I had written this travelogue some eight months back. The Puri Ratha Yaatra is back. On the 27th of June this time. I thought it was an apt time to post it again! Take my word for this, there is no such spectacle like the yaatra.Read on-

Destiny is the strangest thing in the world.  I found myself in Bhubaneswar on the 6th of July thanks to a quirk of fate. While going thru the local newspapers, I got to know that on the 8th of July, Puri will witness the car yaatra.  And I thought, the world was moving at a rapid pace.  From the famous jaganatha ratha yatra to the car yatra, Puri had come a long way.  And visions of vintage cars, passing thru the streets of Puri came alive in my mind. Later on, thanks to a friendly chai wallah, I got to know that the car yaatra is THE famous Jaganatha ratha yaatra(as I knew it) and that the locals call it the car yatra.
              
 
After reporting to my first job on the 7th of July, I made my plans to go to Puri (60 kms from Bhubaneswar).  Friends insisted that going to the ratha yaatra, is like going to a kumbh mela, tirupatis brahmotsava or the annual ayyapa darshan on the sabarimala hills. That stampedes are a natual thing and that they would be surprised if I came back alive.
 
But then again, I had made up  my mind.  Started off to Puri at 9 am. And there is this stretch of around 40 kms between Pipli and Puri. It is breathtakingly beautiful.  Almost each house had its own private pond.  The rich vegetation, and the greenery around, wish I had a digicam with me.  On either side of the road, I found small tea stalls and scores of people gathered around them to watch the ratha yaatra on television.  And I felt embarrassingly proud that I was an outsider on the way to see the real visuals and here were the locals happy with the doordarshan telecast.  I could see the mass of people on the television sets and I wondered if it was all for real.  I mean, mine was a lone taxi on the road and just about 4 kms ahead, lakhs of people were congregated.  The taxi stopped at the grand road, I dont know what they call it but, you can say it is as wide as the road between mehdipatnam and Food World without the road divider in between. People were swarming the place and I could see faintly at a distance, the structure of the jaganath temple.
 
Puri is one the four holiest places in India. Once I stepped into Puri, inside me was a strange mixture of a tourist who had been to a new place and that of a devotee on a piligrimage. 
 
I am afraid of stampedes. I had a nasty experience with a stampede in the past and I wanted to be careful this time. My idea was to keep going near the temple until it is not too crowded, see the deities from as near a location as possible and turn back and leave the moment it starts getting crowded. So, I began to walk towards the three colossal chariots.
 
In all their grandeur and decoration, I can safely say that it is a sight to behold. The flags fluttering gently on top, the people, the temple in the background, you are awed and spellbound. It is a three kilometer stretch, over which the ratha yaatra proceeds. As I walked, I saw a town which was bustling with enthusiasm. Almost everything was being distributed for free. From water packets to food packets, organizations and pandals were distributing everything. It was as if the people of Puri lived the entire year in anticipation and preparation for this one single day, when the worlds focus is on them. 
 
 
Sadhus and Sanths were chanting mystic rhythmic soul stirring melodies.  The ISKON people were belting out their own new tunes, with a guitar in hand, and girls and boys dancing to Congos. School kids (Scouts and Guides) formed a single file in the middle of the road and were the temporary road dividers.  Beggars were having a field day. Scores of others were selling diyas, Rs5 per five. Dalda is the fuel. You light them and place them on the road. Some others were selling puri. Their slogan? Naram puri, Garam Dalma. Some others were selling panipuri. Re 1 per 5. I dont know why but I always wanted to try puri and panipuri in Puri.
 
 Small kids with miniatures of the chariots were going around in circles collecting money from the pilgrims. The miniatures themselves were very colorful and beautiful. Volunteers were moving around with water sprinklers. It would be difficult for me to describe what the water sprinklers were. They are like the sprinklers used in agriculture to sprinkle pesticides and insecticides. Except that they were sprinkling water using it.  July means the advent of the rainy season and apart from the volunteers, even god was sprinkling water on the devotees with rain.  
 
As I moved nearer to the chariots, the intensity of devotion increased, it was as if people were in a trance. Also, the density of the mass of people increased, fear set in me, I decided to leave. Puri has these majestic rickshaws that we see in old movies. So I hired one to the beach. He took me through the by lanes of Puri, to the beach. It did feel as if I was transformed into a new world. It had almost been five years since I had been to a sea side and the view of the Bay of Bengal gave me an idea of the infiniteness of the world.
 
After sometime, I decided to leave for Bhubaneswar. The mass of people   that I had seen near the yaatra, I knew that it would be difficult to get any means of transport if I lingered for more time. This time I thought of walking back to the bus bay.
 
As luck would have it, I took one wrong turn and instead of going to the bus station, I found myself entering the yaatra again, from the other side this time. I was walking through a narrow street and the moment I came out of it, I saw the great jagannath temple before me and to the right of me.. were a sea of people. I had never seen so many people at a single place in my entire life. It would be difficult for me to put in words what I saw. Imagine that the whole stretch of road a kilometre or so in length is filled with people, two lakhs or more. May be four. I can not say.
 
And standing testimony to the passage of time (for over 1200 years) were the three wooden chariots, with Lord Jagannath , Balabhadra and Subhadra sitting majestically on them.(Ofcourse, fresh chariots are made every year,the temple is 1200 hundered years old) I couldnt resist the temptation of seeing the idols from closer quarters. I just wanted to go a little nearer, come back and escape through the same narrow street.
 
Stampedes have a strange dynamics. Everything seems to be in control, and in just a fraction of minutes, you find yourself in the crux of a sea of humanity. Neither can you move, nor can you run, if you run, you would run not on the road but on human bodies. I could sense an impending stampede.
 
Tailpiece: I realize that the article has become too long. Am not even sure if people would have read until this point.  The fact that I am writing this piece means that I had somehow survived the near stampede. I will write about it in my next musing.