120 million participate in the Kumbh Mela (a once-every-12-years event).
That link goes to a news story, but here's an inside look, with photos, from Eric Johnson (of Iowa, U.S.A.):
Hungry and tired, we arrive in Allahabad at 11 p.m. and search for the accommodations we've booked. At 2 a.m. we find our camp — two canvas tents walled in with corrugated metal sheets. Nine people share our tent. The cost is 500 rupees ($10) per person per night. For a patch of straw on the ground, it seems expensive....If you were a Bangladeshi guru, and you encountered a man from Iowa, what would you say?
We drift into and out of camps and meet oddly decorated babas (holy men) and a guru from Bangladesh. Two of the babas have white and red sailboats painted all over their bodies. The guru tells us:
"Stop the clock,
ban the bomb,
milk the cow,
remember Ram!"
ADDED: It sounds like another verse to "All Together Now." You know:
Sail the ship
Chop the tree
Skip the rope
Look at meCan I have a little more?
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15 comments:
Ultimate Burning Man
Cheers and Namaste
Mass hypnosis?
If all of the one hundred twenty million were to take a whiz in the river at the same time would the river flood?
It's not how good you feel going in, it's how good you feel getting out.
Many of the people who live in that area survive for a year on less than the $10 that man paid for his tent....
I had a feeling it might be that bad, but it's better than going across a burning desert to walk around a big cube of stone 3 times under a blazing sun.
Shuck the corn, not milk the cow. That would be Wisconsin. Iowa is known more for corn than for cows.
When you look around India, you just know they must have things all figured out.
Why "Ram"? "red Rose Speedway" or "Band on the Run" or even "McCartney" would be better album selections. How many times could anyone really listen to "Monkberry Moon Delight" or "Smile Away"?
I'm looking for a home in the heart of the country.
Where the holy people grow.
You might want to try Nebraska.
Wave the flag,
pop the bag
Rock the boat,
skin the goat
Ring the bell, close the book, and blow out the candle.
Kumbh Mela is not once every 12 years. It is once every year.
There are different Melas. Some like the Kumbh are annual. Another is every 12 years.
...If you were a Bangladeshi guru...
Very, very few Bangladeshi are hindi. Most are Muslim and would never be caught dead at a Mela.
It's one of the reasons Bangladesh exists in the first place.
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