Bewildered at Mahakumbh

I didn't know I was going to set a world record on the night of 10th February 2013 when I went to Sangam at Mahakumbh. Wrapping myself in a cozy jacket, I packed some glucose biscuits and started walking. The lanes were washed in light and food stalls had multiplied overnight. Jalebies were being fried at 12am and the kettles were whistling.

Hoards of people were arriving every minute. That night all roads in Allahabad lead to Sangam and everyone was going there. The lost people announcement blaring from the loudspeaker got more and more urgent as it got closer. People were beseeching their lost families to come and find them soon. With so much confusion in the air I gave up hope of clicking any great pictures. Just to find space to stand on the ground was becoming difficult. I remember sending up a prayer just to get out alive that night without getting squashed.

Miraculously by 3am I found space on a platform where all the photographers had gathered. At 4:15am the policemen came riding horses and got the main beach cleared up. Suddenly all the bumbling pilgrims were taken out of the way and the blocked view of the river was cleared.

The mood changed and the air started cackling with charge, like we were waiting at a space station and a missile had to be fired. We could all feel the static. All the cameras turned to the empty space that the sadhus would pass through on their way to the river.

And then they came! Running. Like they were riding electricity. They were naked ash smeared and decked up with holy weapons and flowers. The cameras started twitching first and then went berserk. My ears went deaf for the next two hours with the flashes and the shutters firing non stop.

As the numerous processions went on the sky turned blue with the morning light and a great fog descended onto the horizons. The landscape turned surreal. Fog, Sand, River and naked men building up frenzy with cymbals, chants and dancing.

That night I along with others present made a world record of being at the largest human gathering in the world. 3 Million people had descended in a radius of 21kms at the Mahakumbh that night. I have never cared much for statistics or on setting world record but this one truly felt special and hard earned.