| Submitted by: Gopal VenkatUnited States |
| Submission Date: 09 February 2005 |
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This was a buffet style Lunch and also had quite a decent selection of Vegetarian food. After Lunch, I spent some time writing my Diary.
We decided to go to the Sangam area to take some pictures. We departed a little after 3 PM and took a rickshaw (pedal-operated) to the Sangam area (Rs. 20). The driver informed us that he would take us as close as possible. We were dropped (read stopped by the Police) about 2.5 kilometres from the Sangam. After walking for approximately 1 Kilometre we reached the banks of the Ganges. The army had constructed a number of pontoon bridges across the river to help the pilgrims move to the other bank of the river. These bridges (approximately 10 of them) were filled with people in both directions. It was an awesome sight. As the sun was behind me, I decided to walk a bit further to take some pictures. We finally reached the Sangam area after a 40-minute walk. I took a number of pictures of the Sangam area as well as the pontoon Bridges filled with people, before we decided to head back to the hotel.
A brief note of the faith / belief and persistence of the people who had come here:
We took a rickshaw wherever we wanted to go. Many of the pilgrims walked for many miles to reach the Sangam. We stayed in a 5-Star Hotel and experienced comfort. Many of these people simply stayed on the Banks of the Ganges for the night braving the cold weather. A question of faith triumphing over comfort?
We took a pedal-operated rickshaw back to the Hotel. After going for almost a Kilometre, he gave up, as he was unable to get through the traffic. He did not accept any money from us either! We walked a bit further up the road and took another rickshaw that cost us Rs.12 (24 cents!). As the prices were so inexpensive and as it involved a lot of manual labour, we tended to tip these folks.
As my dad was not feeling too well, we had dinner around 8 PM and got back to the room. If he is not feeling good, we may not go to the Sangam tomorrow (one of the Auspicious Days) for a Dip.
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As my dad had a coughing fit the previous night, I knew we would not make it to the Sangam this morning. I Woke up around 7:15 AM and turned on the TV. The Super bowl was ON! (Live). The Baltimore Ravens were playing the New York Giants for the Championship. As the game was already into the 3rd quarter, I sat-up and watched the rest of the game. I was quite pleased with the final result (Ravens 34, Giants 7). The Support for Ravens was by default. I just love to hate all NY Sport teams.
We finished breakfast around 9:30 AM. I inquired with the folks at the front desk on whether they could provide us Lunch and extend our checkout by a couple of hours at no extra charge (We were to depart Allahabad for Madras that Night). Though they agreed to provide us Lunch at no extra charge, they refused to extend the check out time by more than 1 hour. We walked to the station and found out that the incoming Varanasi Express (from Madras to Varanasi) was delayed by 2 hours. This would be the same train that would depart Varanasi in the evening and Stop at Allahabad on its way to Madras. We also found out that all the Upper class waiting rooms were full. We were planning to check out of our Hotel and find some inexpensive place to rest for a few hours.
We took a rickshaw to the civil lines area to check up on the availability of cheaper hotels in the area that would host us for a couple of hours. The Samrat Hotel wanted Rs.1400 (US$ 28). We found a place called GND (Guru Nanak Dev) Guest House (23 M.G. Marg, Civil Lines, Allahabad) that was willing to host us for Rs.500 (US$10). Since our train was not expected to depart until 9 PM, I wanted some place where Dad could rest and recuperate from his bout of coughing.
We got back to the Hotel (Kanha Shyam), packed up our stuff and went down to the lobby a little after noon. We had lunch, checked out (of Kanha Shyam) and then walked to the GND Guesthouse (100 metres). I left dad to rest in the room and walked out. I went to an Internet kiosk and surfed the net for 30 minutes, and spent some time browsing through a bookshop before deciding to take in a movie at a nearby theatre. I saw 'Taal' a Hindi language romance musical! I enjoyed it. The songs were quite catchy. The Movie finished around 6 PM and I walked to the Guest house. Since we heard that the station was teeming with people, we decided to leave the hotel at once and took a rickshaw to the Station. The police had blocked all the access roads leading to the railway Station in their attempt to control the crowds. I informed a Police inspector that my Dad was not feeling good and managed to get by the barricades. Otherwise we would have had to walk a long way around to get to the Station.
The footbridge leading into the station was packed with people! We took a long time to reach the vicinity of our platform. And we waited. Surprisingly the train was delayed by just 30 minutes! Once the train arrived, the Boy scouts (who were on duty along with many policemen) sprung into action and kept the ticket less travelers (and the people with no reservations) at bay while those of us with reserved accommodation on the train were allowed through. We managed to wade through the massive crowd and reach our coach. By the time we departed Allahabad, the train was running an hour late.
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I woke up to find out that the train was running 7 hours late. It had something to do with the train being rerouted on a loop-line. At this rate it was not expected to reach Madras (Chennai) before evening on January 31, 2001. I had purchased a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez the previous day (at the book shop). Just settled in to read the same.
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The Train did manage to make up for some lost time and reached Madras (Chennai) a little after 1 PM. We got home a little after 2 PM.
In all in was a truly memorable experience (as can be evinced by the fact that I still felt like sharing my experiences nearly 8 months after the trip!). In theory, by taking a dip at the Sangam, I have washed away all my sins accumulated in my 36 years of life thus far. A word of advice: People should plan on arriving at Allahabad at least 1 or 2 days prior to any auspicious day and leave 1 day after the auspicious day. If you are, however, allergic to large crowds, even this would not help you.
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| Copyright © - "Gopal Venkat" |
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