KUMBH MAGIC

My mother always teases me how I used to react when I was called Allahabadi when I was a kid. I hated that word and always said that when I grow up I will run to England and live there for 10 years and then no one will know that I am an Allahabadi. Anyone listening to my logics would burst into laughter.

Little did I know History and importance of my city at that time. My recent visit to the Kumbh city made me wonder. I was amazed to see the religious fervor of the city and the crowd. Waiting at the platform, which was packed by devotees from all segments of India, I was left to watch the crowd. There were all types of people, of all ages and you could listen to all possible languages spoken in India.

Usually I am averse to any kind of religious exhibition but there was one gentleman who really left me thinking for long. He was a South Indian and he was as expressive with religion as one can be, as evident from his pic alongside. From his appearance he was one of those I detest the most. He seemed illiterate from the way he was talking to fellow passengers.

It was the day after the Shahi snan and I was wondering that all these Holy men must have purified themselves. This person was standing on the platform when the seat behind me was vacated. He quickly walked towards me to grab the empty space on bench. I looked at him with disgust written all over my face. But the decency with which he sat and his mannerism made me think about the etiquettes of all the educated ones around me.

There was a woman carrying a wailing child in her arm. I was watching her requesting for a seat. As soon as this person saw her he sprang on his feet and gave her place to sit. I tell you, to give your seat to someone unknown was an act of greatest sacrifice at that moment. I kept observing him from then on and all I could see a nice human being helping people there.

I had always thought that people who dressed religiously were zealots and no good could expect from them except vacuous religious discourses. I don’t know whether it was my city and its water that had done magic on this person or it was his nature. It’s my pray and request to everyone who are coming to gain from Maha Kumbh, that if all the politicians, movie stars and commoners purify their hearts also, world will be a much better place to live.