Kumbh Mela Stampede in Prayagraj

A sad story repeats with a modern technological twist

When you get a confluence of hundreds of millions of devotees converging to one spot for a Holy Dip, trouble is never far away.

Where exactly is the holy dip to be taken?

Officially anywhere along the 12km riverside should be fine.

However, the age-old belief that you need to take the dip right at the spot where the three rivers meet (one is a mythical river) at 2am on that no-moon day is logistically impossible with so many people.

Executive belief: If you do that, your spot in swarga (heaven) is assured.

This year, according to the organizers, a rare celestial alignment called “Triveni Yog” was supposed to occur after 144 years. In an earlier muse, I noted that if this was so, there should have been a Maha Kumbh Mela in 1880. No such thing happened. There was one in 1881, it was a tame one - as various unions were fighting with each other to establish the rights of the bathing ghats. So, the Triveni Yog is a myth. But, this hype has taken roots.

Cell phone becomes a deadly weapon

The result this year, with all the hype, there were defying crowds trying to make their way to that one spot. In the old days, most people did not know where that exact spot was. Today, your cell phone tells you exactly where it is. It does the same for the other millions. It becomes a recipe for disaster.

The Fallout

This year, it was going to highlight the crowd management prowess of the state government and with it the leadership of the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh. With so many deaths, this has become a public relations disaster that will sit right at the doorstep of the government.

There was a big disaster in 1954. I wrote about that in an earlier muse.

This year, the scale of the disaster is still unfolding. Social media is awash with videos of makeshift morgues displaying dead bodies of the victims. There are several dozens. Unlike what happened in 1954, we will find out this time around, the death toll in double quick time. With technology, and the gawker media in tow, there is no place to hide the facts in India. [If it were China, it would be a different matter.]

Executive warning: Dead bodies on display if you click on the video.