Kanwariyas accept yatra cancellation, albeit reluctantly
NEW DELHI: For four consecutive years until Covid stopped him in 2020 and now in 2021, Ajay Kumar and a small group of friends travelled every July to Haridwar and came back with a small pot of holy water. Working odd jobs, Kumar, 21, saved a little over ₹8,000 as his contribution for the trip for hiring a truck, a DJ, new clothes, and other items such as food, water, generator and even videographers needed for the pilgrimage.
His friends would begin planning for the 200-km trip months earlier – all for the joy and pride of getting to call themselves kanwariyas. This year though, they dropped the idea months ago. “I don’t have the money to spare,” said Kumar, who works as a food delivery agent.
Late on Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh government decided to cancel the yatra amid Covid-19.
Kumar said while he was worried that cancellations for two consecutive years could change the way the festival is celebrated, the decision has reduced his guilt of not being able to go for the pilgrimage due to financial constraints.
“Now, I’ll just think that even if I could go for the yatra, I couldn’t have gone,” he said.
The yatra, which attracted 36 million people in 2019, stoked a controversy this year after UP initially allowed the pilgrimage to go ahead despite experts warning that overcrowding and violating of Covid protocol could spark the third wave of infections across the country. Uttarakhand cancelled the yatra this week.
The popular yatra attracts tens of millions of pilgrims across north India. For them, carrying holy water from the Ganga back to their local Shiva shrines is an article of faith. But for Kumar and his friends, religious devotion was mixed with something far more worldly – public recognition in their otherwise mundane lives.
“There is always ‘astha’ (faith), but the yatra also offers freedom from the daily tensions of life,” said Kumar, wearing a shirt with Shiva’s image on it.
“Local residents recognised me as an important part of the ‘Shiv Bhola Kanwar Samiti’. We were a popular group of local youngsters united by our joint participation in the yatra. Now, we are all just trying to find work and support our families,” Kumar said.
Kumar and other kanwariyas were not particularly worried about the pandemic – they believe Shiva will take care of their health and immunity.
“There is no fear of corona, this is a work of the Lord himself,” said Amar Singh Shekhawat, vice-president of Shiv Kanwar Sewa Sangh, a Ghaziabad-based group that organises camps for the kanwariyas. “A kanwar yatra will actually improve our immunity,” said Harish Singh, a 35-year-old businessman.
Doctors and health experts rubbished these claims and warned that allowing the devotees to travel to Haridwar would not only endanger their lives but also cause a potential superspreader event that could trigger a devastating surge of infections.
“Social distancing in the yatra is practically impossible. Devotees from far corners of north India will be travelling hundreds of kilometres and exposing themselves to risk,” said Dr Arun Gupta, senior consultant at Fortis Hospital and the president of Delhi Medical Council. Preparations for the yatra were elaborate. Noida resident Balaji Sinha and his friends created a WhatsApp group in March, followed by meetings, budget sessions, and donation collection drives.
In recent years, however, kanwariyas have increasingly been associated with lawlessness and boorish behaviour in cities they pass through, such as Delhi.
Mamata Sharma, who lived in east Delhi’s Dilshad Garden -- next to the road which the yatra takes -said that she avoided letting her two daughters out on the streets during the kanwar season. “I feel there would be no accountability if something wrong happened.”
The more serious devotees – who see the kanwar yatra as part of their vows to Shiva – dismiss these charges. Keshav Kumar is one of them.
The 32-year-old Noida resident wakes up at 5.30am every day and exercises an hour in the local park, trying to rebuild his stamina for his role as dak bam (the courier who runs with the pot of water).