'Kumbh Mela' is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is considered to be the largest peaceful gathering in the world where around 100 million people were reported to have visited during the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Allahabad in North India over a period of 60 days.

Kumbh Mela takes place every thirteen years. It is celebrated when Jupiter is in Taurus and the Sun is in Capricorn astronomically speaking.

The belief is that taking a dip in the Holy River of Ganges on these days would wash away the sins and liberate the souls from rebirth and to attain merger of the soul with the Almighty.

I had the good fortune of taking part in the 'Mela? ( festive gathering) and taking a dip in Ganges.( called Mother Ganga in India)

After visiting the Kumbh Mela of 1895, Mark Twain wrote:
"It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites."

I thought it fit to enter this wonderful spectacle in the contest as I see how life exists in that part of the world through my eyes and experience.
ENJOY!