My Journey to Kumbh

The point to be noted here is that the number of people which Jodhpur manages is very small when compared to the Allahabad Railway Junction.

Apart from the cleanliness, other arrangements were also very good. The rest houses were in ample number, the markings crisp and clear, a medical safety team at the railway station, the Kumbh mela helpdesk and what not. I mean what else can a tourist ask for. Kudos to all the authorities on that part.

I took a public sharing auto from outside the railway station for the mela.

The river and beach were very clean indeed. Kumbh 2019 has special focus on sanitation.

Over 1,00,000 toilets have been constructed in the mela premises, uncountable number of dustbins laid and special ICT campaign have been launched to make sure that the river as well as the riverfront remains neat and clean.

Never in my life, I have seen such large scale of an event working that efficiently.

I crossed the "pipa bridge" to reach the other side of the river Ganga. All the "akhadas" are on the other side of the bridge. I had "prasad" at a few langar and then went to an akhada and slept there.

One can sleep there free of cost if one has one's own blanket.

Day 2(1st Feb)

I was woke up at 5 o'clock by a sadhu. He was waking up all the people as the area needed to be cleaned.

After packing my bags, I started walking, crossed the pipa bridge and went to the civil lines Allahabad as I had to meet a friend.

The park is good and many people jog there in the morning. There is an entry ticket of Rs 5/- for it. It is at walking distance from the bus stand.

My friend arrived and I explored a few more local spots with her.

After that, I went to the Anand Bhawan. The entry ticket is Rs 70/-.

I went back to the fair at around 3 o'clock and took a dip in the Ganges.

After bathing, I went to the boating area and took a boat for the Sangam area. I went on a sawari boat with 5 other persons which costed me Rs 100/-. A personal ride was for Rs 500/-.

I met another solo traveler named Bart from Poland. This guy was visiting India for the 7th time and had traveled across 80 countries in the world.

The boat took us near the main Sangam area where I again took a bath.

After getting from the boat, I went to the akahara area by crossing the pipa bridge and visited a few babas.

Then, I walked for almost 5 kms to reach sector-6 of the mela, as it has vacant public rest houses. I was not disappointed. I had a full rest house of 200 beds waiting for me.

Let me shed a light on the stay arrangement for the pilgrims in the Kumbh. There are four such guest houses in each sector. That accounts for almost 22*4*200=17600. Pretty decent count.

It costs you Rs 100/- per night for a bed and a pillow. They don't provide any blanket.

So, I had a king size stay that night.

Day 3(2nd Feb)

I woke up around 7 o'clock and started my journey again. I had to visit the Akshaywat tree, Allahabad fort, Patalpuri temple and the Bade Hanuman temple for today.

There was a very big queue for all of these. It was not before 2 o'clock that I have visited all these places.

They all are on the same route. I started with the Akhsaywat tree, then the Patalpuri temple and finished with the Bade Hanuman Temple. I also visited the Shankar Vimanam Mandapam.

I also visited the Purana Fort which is on the other side of the river in the area named Jhusi.

After that, I took a Kumbh shuttle for the Railway station. There are over 100 Kumbh shuttle plying to and fro from the mela. Khusro Bagh was the next destination on my checklist.