When It Isn't Snowing Get Religious- Kumbh Mela VIDEO

So where are? Four of us are in Gulmarg, Will, Shane, Richard and myself. Richard is laid up in bed popping pills to kill whatever it is that necessitated me buying him three extra pairs of underwear in Haridwar. Shane is hopefully on the mend from the same illness. Jordan, Chad and another friend Tobin arrive tomorrow and we are all still waiting for snow.

It is a little shocking how little snow there is in Gulmarg this year. Chatting with Farooz, a dainty Kashmiri local with a grey beard and lipstick red designer spectacles who has been in this valley all his life claimed the only time he has seen so little snow was thirty-five years ago. He remembered playing golf on January 24^th that year. It isn't quite that bad at present, but may as well be. Golfing would give us something to do.

Despite the somewhat significant setback of there being no snow, for reasons I can't quite comprehend, the crew are still relatively upbeat. The only clouds in the sky these days are those that we have lined with silver, claiming it is better to be sick when there is no snow than on a powder day, and it gives us time to explore the various characters around town and develop a rapport with those whose stories we may want to highlight in the film. Currently, the making of this film involves drinking a lot of tea.

For all the B-roll footage we have shot, the stories of the past from the older generations that have emerged and the ambitions of the younger generation, we had to take some time out and step away from speculating on when it would snow. As of last Monday, it was all sun for the next week so we bailed to Delhi and met up with Richard as he arrived in India before taking the train to Haridwar to the Kumbh Mela Festival.

Photo- topnews.inWhat is Kumbh Mela? It is only the largest gathering of people on earth, attracting tens of millions of pilgrims over three months. That is why I hadn't heard of it before either. Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival that takes place every three years, alternating between four cities; Prayag, Nashik, Ujjain and Haridwar. The festival entails a ritual bath in the Ganges river with auspicious days throughout the three months that can attract over a million pilgrims in a day. This years festival began on Jan 14^th.

KM PIC

What we encountered was rather manageable. I don't know if it is a bad thing that we weren't there for one of the jam packed days. It meant we could find a hotel room and security was a little more lax. We arrived at close to midnight and were informed that 5am was the time to bear witness. A few hours later we were dragging our feet down the main road through Haridwar to the ghats on the Ganges to basically watch a bunch of people take a dip in the tepid waters as they pour out of the mountains onto the plains. It was... nice. Yeah, I would describe it as nice. It wasn't crazy, it wasn't boring, it was a good balance. Given how far the ghats extend along the river and the acres upon acres of tents that resemble refugee camps to accommodate pilgrims, we got an idea of what Kumbh Mela was capable of without the full scale intensity.

Shane and Richard lasted til sun-up before an Indian version of the toilet in “Trainspotting” summoned them. They spent the next two days of the largest festival on earth in a windowless room with what sounded like a rock quarry on the other side of the paper thin wall and Indian people arguing outside the door. Meanwhile, Will and I had a grand time in Rishikesh riding vintage Royal Enfield motorcycles along the river through the mountains. Rishikesh was far more relaxed, scenic and down right enjoyable as watching the artti ceremony at sunset where people place flaming offerings to the gods on the river.

Our train left late that evening and we all bundled into a sleeper car and were rocked to sleep all the way to Delhi in time to catch our flight back to Srinagar. In Srinagar Richard got his first taste of occupied Kashmir, a not to removed situation from that in Northern Ireland, his homeland, in the 10970-80s.

Since then, it hasn't snowed and neither Shane or Richard have passed a solid stool. We are still playing the waiting game on both those fronts, but hopes are high that all things grim at present will be rectified by the 28^th.

Inshallah.

-Anthony Bonello

P.S. I really take no pleasure in articulating the grim reality of travellers diarrhoea. I do apologize if any of you stumbled across this over breakfast or some other pleasant meal that some of us are not yet at liberty to enjoy.



Comments

[Dana]

Poor baby, so sick. Hopefully everyone is feeling better. Sucks there is no snow but at least you got to experience a huge cultural event. Have fun boys.

[Ida]

Tighten up son.