Maha Kumbh now a Harvard case study

[Visalakshi Ramani]

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Dear Mr. A. M. ji

What about the lurking crocs when people wade through
knee deep, waist deep and neck deep water??? :croc:

I am going to disappoint you by NOT asking anymore questions especially "WHY?"
since your mission as quoted by you is "to do and die and not ask why?"

You found a sweet teen aged Telugu girl who needed help and will probably get it from you.
So forget the wet ( and used) undies. Good riddance. One less thing to worry about. :bored:


One man's loss is another man's gain.
One person loses and the another persons finds it!

So there is really neither loss nor gain.
since the sum total is the same before and after. :decision:

When everything is insufficient and inadequate, it is strange that people stay ON
to crowd the place for more time than necessary for a holy dip in the Ganges.

So life is never dull with people contributing to the crowd, to the confusion
and contamination to their maximum capacity.

Well, what does NOT kill a person makes him stronger.
Those who return from the Kumbh Mela will return stronger!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

BUT not necessarily wiser!!!

 

[P.J.]

The 80 Million-Pilgrim March
2013-02-01 20:33By Joanna Sugden

[TD="align: left"] For up to 80 million pilgrims-think 10 New York Cities-a Hindu festival now taking place on the banks of the Ganges River in Allahabad, India, is a chance to wash away their sins under ideal astrological conditions. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
For Suresh Dwivedi, chief medical officer at what is called the Kumbh Mela, the festival is a full-scale assault on the germs, garbage and human waste being generated in the temporary megacity that has been constructed to deal with the crowds. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
To combat disease-carrying flies, 400 laborers will spray 28 tons of bleaching powder, along with the insecticide DDT, over 250 garbage pits and open drains during the course of the two-month extravaganza. They will work alongside 6,000 cleaners in green baseball caps who sweep up 56 tons of garbage a day and bury human waste left in the open (a common practice in rural India) in 4,000 chemically treated pits. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
"If we can keep the area clean and the flies away, then we will be able to keep infections away," says Mr. Dwivedi. His greatest concern is preventing the outbreak of disease. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
The Kumbh Mela-which translates as "water-pitcher festival"-is almost certainly the largest religious gathering on earth, and preparing for it, running it, and preventing it from turning into fatal chaos is surely one of the world's great logistical challenges. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
"It's an amazing operation to deploy a city on this scale for 55 days," says Rahul Mehrotra, chairman of the department of urban planning and design at the graduate school of design at Harvard University. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
His team has been studying the Kumbh Mela's construction since July. Prof. Mehrotra says that the city is unique not just because of the number of people who gather there but because it is arranged like a more permanent community. "Spatially, it is organized into zones with a use of infrastructure that replicates a regular, efficient urban condition," he says. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
The festival, which started on Jan. 14 and runs to March 10, is believed to be at least two millennia old. It attracts an eclectic stew of Hindu holy men, Bollywood stars, ordinary pilgrims and curious tourists who come to bathe in the Ganges, India's holiest river, where drops of the nectar of immortality are believed to have been spilled from a pitcher by the gods at creation. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Hindus say that dipping in these waters during the festival, when the sun and Jupiter are in auspicious alignment, will free them from the cycle of reincarnation. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Rukomani Devi, 50, has traveled for 24 hours by train to plunge into the murky waters. Her wet yellow sari clings to her as she steps out of the river onto its artificially reinforced banks. After changing beneath a thin towel she begins a riverbank ritual with incense, flowers, candles, prayers and water in praise of Mother Ganga (the moniker given to the river goddess). [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] The site is particularly revered because it marks the confluence of the Ganges, the sacred Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, which is believed to flow underground here. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
A lot of water flows above ground, too: Four months ago, the entire site was submerged by floodwaters. Once the waters receded, the organizers constructed a tented metropolis of 8 square miles on the riverbed so that the throngs-many of them naked or wearing only undergarments and covered in ash-could bathe in the river's rushing waters. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
This year, the organizers operated on an especially tight deadline. Early-bird pilgrims started arriving Jan. 1. But a late monsoon set back the logistical timetable by 10 days. That is when the man in charge began to worry. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
"It was a critical loss of time," says Devesh Chaturvedi, the commissioner of Allahabad, the host city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He took on the role in May and is responsible for delivering a safe festival site and keeping it running for 60 days. At a previous Kumbh Mela, in 1954, about 1,000 people died in a stampede. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Twenty-eight departments of the state government are involved in providing security, running water, an electricity grid, transport infrastructure, health care, sanitation, food rations and bathing areas. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] "When we finally went into action, the first thing to get in place were the pontoon bridges to connect the two sides of the site," which spans the Ganges in the middle of Allahabad, says Mr. Chaturvedi. The 18 temporary barrel bridges stretch over a half-mile of water and can carry a load of 5½ tons at a time. Each takes 250 men around 25 days to put in place. Raj Shekhar, the executive district magistrate of Allahabad, says that all 1,300 hollow steel barrels are made locally. "This is a very old technology, but it is trusted in India," he says. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Allahabad benefits from "centuries of experience" staging Kumbh events, he adds. Every year, the city hosts the Magh Kumbh, which is one-sixth the size of the current festival. (Magh is the 11th month of the Hindu calendar and falls between January and February.) [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Once the bridges were in place, workers toiled around the clock to install a temporary electricity grid with 100,000 connection points, 45 diesel generators, 52 substations and 22,000 posts carrying 2,081 miles of cable. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Temporary road surfaces were put down using 99 miles of double steel plating to enable cars to move on land that cannot bear much of a load. Some 25,000 street lamps were added to the site, which totals 22 square miles. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] Some 466 miles of piping were laid to provide 27,000 connections to ground water, with the capacity to generate 21 million gallons a day. About 30,000 toilets with closed waste pits were installed, with 9,000 to be added by Feb. 10, when the largest crowds are expected. There are five new sewage treatment plants. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] Many of the staff at the festival, including 250 doctors and 400 paramedics in the 15 field hospitals, are seconded from elsewhere in the state. So are the 14,000 police officers on patrol. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] Alok Sharma, inspector general of police in Allahabad and the official in charge of security, operates from a tented office with a neat front garden, flower pots and a lawn. He has been involved in Kumbh Melas since 1998, when he was superintendent of police in Haridwar, one of the four sites in India through which the Kumbh rotates every three years. Allahabad, where it is held every 12 years, is the biggest. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] "Policing elsewhere in India is all about enforcement, but here it is all about facilitation," Mr. Sharma says. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] So far the biggest test for the emergency services was a fire caused by a cooking accident in a tent on Jan. 25. The incident was reported on one of three dedicated emergency lines, and the response was coordinated from a central police control room staffed by 70 officers. Firefighters from the 30 on-site fire crews used mobile backpack extinguishers to tackle the blaze, which officials say was out within 15 minutes. Six people were badly burned and were airlifted to a specialized hospital in New Delhi. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
Along the temporary city's litter-free streets, heavy-duty tents decorated with orange marigolds are pitched in orderly ranks and divided into neighborhoods by fences of corrugated iron and poles of bamboo. Red and white signs point the way to the nearest hospital. Cars trundle over the steel-plated roads. Heavily policed road blocks maintain a one-way traffic system on the bridges. It is all remarkably well ordered. "It's much better than even the city of Allahabad in some places," says Mr. Chaturvedi. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"] Anil Mittal, superintending engineer for the state-run power company, which runs the electrical grid, notes that the city is better served for power than many parts of rural India. Almost one-third of Indian households don't have sufficient electricity to power a light bulb, according to the 2011 census. [/TD]

[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: left"]
"Here the pilgrims come and have a glimpse of lighting," Mr. Mittal says. "After that, they go again to darkness." [/TD]

WSJ Mobile Web

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear Smt VR

Your post # 26

No lurking crocs around - that's one of the many elaborate precautions taken. True, little fish
do nibble at submerged parts of the body if one were to stand still for a while - sort of cute
tickling - but they do this in any Theppakulam / River - Matysa Munis in Tadaga Dheeram / Nadhi Dheeram.
I remember them doing the same to me even close to your place - at the Triveni Sangamam in
Sangmeshwarar Temple - confluence of Kavery, Bhavani and Amudha rivers.

Paddu Sir and Bala Sir have posted what the world media has reported on the Maha Kumbh - very exhaustive.
I think Bala Sir has missed watching the coverage by Aaj Tak channel - pretty elaborate, actually.
But I guess the Indian media is pretty much stuck with relentless repetitions of statements and events
of a few 'wise' men [and women] in New Delhi.

I really am in no condition to reel our figures and statistics as done by professional reporters who have
access and resources that seem infinite. I can neither corroborate nor challenge the figures quoted -
but surely I can say that all I see [ from horizon to horizon ] is humans.

My only hope as on today, 09/02/2013 is that the hanging Afzal Guru doesn't have a fall-out that makes
'sitting ducks' out of lakhs of defense less people at Prayag or those in transit to & fro. I am sure that the
already 'stretched' security officials will be having sleep-less nights. Some of them could end-up becoming
psychological wrecks. With a whole month to go [exactly], I hope their stamina and endurance lasts.

Not only the security providers - every civic amenity and mode of transport is under severe stress

Maybe Mam, towards the closing days of the Kumbh, I should think of making a Rap Number
-" Ganga Style " - maybe someone on the TB Forum could help in with the lyrics in Tamil - enough dancers here
both clad and [almost] unclad - maybe we'll get 80 million 'hits'. We'll call it PRAPADVISAND.

What say ?

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Dear A.M Ji,

As long as the fish are NOT piranha, people are safe to allow them

to tickle them to their hearts' delight.

Otherwise they will surface and come out of water

minus some softer meats of their body!

I am not so sure about the crocs though.

May be the muck and stench is too much even for them

and opted to stay safely out of the scenery.

Who is going to miss any loner unless he / she

stays connected with the outside world? hone:

God will give you stamina to pull on for one more month.

It beats me that people have to cross the Ganges every day

instead of staying in one side and taking regular/ occasional dips.

Good luck friend! Be safe!! :thumb:

 

[prasad1]

AMji,
We do read newspapers and watch TV for the latest professional news.
But you are providing a first hand opinion from the site, with personal stories. This is lot more enjoyable, because it gives us the feeling of being there with you.
Thanks for the posts.

 

[prasad1]

Over three crore devotees led by ascetics of Hindu sects today took a holy dip at Sangam on 'Mauni Amavasya', considered the most auspicious day of bathing during the 12-yearly Kumbh congregation here.


"As per our estimates, three crore people have taken a holy dip till 3 PM. The influx of visitors has slowed down a bit since then but the turn-out has already exceeded our expectations," Kumbh Mela Officer Mani Prasad Mishra told PTI.


"No untoward incident has been reported from any part of the Kumbh area so far," he said.


The sprawling city of tents, spread across 6,000 acres, may have briefly become the most populous place in the world on account of this unusually high turnout.

 

[P.J.]

Muni Amavasya Snanam at Maha Kumbha mela 2013







A dip there with a guru on a mouni amavasya day.Blessed are these folks who had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity….

Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

When three crore people take a dip/ bath in waist deep water

in one spot at one time what wil be condition of the water???

At least Ganges is running water.

In places where people bathe in ponds and tanks, all that will left is muddy water!

 

[kannanpadmanabhan]

The Kanchi Acharya has also visited Nithyananda's Camp in the Kumbh Mela. There was a brief function and speeches. Nithyananda speaks of his long association with the Kanchi Mutt. Sri Kanchi Acharya also recalls the noble services of Nithyananda and his Dhyanapeetam to society.
It is certainly intriguing to read this news considering the recent exchanges between the two of them .

His Holiness Nithyananda and His Devotees Participates in a Grand Celebration at Maha Kumbh Mela - Press Release - Digital Journal

 

[P.J.]

Stampede at Allahabad Railway Station



At least 36 people were killed in a stampede at Allahabad railway station on Sunday evening, the railways said today.

Most of the victims, who include 26 women and a 8-year-old girl, were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. All the bodies are at the Medical College Mortuary in Allahabad, where post-mortem is being conducted.
The incident occured at 7 p.m. near platform no 6, where a footbridge reportedly collapsed due to the heavy rush of pilgrims who had converged on the Sangam for the Mauni Amavasya Snan.

Read more The Hindu : States / Other States : Allahabad stampede toll rises to 36

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear Smt VR

Your post # 34

You should see the Nala Theertham in Tirunallar - despite public announcements in 5 languages requesting devotees
to abstain from using oil [for bathing], shampoos, soaps and detergents our brazen public continues to use all these.

In fact, the roads leading to the Theertham are lined on both sides selling these very items. The only good thing here is that the water in the tank is drained and re-filled periodically - they probably got the idea from the Sikhs -
the water in the tank surrounding the Golden Temple in Amritsar too is flushed periodically.

Here at Prayag, there is a natural flushing with flowing water - water flow controlled by PWD Engineers - upstream
the Ganga and its tributaries. One can visually observe the water levels dropping and rising. Surprisingly,the incoming
water of the Ganga and its tributaries [ mainly the Yamuna] , having already washed cities like Rishikesh, Haridwar, Lucknow and Delhi is not all that dirty - don't know what it is like in downstream cities like Benares and Patna.
By the time it reaches Kolkata [ as a distributary, Hoogly ] it is amlost like a sewer, but that's the way it has been for decades. River bed, no slush / slime - just river sand, coarse and crystalline and no submerged rocks / stones that one and trip on or slip. The slippery areas are the stone and concrete steps near the banks - thick slime, could be
dangerous - at these places the water can be any colour - from the red sindur to yellow haldi to dyes running
off clothes.

It is amazing to see how she [ Ganga ] having roared aggressively through valleys and ravines, echoing through the rocky icy mountains, white as milk at many places, causing a fine spray as she splashes and lashes on the rocks emanating
numerous glorious little rainbows in the sunlight, looks so tamed and docile in the plains. Calm, Composed,
Graceful and Motherly.

Having been the life and hope [ and faith ] of millions through millenniums, having witnessed the rise and fall of many
civilizations and dynasties, quoted and referred to in the oldest of old texts, scriptures, puranas, tales, poetry and folklore
in languages extant and extinct, truly, a parallel or peer, She has none.

Through these plains She has meandered in time, saints and sinners, She has seen them all.

I shall forever be thankful to the Almighy for this rendezvous with HER.

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

dear A.M. Ji,

So today you have come to the RIGHT side of the Ganges I see!

If the theertham is not periodically drained from the tanks, people can have

oil bath- even without applying oil - just by getting into the tank.

But it will be more like a thaila abhishekam than an oil bath.

Reminds me of the idiom that "the child got thrown away with the dirty

water". Imagine the condition of the water in a tub, after the head of the

house (the dirtiest person in the family but for the youngest child)

followed by his wife and the children in their order of importance.

The tiniest child will become more dirty by bathing in that water.

We humans can reduce anything to dirt, dust, sewer and the like!

No one can beat us in that aspect. :first:

The slimy stone steps form the most dangerous part in any tank. They slip

under our feet like silk and satin but the steps will be as hard as granite and

diamond. I slipped and fell into the tank during my first visit to the temple

of my husband's kula daivam. I was just 22 and had never went near any

tank till then. The steps looked alright but they made me slip. Luckily I did

not bang me head. People were very amused - instead of coming to my

rescue.

If you look at the river Colorado which has created the impressive Canyons

over several millenniums, it just looks like a little blue-green ribbon far far

below so silent, so thin and so slow. Yet it has carved all the mighty canyons

over the period - slow and steady and never really getting tired.

Only the trees, rivers and mountains are the living examples of "sath". But

the "chith" factor is very doubtful and the "Anandham" factor is impossible

after all the things we keep doing to them all the time!

Shame on us!

Well you have suddenly turned in to a very interesting poet today!!

The effect of Ganges over a long period of time I suppose.

Enjoy your stay! Write more poetic posts. I simply love them.

Take care good friend! Come back safe. Don't go into crowds lest there be a

stampede.

"Beed se alag rahna bhaayi saheb!"

("Keep away from big crowds dear brother")!!!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Grand_canyon.ogg/Grand_canyon.ogg.360p.webm

 

[prasad1]

AMji,
Your post#36 outdid all other writings about the mela.
Thanks

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear Smt VR

Your post # 37 is a bit humorous (!) Matlab Nahin Samjha (!) Kaun sa bheed ?
Vaise to main akela hi hoon behanji. I am no Thomas Hardy !

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

 

[Iyyarooraan]

Harvard people must be thinking what they came for. Population explosion can break myths; stampede follows panic and overrides the pleasure of bliss. Poor lives lost could have still been useful. Our sympathies to those bereaved. Kanchi Paramacharya had, I think, once said "why do you think there is redemption only in Kaasi"?

 

[prasad1]

The first verdict from the international health experts at the Kumbh Mela to record diseases among pilgrims has been positive.
The team comprising mainly medical doctors from Harvard University in Massachusetts, USA, is "largely impressed" with the orderliness of the Mela and the lack of any major disease outbreak.
However, the caveats follow. "The systems are indeed streamlined. But while there are parts that worked, some didn't," said Dr Satchit Balsari, who led the team of 25-odd doctors from Harvard University's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights to Allahabad.


The team found that even though ambulances were in place, their paths were blocked.


Smoke from choolahs was the largest cause for respiratory illnesses among the 15,000-odd patients who had visited the various hospitals so far. "Pilgrims use cow dung or firewood to light a fire, resulting in over 23% of patients seeking medication for a cough," said team member Dr Michael Vortmann.
In a reflection of modern India's pill-popping habits, powerful analgesics or painkillers were among the main medicines doled out to these patients. A few members from the Harvard team, who travelled to Mumbai for their return flight, said that the Kumbh could be better managed if such "minor" issues were ironed out.


The team cited other instances where better management was called for. Dr Dhruv Kazi, a Vile Parle-born cardiologist from San Francisco General Hospital, found a senior citizen collapsing right next to him.


"I was glad to locate an advanced life-support ambulance nearby, but the paramedics didn't have the key to the oxygen tank," he said. Moreover, the crowds were unwilling to make way for the ambulance. "It took us 40 minutes to reach a health centre that was less than 5km away," he added.


The main objective of the Harvard team, which had the support of the National Disaster Management Authority and the Allahabad Medical College, was to map patterns of diseases, water distribution, sanitation and disaster management plans.


The university plans to publish a research paper highlighting public health concerns during mass gatherings and migrations. The Mahakumbh with its massive turnout—thirty million devotees arrived on the "big bath day" of Mauni Amavasya on February 10—made it an ideal study spot.


The first reaction of the team was the amazement at the degree of organization. "The electrical grid, wide boulevards, street lights, water supply, sanitation, crowd control, security, sector hospitals and a central referral hospital would be impressive anywhere—but the fact that this is all temporary and will be gone by the end of March—makes it an absolutely astounding organizational feat," said the doctors.


The team's goal was to prove that it is not difficult to gather data in resource-scarce settings. Using a handful of I-pads, the doctors have so far mapped 15,000 patients who visited the various hospitals. "If we can do it, the government can certainly do it. Our surveillance tool should help with early detection of impending epidemics in the future," said Dr Kazi.


The data of 15,000 patients already has some telling points. For instance, some hospitals near the bathing ghats were more crowded than others.


"Each hospital had the same staff strength despite the disproportionate number of patients. Our data shows that there can be better resource allocation," said Dr Balsari. "Also, most patients who visited the hospitals did not have acute problems. This means that interns and junior doctors could also be used so that senior physicians can spend more time with the acute cases."

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear Prasad Ji, Smt VR

Just got back after a trip to Benares. Crowds are swelling there too but the waters are not as dirty
as I thought they'd be.

Sri Iyyrooran's post # 42 - I don't think any University [ much less The Harward ] would send a delegation
with preconceived notions and I am sure it will be a scientific and objective study report, with statistics,
figures and facts. So, I really will not worry about "Harvard people must be thinking".

I remember a Tamil writer who published his travelogues and became a famous man. He visited us when we were
in Lusaka [ in the early '70's prior to Rhodesia becoming Zambia & Zimbabwe ]. We had a terrific laugh about the
graphic and flowery descriptions of things that were far from the truth - mostly guppa!
I am sure the Harvard Study will not turn-out to be this way.

I hope somewhere in the report, a mention is made about Benares, where numerous corpses are being cremated simultaneously every day in the various Ghats but raises no stench of burning flesh - despite open, ground-level funeral pyres and no elongated, high-rise chimneys. Whether on the windward or leeward side, one can't smell a thing.
This is something I noticed even on my first visit to Benares in 1986.

Iyyarooran Sir, I would neither view the phenomenon through a 'western' prism nor would I ever apply
the yardsticks of the 'civilized' world to form any opinion or be judgemental.

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

 

[tbs]

hi
hows cold?
ganges too cold?

even in april/may...river ganges very cold in benares/hardwar/rishikesh...

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear TBS Ji

Your post # 45

Yes, cold it is - if one goes by the tap water temperatures in Chennai/Madurai/Coimbatore.

Upstream as you mentioned, in places like Rishikesh and Haridrwar, I guess it is as chill as any
river in the high ranges. Downstream in Benares, Patna etc it is not that cold. I really don't
have any instruments to give any precise temperatures - so it is all purely subjective, and according
to one's perception / tolerance. One doesn't quite feel all that chill as long as one is in the water and wading
through, but when wind blows, it is a different story.

The days are getting warmer - sometimes scorching sunlight, but one can feel the 'chill' creeping up from
through the mat while sleeping on the floor. Sometimes sleeping on bare, soft, dry river sand is more comfortable
than on a concrete floor with a mat/rug laid-out.

I am learning to tell the time, thithi and paksham by looking at the night sky and observing the stars and constellations. For this, I had to go to a place called Naini [ not to be mistaken for Nainital ] - a suburb of Allahabad, just to avoid the glow of man-made illumination there, lying under the bare sky alongside a nondescript stranger I am getting a peek into the clock-work precision of the movements of the heavenly bodies. I can now tell the time with an error error range
of +/- 20 minutes. From here [Naini], the eastern sky is still pretty lip-up in the night and the stars/planets/constellations
are not visible to the naked eye - no we are not using any telescopes. One night we had thick fog and that again made
things difficult - but even from peripheral visibility of the sky, one can get within 30 minutes accuracy levels.

Then there are other correlated things to be observed such as the bio-clocks set into the systems of cows, birds, dogs
etc., one can make a fairly precise guesstimate of the time.

Yes Sir, it is cold - it is also a lot of other repulsive things, but I am learning !

Guruvethunai

Yay Yem

 

[tbs]

Dear Smt VR

Your post # 37 is a bit humorous (!) Matlab Nahin Samjha (!) Kaun sa bheed ?
Vaise to main akela hi hoon behanji. I am no Thomas Hardy !

hi
kya ho gaya?.....i like Thomas Hardy very much....when i was in undergrad in eng litt class...i like Thomas Hardy;s famous novel...

THE TESS OF THE DURBERVILIES.... i like him very much....any way....jo kuch hua aachha hua....jo ho raha hai...woh bhi acchaa...

jo hogaa woh bhi accha hogaa....isliye chintha karne keliye koi zarurat nahi....haan ji... sun rahe ho?...

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear tbs Ji

Ref your post # 47

I was referring to Thomas Hardy's " Far from the Madding Crowd " - more for the title than the content of the book.
Smt VR, with all her concern, asked me to stay away from the crowd - she was only being concerned
for my personal safety and well being.

If 'alone' means being in the midst of hundreds of people, then it sort of fits the description.

I guess, it is left to each individual to create a space for himself / herself and also decide on what
level of intrusion / invasion of that private space is permissible / tolerable. The expansion and contraction
of this space is governed by the flexibility of the mind of each individual.

When one goes by " Yaadhum Ooray, Yaavarum Kayleer " , I suppose this private space becomes the
cosmos itself - Antariksham

Yes Sir, I too have enjoyed reading Thomas Hardy's Tess of The d'Urbervilles.

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

 

[Subhalakshmi]

Dear Smt Subhalakshmi

[ I wouldn't dare use "Bushu" - somewhere, sometime ago you mentioned that it was name fondly given to you by
your Father ].

Thanks for your encouraging mail - even more so because you share the name with two illustrious relatives
- MS and "Sister" .

Mam, I am from Chennai - and now back there after several stints at various places in the world. Done some wild
and weird things all along and still [ I hope people think ] not lost my mental balance .

Smt VR keeps asking me " WHY " I am here in all this mess, and I don't have an answer. Since she like "Quotes",
maybe I should answer with a quote from A.L Tennyson " Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die "
- remember the poem, Charge of the Light Brigade? - he was describing a miscalculated battle in the Crimean Wars.
Now, she'll hatch on to the poem, hold me by the collar and ask " What battle, whose miscalculation ?"
And I still will not have any answers.

The rivers here are not navigable right now - water flows controlled with up-stream dams. Discharge from the dams
is maintained to ensure minimum collateral damage down-stream, yet just enough to flush the muck down. This
could be one of the things being studied by the University. So, for the time being no boats plying to places like
Benares. Sure, there are boats from the river banks to the Sangamam - but it is a lot more fun wading in waist-deep water - several safety nets and hold-posts have been installed and there is terrific illumination. Fire Service, Rescue,
First Aid, Para Medical Teams and floating ambulances - all in place and ever vigil.

People will crib about just anything - everything will always seem inadequate / insufficient. But when we consider all
this in the context of such large numbers of humans, one has to concede that The Govt / NGOs / Voluntary Bodies
are doing an excellent job. Security is a major task, with extremists and terrorists looking over our shoulders.

So far, no major 'incident' - but for a few small fires / stove blasts - petty crimes like pick-pocketing / bag lifting /
chain snatching are all there, but these are not exclusive to the Kumbh or Prayag, these happen everywhere where
even a fair number of humans gather.

One of the comedies I saw - "Lost & Found" counters all empty! No, I didn't go there to complain about or retrieve my
wet under-wear which was pinched. I guess " Finders keepers, Losers weepers " . If somebody found something, he/she
is just going to keep it - surely the loser is not going to ask for his used, wet underwear back!

I know, Smt VR is going to ask what all I lost and what all I found - no, I'm not going to tell, especially what
I found, because I don't want to bluff - but assuredly by bag will be as empty as it was when I came here.
Suffice for the moment - I am minus one underwear, a wet one at that!

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem

Hello Anand Manohar,

Sorry for the delay in replying, quite an adventure spirit you are.. free of self.. I don't think you are crazy, you are just a free spirit and I have no problem with that.. each one knows what he or she wants in life.. YOu are enjoying it to the fullest and I admire you for that..

I have been a no show in this forum time to time, I did see your message but was traveling so could not reply right away..

By the way, you can call me Bushu, that has been my knick name since I was a baby and all my friends and family call me that.. so absolutely no problem..

I have not read any other posts before I replied here, but will go through the others to see if you have anymore adventures to share.. Be well, come back safe without losing anymore of your wares.. LOL!!!! god bless and enjoy every moment so you can recall all vivedly.. My aunt and uncle (inlaws) were also there, I have to call them to see if they are back..

Best wishes.
Bushu

 

[Anand Manohar]

Dear All

Dr Renuka has confirmed that sending Prasaadam through post is not a problem in Malaysia. I need to wait
for folk from other parts of the world to confirm - anyway, Shivaratri is some time off yet.

Prasad Ji, Smt VR - I hope this gets a mention in the Harvard Study Report - I met a small group of Tamil
speaking people from North-Eastern India - close to [ infact right on it ] the Indo-Burma border ! Not sure
whether it is Tripura or Mizoram .

It looks, not all Tamil people took the sea route to southern India and came here as repatriates / refugees.
in the 1950s & '60s . Some of them apparently took the land route just decided to stay in the mountainous areas
before the borders lines were drawn with with any clarity. Their place is Moorah / Mooreh - neglected by both
Indian and Myanmarese Govts.
- now facing headaches from Islamic insurgents from Bangla Desh.

They have built two Temples - one Veera Rama and the other a Kaliammam, the Eastern Entrance of The Kaliamman
Temple is inside what is Burmese territory! A flourishing cross-border trade keeps sustaining them.

They are fluent in Tamil [ though a few words of Assamese/Mizo/Bengali do slip-in at times, in between sentences ]
and some of them sang songs of Siva Vakkiyar and Thirumoolar !

Smt VR, I think I should've posted this in your " Did You Know?" - surely, I didn't know about this community
until today. Mam, I think that partially answers your question of why I suddenly vanish. There is so much to
know, and so little one can imbibe.

They have 'invited' me to visit their place and Insha Ganesha my visit there will be soon. If someone can
'google' some details - on accessibility, rail/road routes/ trekking / mule tracks etc, that will be a great help.
I have been up to Gawhati [ Sri Kamakhya Devi Temple ] and bathed in the Brahmaputra before - that was about
10 years ago - things must've changed a lot, now.


Guruvethunai
Yay Yem