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| Modern Kumbh |
Haridwar welcomes a traveller with all the jing bang of a small town that India offers. A "dry" town I must warn you, it is strewn with typical small by-lanes of thousands of shops selling trinkets to statues to water bottles and actually who would miss the Coca-Cola and Pepsi food co (a branding strategy which has beaten almost every religious crusade). What amazed me was the modernity of this holy town famed to be the spot where amrut or nectar had spilled, is another commercial hub of selling globalized products and goods. And Kumbh Mela 2010 not only takes the spiritual energy to the next level but also the sales figures of all the merchants and brands. Modern man is getting homogeneous in nature. Almost every city is loosing its own character and is taking on a single look of a boring town scape which could be anywhere in the world.
And yet when the hordes of Nagas spilled forth into the streets, one could get a glimpse of what it would have been thousands of years ago, when religious branding was more prominent than global ones. Symbols have been a part of any group or ideology, but todays symbols of globalization is seen mixed with traditional symbolism - marking an era of the acceptance of the west, the respect of the past cultures and the redefinition of faith for a common man.
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