The Flute Playing Sadhu

One thing if you love shooting faces , people , beggars , than the Kumbh is the best place to hone your skills as a street photographer.

And if you love shooting rituals , customs monks Sadhus Nagas and Aghoris and Tantrics than Kumbh is in your backyard.

And if you befriend a good Sadhu , from a  reputed ashram, than it becomes all the more easier.

When I shot the Nasik Kumbh I did not know anybody , no contacts nothing , but than I met Shri Vijay Giri Triveni from Juna Akhara who has his ashram near Film City Mumbai I became his friend stayed with him at Sadhugram Trimbakeshwar  on the eve of the Shai Snan shot the ling kriya , sadhus pulling a car with their penis ,,

I could not accompany him to the Shai Snan Trimbakeshwar tank but pushed my way through and shot part of it ,,seems a long time now .

And so the contact that I built at Nasik helped me shoot the Maha Kumbh, and I did not want to shoot the Maha Kumbh as a photographer so I became a part of them.. on the Basant Panchmi Shahi Snan my Guru dressed me up as a Sadhu with ash on my forehead I shot the Kumbh as a
Sadhu..

There was someone else who helped me a lot I can only say a prayer for her she is not alive and I hope  God Grants her Freedom from everything..

I shot her pictures her  short lived life at the Maha Kumbh ,, but have removed them from public domain..


"We do not know which weight is worse to bear
our conquering them or their conquering us."
-Bhagavad-gita 2:6

Hope And Hindutva ..Message of Universal Peace Humanity ..

He is a holy person , a teacher like figure , an ascetic but a Grahst Sadhu.. he was staying in the same sector a few tents away
with his wife . son and his daughter in law
and grand children.

We took an instant liking to each other
he considered me a mystic too with my
long robes happy that I was affiliated to
Ajmer Sharif.

He enjoyed calling me to his tent after prayers fascinated with my camera and me
with the congeniality of his face .

He was a very clean man and would get upset when others from the sector
misused or dirtied the common toilet a makeshift one we all shared .

I was living with the Naga Sadhus and still remember the winter chill on the banks of the Ganges ,but I bathed everyday...I only wore black and visited the Naga Babas I had befriended .

Will I forget the Maha Kumbh no never ..
Allahabad the sangam my encounters with great Spiritual leaders of various Akhadas , His Holiness Chandra Swamiji, Khamakya Kapoor one of the most exotic fascinating tantriks I have ever met .

From the Maha Kumbh I still keep in touch with Kapoor Khamakya ..

I have not yet met my Naga Guru , simply because we are connected telepathically ..he will call me for the Nasik Kumbh which I await hopefully karmically..


There are some sad memories of the Maha Kimbh that I have erased from my consciousness , just keeping the god happier ones as moments on my Maha Kumbh set at Flickr.

The World of Saints Holy Men has also been infiltrated by bogus Babas con men , though thankfully the spiritual policing helps
remove them from the midst and save Hope And Hindutva.. from charlatans out
to create mischief and you find them in other faiths too lured by fast bucks easy money.

So sometimes even a camera becomes a storyteller .. poetizes the nuances of light and shade into textures of lilting hope you read as text..