I’ve been planning this trip over the past year, but despite my meticulous research and a detailed spreadsheet that includes the itinerary of where and when we’ll be visiting, there have been some remarkable coincidences that I hadn’t planned for. There was flower shows in Chennai and Bengaluru, then there was the pride parade and the India vs England Cricket match in Mumbai. However, by far the biggest event that our trip coincides with (which I had no idea about when planning it) is the Kumbh Mela religious event.

Kumbh Mela is one of the largest Hindu religious events on earth. it’s an especially sacred and religious Hindu festival, celebrated in India. it’s the revered Hindu festival that dignifies the Hindu faith, jam-packed with cultural and ancient values. Truthfully, it says that Kumbh Mela is an example of unity among diversity. The Kumbh Mela rotates between four pilgrimage places on four sacred rivers, at Prayagraj (Allahabad) at the confluence point (Triveni Sangam) of the Ganges, the Jamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati, at Haridwar on the bank of Ganges River, at Ujjain on the Shipra, at Nashik on the Godavari river. 

When deciding where we’d visit, I didn’t initially plan for us to visit Varanasi. I was aware that this city on the banks of the Ganges is a very holy place and it’s where many people are cremated due to its holy significance. I was also aware that the Ganges is very polluted (maybe related to the burning of over 40,000 bodies by it each year). The water is considered so toxic that they can’t even use it to irrigate crops. Spiritual it may be, but it also sounds pretty grim to me, so not high on my wish list of places to visit. It was only because Michael thought we should visit that it was squeezed onto the schedule – and I mean squeezed in. We arrive early on an overnight train from Agra and we depart on another overnight train to Chandigarh. We have a day in Varanasi.

When we realised that our day trip to Varanasi just happens to coincide with one of the largest religious festivals and pilgrimages, it has made us a little anxious. Not just us, our Indian friends Vaishakh, Bharath, Shubhi and their friend Amruta all queried whether it was a good idea to visit right now as it will be very busy in Varanasi. I did look at whether we might be able to change our plans and take a train directly from Agra to Chandigarh, but there was no availability so we decided we’d stick to plan A.

We didn’t really get a sense of how busy the Kumbh Mela is going to be until we arrived at Tundra Junction station from Agra to change onto our overnight train to Varanasi. The station was very crowded and there seemed to be lots of chaos whenever a train arrived that was headed in the direction of Varanasi. We had booked berths in a first class sleeper car, and I could see on the Indian Railways website that our train was running late. 

We weren’t sure what platform or where on the platform (the trains are unbelievably long) our carriage would be. I asked a porter, although he spoke very little English he looked at our ticket and took us to a waiting room and through a few words of broken English and hand signals, he managed to tell us our train was 30 minutes late and to wait there until 9pm before going to the platform. We obeyed, I went and found some salted crisps and bottled water – a delux vegan train tea for us, and returned to wait with Michael.

Anxious British travellers that we are, we got to 8.45pm and decided we should head to platform 5 where our train was due to depart. We got as far as the ‘over foot bridge’ as they’re quaintly called here and stopped to see what information about our train would appear on the electronic display. As we peered down onto the platform we were aghast at what we could see. There was already another train on the platform and a human scrum was taking place at every door as people pushed and shoved to try and get onto the carriages. We stood looking down as two train came and went and the same performance  repeated itself.

The platform was rammed, there were groups of women wearing beautiful saris sat on the floor all up the platform. Our train had still not arrived and given the pandemonium we’d seen we thought we’d better at least try and position ourselves on the platform close to where our carriage would arrive. We pitched on the forward end of the platform as that’s where most of the first class carriages we’ve caught have departed from. It was very crowded and I said to Mike ‘do you think they might storm first class?’ – I sounded like a character from an EM Forster novel!

It was at this point our porter friend reappeared and barking a few words neither of understood, he beckoned us to follow him. He clearly knew our late (and getting later) train was going to switch across to adjacent platforms from 5 to 6 (not over the bridge fortunately – that would have caused a stampede!). He also knew we needed to be at the opposite end of the platform to where we’d been standing. Another train pulled in – he indicated this wasn’t our train, so we stood back and watched another round of human train scrum carnage unfold.

Shortly after our train started to pull into platform 6. The porter urgently beckoned to follow him as he started to run alongside the train by the door to H1 – our carriage. I kept up but was worried Michael, with his bad foot, was lagging behind. Fortunately the train soon came to a halt. The crowd swelled, I was right by the door and the porter pushed me from the platform as a first class train porter pulled me from the carriage end. I looked back and Michael was four of five people behind the crowd. I shouted to him to push and hollered to the porters ‘get him, get him’. The porters literally dragged Mike through the crowd as they beat off the others trying to board the carriage without a ticket. We were aboard, but I think we were both in a state of shock.

I’d had a call from brother Philip earlier today to tell me the sad news that my uncle Pete (my dad’s brother) had died yesterday. He was in his 70s and wasn’t the healthiest of men, but he wasn’t at death’s door either, so it was a bit of a shock. A bit of me is thinking that Pete is looking down chuckling at tonight’s train saga and maybe sent a guardian porter to help us. We are now safely ensconced in our (locked) first class cabin. There are four porters and a train guard in this carriage so I think we’ll be safe tonight – but goodness knows what Varanasi will be like!