Thread by @gchikermane

Not rituals — #Kumbh gave me a window to look at the vastness of India, its people, it’s Oneness.
Not rides — Kumbh gave me eyes to look within, to see the beyond, to become part of the whole, merge into our civilisation.

My discovery:
You are Kumbh.
I am Kumbh.
We are Kumbh.

For me, faith is not going-through-the-motions of habits, rituals, dips, recitals, teekas, ceremonies.
I went to Kumbh as an observer — not tourist, mind you, but an Observer.
I went to see what brings millions of devotees to a single geographical point in 49 days.

I went to seek non-religious answers:
— What is this festival all about?
— What brings 200 million pilgrims to this place?
— What gives them the strength to brave the long walks, the risks?
— What gives them the grit to take dips in winter-waters of the Ganga?

In an earlier thread I had explored the bandobast, the infrastructure, the micro-arrangements for the safety, security, comfort, protection of pilgrims to Kumbh.
Now I wanted to experience it myself.

https://twitter.com/gchikermane/status/1095202368990244864?s=21

I wanted to put all of these — the individuals, their collective faith, their grit, the administration’s facilitation — under the lens of an observer.
Is there something more than religion, more than tourism, more than festivity to this idea called Kumbh?

I walked in the sands of the riverbeds.
I drove on the metal-plated temporary roads.
I drank from varied stalls, ate in aakhadas.
I spoke to sadhus, devotees, police, administrators, hoteliers.
I saw them in daylight, I walked at nights.
I even had a ‘tandoori chai’!

In my phone-camera I tried to capture the Kumbh.
And failed — how can you capture the vastness of topography, how can you frame an entire new city?
A city that will be underwater in the next few months.
How can you capture the expectations, the peace in the eyes of devotees?

Who can capture the Oneness that Kumbh creates?
Chief ministers, commandos, the retired couple at their 49th wedding anniversary, priests from Kerala embracing those from Kashi.
In various shades of undress, who is the VVIP and who the people that made them VVIPs?

The boat cruises through a traffic jam, carefully chiseling its way through other boats.
Above, sound of helicopters swinging through the sun and clouds.
Around, grunts of boatmen and sounds of devotees readying themselves.
Below, splashes of oars and sprinkles of water drops.

There was no way I was going to enter the waters, I had decided in Delhi. Why inflict torture on your body?
But when you reach Kumbh, Delhi dies a spiritual death, cremated on the pyres of irrelevance.
With it are cremated all self-created, self-imposed restrictions and barriers.

Shame dies on that pyre. Self-consciousness too.
The past is erased, the future too.
You are here and everywhere, now and nowhere.
A union calls you forward, a calling words can’t describe, a force that has no source, a source that is in you — is you.

As you step into the ice-cold waters, and embrace the initial shock that freezes your bones, you see children frolicking, families bonding, expectant pilgrims waiting to enter, peaceful pilgrims coming out.
All the noise is quiet, and the quiet dissolves into silence.

One step at a time, you release your limitations — physical weaknesses, ego, ‘dirty’ waters, cynicism, scepticism, the comfort of clothes, the habit of footwear, cards in the wallet, armour of connectivity, life-saving eye glasses. You are one step away from absolute nakedness.

Your foot touches the waters and an electric current rides to your head.
Ahead, a blurry swarm of devotees.
Behind, your reality, protections, habits.
Above, the cloudy skies with shades of blue and darts of sun rays.
Around, cold water, brimming with pilgrims and their devotion.

The cold rises, one part of the body at a time, from ankles to knees. It’s still cold but the bite is gone by the time it touches the thighs, the waist.
Now, your toes sense the sandy river bed.
Sun finds a gap and throws its hard rays on your back, water is comforting.

One dip.
Second.
Third.

You don’t know why you’re taking those dips, what their significance is — but something drives you.
You are one insignificant body in one insignificant mass, wii its own dynamics, its own logic, its own ecosystem.
You follow the mass — you are the mass.

And that’s when you realise, you haven’t come to a festival called Kumbh, Kumbh has called you, captured you, merged into you.

You are Kumbh.
I am Kumbh.
We are Kumbh.