Prayagraj: The Maha Kumbh Mela, in which over 65 crore people – nearly 43 per cent of India’s 140 crore population – are said to have taken a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam, is coming to an end. While the largest congregation of people in the world was a display of piety and spiritualism, there were some quirky moments as well.
The latest instance is that of a woman who travelled to the Maha Kumbh Mela without her husband. While taking a dip at the Sangam, she connected to her husband through a video call. She then dipped the phone in the water several times with her husband’s face still appearing on the screen. She clearly believed that the ‘virtual snan’ would help in washing away some of her husband’s sins – whatever they may be.
While it is not known how the husband reacted, the footage certainly left social media users in splits. Comments, most of them hilarious, started pouring in thick and fast.
While a social media user, reacted with the post: ‘Gopi Bahu in Prayagraj’, another wrote: ‘When your husband’s manager doesn’t approve his leave.’ It has been claimed that the footage recorded over 62,000 views in the first few hours with thousands of reactions. While some appreciated the woman’s love for her husband, a few joked that it is the phone that has got rid of its sins and not her husband.
The 45-day Maha Kumbh Mela has witnessed several such incidents. The most prominent among these was the emergence of IITBaba, an aerospace engineer who completed his BTech and MTech from the premier institute before turning towards spiritualism. He now claims to be a Naga Sadhu, though he courted controversy by making some adverse comments against the head of one of the more prominent Akharas.
IITBaba’s fame was short lived though. He came under immense fire from social media users after predicting that India would lose her match against Pakistan in the ongoing Champions Trophy.
The Maha Kumbh Mela attracted the who’s who from all fields of life. While President Droupadi Murmu became the second first person of the country after Dr Rajendra Prasad to take a dip at the Triveni Sangam, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were not left far behind.
That the event was not restricted to only Sanatanis became clear when Coldplay’s Chris Martin and his girlfriend Dakota Johnson took a dip. Apple co-founder Late Steve Jobs widow Laurene Powell Jobs was not so lucky though. She arrived at the Mela on the first day but couldn’t take a dip due to an allergy. Stars from Bollywood also flocked to the Mela.
The Maha Kumbh Mela will draw to a close on Thursday, but it will certainly leave behind several memories, most of them happy, some of them funny and a few of them sad.
