Mixed Memories of a Train Journey Packed With Returning Kumbh Devotees

It is said that sometimes an Urdu word ‘safar’ (journey) turns into an English word "suffer". It may sound amusing, but this is what this writer felt while returning from Sasaram (Bihar) on a train. One had heard a lot about the Kumbh Mela, one didn’t expect a strange experience lay in store.

For devotees, the Kumbh Mela is a religious tradition where they must go and purify themselves by bathing in the ‘holy’ water. However, my experience was somewhat different. I did not go to the Kumbh Mela. I went to the city of Sasaram on vacation. While returning home to Kolkata, I boarded the Ajmer-Sealdah train from Sasaram. The condition of the train was pathetic. As I reached my reserved seat, I saw a pile of boxes piled up on it, and four women were lying on them.

Despite it being an AC 2-tier coach, these women were occupying my seat without any ticket. I wanted to ask them to get up and at least sit, but that seemed impossible. They were fast asleep.

After we made some noise, one woman got up and offered me a place to sit. They were returning from the Kumbh Mela, which is a religious gathering, so it did not seem right to say anything. After all, they probably did not get any seats in any train and had to return home.

Most of the people whose seats were reserved were silent because of this. Anyway, with great difficulty, I sat down in one corner of my reserved seat. I had not eaten anything since morning, but there is no way I could eat anything even at night. Seeing such a huge crowd on the platform in the morning, I did not feel like having any tea or breakfast either.  

The ordeal was not without some lighter moments, though. When I loudly complained of a splitting headache, a woman returning from the Kumbh looked at me and offered the ‘holy water’ that she was carrying. She said it was Ganga water, and asked me to pour it on my head. “Your headache will go away,” she said, at which I smiled, and so did the other women. I politely declined the offer, saying that I would do so later, and wondered how deep faith and religious beliefs run in the devotees’ minds.

Through the journey, some women got off, and some more passengers got in. In a nutshell, my seat was not vacated at any point.

There was another amusing incident during the journey. A man who wanted to use the restroom tried to go four times, but the crowd was so huge that he had to return to his seat each time. He declared loudly that he would go to the restroom only when the crowd thinned out a bit. Just then, an elderly woman, making a lot of noise, pushed everyone aside, and went straight to the restroom. The man looked aghast.

As the crowd grew, another thing was clear. No TT (ticket checker) seemed to exist on that train!

On the upper seat, a person was in deep sleep on someone else's reserved seat. This man was also returning from Kumbh without a ticket. When the reserved seat person requested him to vacate the seat, he was offered a place, but after much delay.

Through this ordeal, I tried to go to the washroom, but it was an uphill task as a mountain of luggage was piled up on the way.

I have been traveling by train since childhood, but I have never seen such a crowd and such a pathetic state of affairs.

The journey left a mixed flavour. While the religious enthusiasm of the devotees was high, they seemed unable to handle themselves in the crowd. The blankets and pillows and sheets were turned into a big mess. Yet, the people were replete with stories of the kind of atmosphere in the Mela, how they took the bath, how they met sadhus and also how they were looted by some motorbike riders, who charged them Rs 500 each to take them to the bathing site.

The women said they had pain in their legs due to walking long distances, and had no option but to pay Rs 500 to the bike riders rather than walk 5 km further.

When I returned home, I felt that even though I had not gone to the Kumbh, listening to these stories made me feel as if I had been there. Maybe, Kumbh is also calling me.

The writer is Assignment Editor of Akhbar E Mashriq, an Urdu newspaper read widely in Eastern India.