Mahakumbh: 200 km in 16 hrs, yet faith reigns supreme
Despite traffic jams that devotees travelling to Prayagraj from various cities faced, their determination remained firm
Despite traffic jams and related problems that devotees travelling to Prayagraj for Mahakumbh from various cities faced during their journey, their faith and determination remained firm helping them overcome the ordeal. HT spoke to a number of visitors about their experience.
Archana and her husband Sanjay Agarwal, a businessman from Kanpur, are yet to come to terms with what all they went through during their 200 km journey to Prayagraj by car.
It took the duo and their two other family members 16 long hours to reach the Sangam city from their home. They claimed that they left home at 4 am in a bid to reach Kumbh area latest by 10 am. However, they could reach the Sangam city only by 8 pm.
“All we could see was rows of vehicles on the roads as our own car moved at a snail’s pace,” said Archana, a homemaker. “There were lakhs of pilgrims stranded in their cars on Sunday, several kilometres away from the fair site,” said Archana’s husband Sanjay.
“Cops were diverting the traffic and it took almost 10-12 hours to cover 50-km distance,” another devotee claimed. The Kanpur couple said while they reached the Prayagraj city at 8 pm, it took them another three hours to reach Sangam area due to traffic diversions at several points.
They claimed they saw several petrol pumps where cars were waiting for long hours for their turn to refill the tank. “As our fuel tank was full, we did not have to stand there,” they said. “All eating points on national highway had nothing to offer as their vessels were mostly empty due to influx of devotees,” Agarwal said.
The Kanpur family left Sangam at 5 am. The return journey, however, was very smooth and there was hardly any traffic jam. “We reached home at 10 am but all were completely exhausted,” Agarwal couple said over the phone.
Naveen Kumar, 54, arrived in state capital from Mathura on February 6 and stayed there with his relative. The next day, he left for Prayagraj and got stuck in a massive traffic jam near Phaphamau. His family and he, as claimed, remained stuck there for almost 10 hours before they reached Prayagraj.
Subol Kumar and his wife Riya of Kalkaji, South Delhi, were of the view that their decision to go to Prayagraj by train was a wise one. Kumar, 40, his wife Riya Haldar left Delhi on February 7 for Prayagraj by Rewa Express at 10 pm. The train was delayed by an hour when it reached Prayagraj the next morning at 7 am.
“When our train reached Prayagraj, the platform was overcrowded with only one narrow entry and exit route. Somehow, we managed to exit,” he said. “Later, we took a holy dip at Sangam and the experience was overwhelming,” Kumar added.
“On return journey, our train was delayed by over 6 hours and arrived at 6.20 pm on February 9 and reached Old Delhi at 7 am on February 10,” he added.