So similar yet so different- the Maha kumbh mela at Allahabad and the statistics with the
photos thrust on my face by the media strangely forces me to draw parallels
with the ongoing yearly (read maha ) sales in the malls across the city.
No, no these sales don’t happen once in 12 years but surely
they attract crowds like a huge magnet when it comes to the three magic words
‘flat’ , ‘off’, and ‘fifty’. Go to any mall today and i guarantee you will find
the white font ‘sale’ written on red background of posters and the ogle eyed
,open mouths models representing the happiness your heart and your pocket is
about to feel.( oh yeah retail therapy sure works!) .
Like the kumbh mela
where numerous pilgrims gather to get a taste of the famous amrit and let go
off their sins through the sacred bath , sale is the only time of the year
where one let goes off their budget worries and tastes the heavenly concept of
‘buying more for less’. And unlike the male chauvinists i don’t blame them,
given the expensive rate of goods, corruption and all the problems the Kalyug is presenting
in front of us, we fearlessly proclaim that we find solace in the material possessions,
if we can’t find it spiritually.
Believe me i wouldn’t call you crazy if you say that you can
find your mother or you shopping mate who was standing right there before your
eyes changed their direction to the object which wanted your attention, oh yes,
just like the kumbh mela which gave the hindi cinema one of its most famous
satirical lines “hum kumbh k mele mein bichad gaye “ what with millions of
pilgrims, the sale season in a small scale bears the similarity in the form of
huge lines to the never vacant trial rooms, a pending stampede and the first
see first snatch attitude!
These two wildly different occasions also find a common link
with each other given the benefit which the secondary industries like the
transport and food enjoy complementing the boom which rises out of the primary
event. Where after the kumbh mela and
the sale shopping ,one is likely to feel tired yet happy and satisfied , the
only recipients of the bittersweet experience are the security personnel and
the salesmen (with there never tiring and persistent offer of assistance ).
This being the busiest time of the year for them, they remain as busy as the
reporters during the exit polls.
But the kumbh mela is here for two months, gah only if the
sales could extend for the same! The spiritual world is celebrating the Maha
kumbh with utmost zeal while here in the concrete jungle I definitely see a
‘mini kumbh’ happening! Needless to say,
go loose yourself, you won’t regret it!
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