You probably haven’t heard of Haridwar but anyone who has seen Karl Pilkington’s ‘An Idiot Abroad’ will remember his obsession with the ‘babas’ at a big Hindu festival. That was the Haridwar Kumbh Mela which is a mass Hindu pilgrimage to bathe in the sacred Ganges and is one of the largest human congregations in the world. Sounds incredible, right?! Unfortunately the festival only takes place in Haridwar every 12 years and given that the next one isn’t until 2022, we weren’t hanging round for it!
We had almost decided on a trek that begins in Haridwar when we discovered that Haridwar holds a Ardh (half) Kumbh Meal every six years which would coincide with our trip. Keen to experience anther Indian festival, we made sure that we were in town for one of the special bathing days.
Unfortuantely, somewhere between Delhi and Haridwar, on a pretty packed and very rickety bus, I got sick and spent most of our time in Haridwar in bed. Luckily we had nothing much planned and it was one of the more comfortable rooms we stayed in.
Determined not to miss out, I dragged myself out for the final special bathing day and we ventured out. The river is lined with Ghats where people were walking down steps to paddle in the water, collect it in plastic bottles and launch candles into the fast flowing river.
At the main Ghat, there were huge crowds and as we were soaking up the atmosphere, music started playing and the crowd joining in singing. Kids were playing with glow-in-the-dark toys and adults put their hands through a flame as if washing their face with the fire.
It was a very warm, comforting atmosphere which seemed strangely familiar. I was struggling to put my finger on why and then I realised that it reminded me of Bonfire Night back home.
Here’s a short video we made whilst wandering along the river:
