Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25179
MAHA KUMBHA MELA
blue: Could the word "party" be considered offensive in this religious context? Shyamdas: Yes. But I'm using it as an American. If I were to translate the word into Hindi and say that to someone, they might take offense to it. Srinivas: Anyone would take offense to calling mela a party. The closest translation is "a religious gathering."
blue: Is the KlUDbha Mela like anything in American culture? Jason: The annual Burning Man festival in Nevada is perhaps the closest thing to a Kumbha Mela. The weather, desert environs, sprawling tent city, the emphasis on free self-expression, and cross-countty pilgrimages are all similarities. But the experience of Burning Man is magnitudes shy in size, madness and liberties the US government would ever allow to transpire in America. In reality, the comparison is superficial and inaccurate. Much of America, Western culture for that matter, does not function on such a passionate spiritual level as the East. For Americans, the Superbowl and an occa- sional Pink Floyd revival concert suffice for a fix of religious intensity.
blue: Could this be considered an offensive comparison? Jason: If you were Hindu you might find it a bit offensive to compare a Kumbha Mela to Burning Man, but people come and physically both are vety similar--especially if you looked at them from an aerial view. Both are temporary tent cities that set up out of nowhere. Both are people congregating and communing and in that way, it's the closest thing I've ever seen to the Kumbha Mela. Jim: I don't even want to touch that. .. Shyamdas: You can't compare the Kumbha Mela with Burning Man! The Kumbha Mela is an ancient tradition that brings people together whether they be theistic, non- theistic, whether they worship Ram, Krishna, whether they don't worship any person- al deity at all, whether ot not they do guru worship, whether they worship the river Ganges, whether they eat meat or are vegetarian, celibate, tantric, householder--every- one gets together on one piece of land that's just a bunch of sand.
blue: How would you compare awareness of Burning Man to the KlUDbha Mela among young Americans? Jason: I found out about the Maha Kumbha Mela at Burning Man. But people come to Burning Man in million dollar RVs that they rent for the week and live in the lap ofluxury, except the only infrastructure at Burning Man is port-a-potties. It's 100 per- cent barter system, and there's absolutely no commercial activity, no commercial inter- est, no advertisement, to the point that people will block out the U-Haul insignia on their vehicles. Jade That's definitely not true at the Kumbha Mela. Jim: There was plenty of advertising in Haridwar, especially beverages-Pepsi and Coke. Jason: Giant TV screens ran constant loops of soft drink and soap ads--like, "Use Palmolive after you bathe in the Ganga!"
blue: Were the ads targeted to the actual event? Jason: A lot of them were. Crowds of people--some of them had never seen a TV before--were sitting in front of these giant screens and just watching in a trance. Jade There's one other phenomenon at the Kumbha Mela: Some of the communities, renouncers and temples put on huge feeds, enough for 1000 people or more. Shyamdas: There's a lot of free food at the Kumbha Mela. Millions of people were fed free every day. Jason: I stayed for three weeks and I didn't pay for any accommodations.
blue: Who runs the KlUDbha Mel..? Jason: The Indian government established the grid layout for the festival grounds. It put in roads, electricity and plumbing, constructed pontoon bridges over the Ganges, revamped train schedules nationwide, built a comically inadequate hospital (100 beds), bought hundreds of shovels for sewage removal, hired lifeguards and beefed up security for possible terrorist attacks and/or riots. It was also responsible for the deafening PA system. Predicting where the festival grounds will settle on the banks is the trickiest part about planning because the river shifts course yearly during monsoon. The government has less than half a year after the rains stop to lay down infrastructure for a city of anywhere from 10 ro 50 million people. Preparations for the Olympics, a much smaller event, are generally done over the course of 12 years! Jim: The state government administers the traffic stuff, it hires the police to block off routes when the processions are occurring. It also determines who gets ro camp where and so on.
blue: How do they determine that? Jade Groups compete because there is often controversy about which spots are more advantageous than others. They dole out spots where people can camp based on what they did 12 years before. Prominent groups 12 years ago got good spots and will get good spots again, but they pay a nominal fee. Shyamdas: I don't think it's such a low fee, I think it's fairly expensive to get a prime spot. I spoke to people who ran the camps and there's a lot of politics to get a prime area. There's a lot of baksheesh given ro get a prime spot on one of the main avenues leading ro the bathing ghats. Jim: This government control actually developed very slowlY--