Stampedes

 The road to Kedarnath at Gaurikund, before the actual trek begins, is unbelievably narrow.  Three people cannot really walk side by side. On both the sides are small to big shops and hotels.  The horse-wallahs, one per horse, the doli-wallhs,  four per doli, the pittu-wallas, one per pittu are pushing/squashing their respective clientele on to and/or in to the concerned vehicle. As the clients are mostly unused to such vehicles, their awkwardness adds to the chaos. 

All along a stream of devotees is walking, their backpacks, et al, adding to the congestion! On the way up to Kedarnath, the lead doli-wallah, a young man in his very early twenties told me that this was NOTHING. When the "kapat" opened, he said, the crowd was such that everybody's feet was literally interlocked with someone else's.  Wonder of wonders, stampedes have not so far ruined the dignity of the place. 

When it comes to the 'VIP' Pooja at either Kedarnath or Badrinath, there is terrible pull-n-push by the poojari who are simultaneously invoking the Lord through shlokas and his devotees through angry commands to move on. Some of them refuse to, then literally the army men pull them away by the scruff! Imagine what the scenario must be when it comes to the non-VIP darshan.

The scenario is no different in the Pandharpur Vitthal Gabhara or the entry in to the Tirupati temple in the sanctum sanctorum. There is terrible spatial congestion, each devotee wishing to spend at least a minute there, the administration cruelly pushing them past. Fights, falls, full blast (in)human drama!

Why are there always stampede tragedies? Who is to blame? The excited but unruly hoards and hoards of devotees? The poojari's? The temple administration? The fame and name of a place? The last one I would not agree with because every local Mahadev temple, for example, follows the same pattern of near-stampede on every Shravan Somwar.  

I think, we MUST teach ourselves discipline and civic sense. There should be a proper row, no VIP darshan, one person at a time for a second, all that is to be offered to the Lord directly either at the platform by the administration or in the hands of the poojari, both of whom do the needful in the most disciplined way, and then hopefully the near-stampede possibility would be avoided.

Our temples are great. We Must avoid unruly and unclean behaviour. Neither stampedes nor dirty filth, absolutely the human contribution, and clearly the sore spots in a pilgrimage, can ruin their grandeur or holiness!

Pratima@Civic sense, discipline, cleanliness are the plinth of piety.