In the initial days my guru only knew me as a fashion person with Bollywood , he had seen me at Film city much before we came to know each other Nasikh Kumbh Trimbakeshwar 2003 ,,at the Maha Kumbh to save my ass from right wing bigots my Guru named me as Ashok Bharti but I was uncomfortable with this sobriquet ,but out of respect I did no say a word I wanted pictures and I wanted memories .. but here at the Nasikh Kumbh I sat with my Guru and explained to him that he should take all the credit for having a Muslim disciple ,,so I did not hesitate when Swami Avdesh Anandji Maha Mandleshwar Juna Akhara asked me who I was I told him I was a Muslim documenting Hinduism as Hope and Hindutva a message of Universal Peace and thus I shot the Shahi Snan at Trimbakeshwar Ram Kund ,,29 August 2015.
The Naga sadhu who did the Arti at our Gurus makeshift temple Shankar Giri had expired so another Naga Sadhu took charge ,,,
But there was a Naga Sadhu from Rajasthan,, when he was coming to the Kumbh someone stole one of his bags and it was the bag that contained his heart medicine he was in great pain , but Vinod bhai the BJP Neta from Goregaon ,, made sure he got the medicine from Nashik the very next morning .And this Naga Sadhu was hot tempered and took offence at every thing ,, I stayed away from him but later he took a liking to me and narrated some amazing stories of Lord Ram.
On Shahi Snan day both my guru and this sadhu were stark naked they applied ash to each others bodies , but while heading to the kund my Guru wore a short dhoti..
And we set out in the BJP Netas Scorpio ,, wee hours of the morning to the hearty robust chant of Har Har Mahadev,,, my guru does not smoke the chillum at all.
I lost him when we reached Trimbakeshwar kund ,,,all of them I was told took the dip including Netaji and the other disciples.. excepting me ,,I was caught in the crowds and entered with the cortege of Swami Avdesh Anandji Juna Akhara.
Mahesh Bhardwaj my gurus main disciple and Netaji tried calling me but it was impossible to connect in the chaos.
In the picture below my Guru and his main disciple Mahesh Bhardwaj and me .
