Travel
South Bay Travels: Kumbh Mela, The Unknown Journey
This South Bay couple is traveling to India to witness a Hindu religious pilgrimage. They'll be blogging about their experiences on Patch.
REDONDO BEACH, CA – One week from today my husband and I will embark on a life changing journey with potential unintended consequences far wider, far more personal and physical, deeper and greater than the voyage itself.
Ken and I are traveling to Kumbh Mela, a Hindu religious pilgrimage. It is epic in size and breadth. It is the largest gathering of humanity on Earth.
The scope is so vast, so enormous UNESCO has recognized it as “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” and the sheer magnitude is large enough to be viewed from space.
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You may wonder why we are undertaking this journey – but that is a longer story to be shared later.
For now, I would like to invite you to accompany us virtually on this incredible life changing expedition.
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Context on this Hindu pilgrimage: it takes place every 12 years when Jupiter stakes its claim on a certain position amongst the stars and moons in the universe. (Jupiter enters into Aquarius and the Sun in Aries).
Devout Hindus fly, walk, travel by car, train, camel or elephant to reach the holy confluence of three rivers: the Ganges, Godavari and Yamuna. There they will bathe in the sacred waters and in doing so the devout pilgrims will attain purification.
We are going as observers. It is our second trip to India however contemplating sharing space amongst 120 million souls (over 50 days) I admit to owning my lion-share of trepidation.
I have only blurred conjured images as what to expect. What spectrum of emotions will be coursing through this Redondo Beach resident’s veins? Will I be afraid? Will I be humbled? Will I be so emotionally overwhelmed that my commonsense might get the better of me? Do I have enough sacred personal bandwidth to absorb the magnitude of the devotion of those surrounding me?
All will be revealed if you take this journey with me and over the next few days we will discover the answers, together. I will be open, candid and honest in my deepest personal reflections.
Until next we meet,
Alison and Ken
