The Husband and I usually don’t immediately agree on travel destinations, we have very different choices and there is an ‘enthusiastic debate’ around what is better (i.e. who is right :)) and one of us loses the final argument. So, you can imagine my surprise when he immediately agreed to visit the MahaKumbh. It was already nearing the end of January and I booked whatever was available for a visit in February, so it would all be locked in before he could change his mind!
It so happened that for both if us, the Mahashivratri public holiday was the most conducive time to be away from work. And so, on 25th February 2025, we got on the Indigo flight from Mumbai to Prayagraj. My social media feed was flooded with reels of people taking the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam. And the flight took off to a big shout of “Har Har Mahadev” – one in which the husband and I joined (slightly self-consciously!).
ONCE IN 144 YEARS
I have never been to any Kumbh mela ever before and had no idea of the history / significance behind it. If you would have asked me on 25th February, what led to us deciding to be at the MahaKumbh, I would have probably said, “not sure, it was just sudden, maybe subconsciously FOMO (a fear of missing out)?”
But now, I am sure that it was “meant to be”.
There is a great deal of literature on the importance of planetary alignments in the Hindu Dharma and the energies created as a result of where the planets are. ‘Horoscopes’ of people are made on the basis of planetary positions at the time of their birth and major life events are even predicted by learned men by looking at these horoscopes.
The period from 13th January to 27th February was a time of one such powerful planetary alignment which occurs once every 144 years. That much, dear friends, is scientifically true. The rest, is a matter of faith. Whether you chose to believe that this alignment is the best time to pray for liberation and spiritual transformation – and that too, via a dip in the Triveni Sangam where the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet ? Matter of faith. There are many who question even the Triveni Sangam’s existence – i.e. one can see the Ganga and Yamuna meet, but there is no visible evidence of Saraswati meeting the two. Again, a matter of faith.
FAITH
Faith is that thing you feel when you are waiting outside the Operation Theatre and a loved one is inside. You don’t know what is going to happen, but you pray (even if involuntarily). Or when you are on a plane and there is sudden turbulence.. You know that there are competent human beings in the driving seat, yet you are anxious. You don’t necessarily ask for weather forecasts and the pilots credentials on successful flights at such a time. You might pray though.
The logical mind reasons. But it goes into silent mode in some of these situations I mention above because it doesn’t have all the answers, and that is the time when your anchor is ‘faith’. It is the feeling or belief that acknowledges that you or others cannot control everything and don’t have all the answers. Faith lets you surrender and in that, you find a kind of solace. So logically speaking – one should not look for evidence when confronted with a matter of faith. There will be none. It occurs in the realm beyond logic.
THE MAHAKUMBH
After an adventurous ride from the airport to our final accommodation – part by car and part by bike (3 of us on one bike!), we decided to head straight to the Triveni Sangam. Walking with people from all over the country and some from other countries, it felt like we were wading through a sea of people, all with only one aim. It was a surreal feeling. A feeling of being one and the same with the people of my country, but also humankind at large. It was a congregation of faith like no other I have ever experienced or ever will experience again. It is hard to explain, but it was a kind of “forgetting of myself” and with that emotion we landed in the cold cold waters of the holy rivers – submerging ourselves and praying for liberation.
I don’t know if our prayers will be heard. But I do know that the moments of prayer were like no other with a lump in my throat and involuntary tears welling up, there was just something about the energy of that place. Maybe the planetary alignments were such.
PRIVILEGE
We were fortunate to dip twice into the holy waters. And I know that a considerable amount of money was involved in making this happen the second time. I am sure this isn’t something all our people would be able to afford. It made me question a few things. Is my faith somehow more valuable than theirs? Why am I given this access and not all of our people? What do those people do to practice their faith and fulfill this once in a lifetime opportunity?
They struggle. They walk for hours and hours with their belongings in a small bag on their heads in the hot sun. They wait in queues. I have never seen any one of them complaining. In fact, quite the contrary, people with exclusive accesses complain – they complain of the wait times, they complain of the hygiene, they complain of the staff who cannot ‘handle things properly’, they complain of ‘a lack of civic sense’. But the rest? They are smiling or praying. They are happy to be there and they don’t seem to notice the hardships at all. Their faith is stronger perhaps. Stronger than mine.
One of them told me, “Bhakti aasaan nahi hai” (meaning that Devotion is not easy).
THE ECONOMICS OF FAITH
The Government of Uttar Pradesh did do an outstanding job of managing this event. It is said that 60+crore people (600 million) visited the MahaKumbh. That, if true, is an insane number – nearly half the population of India!
There have been some mishaps and even one life lost is one too many. I was present during Mahashivratri at the MahaKumbh and have witnessed the staggering effort the authorities made. Never once did I see any one of them lose their cool. All bike drivers and boat rowers pushed hard to maximize their earnings and people paid, to fulfill their desire – many driven by faith and many by the need for that Instagram reel.
The Government has claimed that for a spend of 7,500 crores, the revenues they made were 3,00,000 crores! Here is hoping that all that money is spent on providing all the people of my country the housing, healthcare, education and infrastructure they need. May their hardships reduce and their faith be stronger than ever.
Let us have faith that all our prayers will be answered.
Har Har Mahadev. 
Fantastic and very well written blog !
Too good a read!
Yes, I am the husband, and I am indebted to the Mrs. for this surreal experience. The blog truly captures the emotion and the continuous ebb and flow from privilege to underprivilege —felt, seen, and ultimately united with an intangible force called faith.
Nice experience sharing.
Faith part very beautifully written.
Paid darshan vs unpaid shraddha wala darshan..rightly understood and nicely described.
The husbands dip was full on devotion and so was yours.
God bless you all
Very beautifully written 👏👏