Simply having a spiffy camera round your neck rad lenses does not mean you are shooting the Kumbh you are merely taking pictures you have to re live the Kumbh on the parchment of your poetic soul , you have to breathe in breathe out the beauty of the Kumbh ,which is nothing but the composite uniqueness of India ,
I guess I am lucky to some extent as I had given myself to a saintly man a Naga Sadhu who has read the Koran and gives a lot of respect to everyone ,, he was a teacher , so he understands the ethos of the leaning aspiration of his disciples .
I am perhaps his only Muslim disciple ,,,I share a mystical bond with this humble man I met at the Nasik Kumbh 2002 by the way the person in the picture is not my Guru ,, I met him after I had completed a 6 km walk with a Naga procession barefeet and in tiring conditions with a serious leg injury.. but God provides .
My Guru Shree Vijay Giri Maharaj hardly talks , but he works , he will find work.. all the interior work, the temple inside the living space , the kitchen was all planned and carefully executed by hi and his volunteers ,, he never rests ,,this simple sadhu from Karnataka Mangalore .
We hardly meet he stays near Film City I stay at Bandra , and after every Kumbh he goes into his cocoon cut off from everyone ,, he has promised to take me to Junagadh to celebrated Maha Shivratri with the Naga Sadhus ,,
He has aged a lot in these 12 years since I met him , he did the ling kriya before we left for the Shahi Snan making an old Naga Sadhu stand on the stick entwined to his penis ,.. and it is a tough one ,,There are Naga Sadhus that do ling kriya with their penis rolled on to a sword..
I met Hijras to at Ramkund they were from Kanpur , they touched my feet and wanted me to bless them .. thinking I was a Sadhu too they gave me Rs 100 as alms ,,this is the simplicity and devotion .. this is the true mantra of Make in India .
I used to beg with my Guru at the last Kumbh going from door to door eating left overs ,, and thus vanquishing the pwer of Ego once and for all .. this year he seemed to be troubled ..short of funds as it is not easy setting up a tent here ,feeding the new guests , and a lot of expenditure though milk grains cereals kerosene gas is subsidized at the Sadhu gram.
Most of his disciples did not turn up for this Shahi Snan because of Rakhi,, I am yet not sure if I do go back.. my Guru has asked me to come for the 13 September Shahi Snan..
The guy who takes care of our space at the Sadhugram is Mahesh Bhardwaj the main disciple of Guruji , he has been with Shree Vijay Giri Maharaj for last three Kumbhs ,,
He is the one who keeps me updated connected though he lives at Rishikesh .. he takes care of me at the Kumbh making my sugarless tea , though this time I refused to take hot water from him and bathed in chilled cold water early mornings ,, Nasikh in the nights can be very cold we dont have fans at all ,,
We sleep on the floor I had taken a bedsheet ,,but there were woolen blankets and mattresses that Guruji had hired for his incoming guests ,,
I was lucky I did not have to shoot the Kumbh from outside the public fence , I was more a mystic than a photographer and I was dressed in Sadhu garbs ..I applied vermilion on my forehead for the Shahi Snan only ,, though Mahesh wanted me to wear just a loincloth apply ash and take the dip ,,I thought what I wore was enough for me within my sartorial limitations ,,
My only regret is I was called by His Holiness Swamiji Avdesh Anandji and I could not make it as I left Nasikh Trimbakeshwar on 29 August with my friend Vinodji a political leader from BJP Goregaon.. My return ticket was by train for 30 September ,, I could not cancel it , it was bought on Tatkal.
But I had a great Kumbh ,,I shot thousands of pictures from 26 August to 29 August,.. I could not ask for more ,could I.
