

This time too, the cold only lasted till one took a dip. After the snaan, it was once again as if it was a different world altogether!

This was our third snaan in three days.

Truly blessed.

Yet another cup of ‘nimbu chai’ and yet another cotton candy was consumed before we made our way across Ganga Ji and into the Mela. This time there were a few announcements for lost kids / companions on the PA system by the administration, as were on the day of the Shaahi Snaan.

We reached the Shivir for seva at 9:30am & left at 8pm. Truth be told, we did not want to leave at any cost.

Yet, life had to go on.

Goodbyes were said to those lucky enough, or resolute enough, to continue to serve, while we left for our lodgings that night.

With a heavy heart, we started back for Delhi at 8am on the morning of the 16th and reached home by evening. The Missus has already decided to go back later next month and is planning to stay in the Shivir itself. I, on the other hand, have a job to go to!

We are told that more than 1.5 Crore devotees took the holy dip on Sankrant. Locals also say that atleast 3-4 times as many will come on the Shaahi Snaan on Mauni Amavasya.

Now THAT would be a sight to behold for those lucky enough to witness it!

Speaking with the locals in the Mela Ground and elsewhere as well, one got the sense of pride they feel in hosting this mega event every 12 years. They were also all praises for the Govt and local administration for making arrangements like ‘Never Before’ in this Maha Kumbh.

As I close this thread, all I will say is JUST GO THERE! Kumbh comes once every 12yrs and a Maha Kumbh once every 144 years. One absolutely must make use of this blessed duration to perform this teerth yaatra while one can. That’s all I will say.

Thanks for your patience. 

:fin: