Another stampede at a religious gathering – at least 11 trampled to death in Deoghar

It was yet another stampede during a religious gathering in which at least 11 devotees were trampled to death and another 50 injured – this time the venue was the annual Sawan Somvar celebrations at Deogarh's Belabagan temple in Jharkhand.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 10 August 2015.

Preliminary findings indicate that the stampede happened because the lane leading to the temple is narrow and congested, and the local administration was unable to handle the crowd that had gathered there. The death toll could rise.
It seems people had begun to gather from 10 at night and the doors of the temple are thrown open only at 4 early morning.
One month earlier, on 16 July, there was a stampede in Rajahmundry - 27 people, mostly elderly women, were crushed to death in a stampede on the banks of the River Godavari – it was the first day of a major religious festival. At least 25 people were injured in the stampede. The festival was the "Maha Pushkaralu" – this occurs once every 144 years, based on astronomical configurations.
It is most unfortunate that religious beliefs draw many of the devotees to their deaths. A general belief is that on auspicious occasions, visiting a temple or taking a holy dip in rivers can help wash away all sins and help to achieve moksha – or get a place assured in Heaven.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Stampede at Godavari Pushkaram festival in Rajahmundry leaves at least 17 dead

There was a major tragedy shortly after the beginning of `Godavari Pushkaram', the once in 144-year event dedicated to worshipping rivers in the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. There was a stampede and 17 pilgrims, mostly women, died in the Rajahmundry Pushkar ghat on the occasion of the ‘Pushkaram' festival in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 14 July 2015.

The dead included at least 13 women and more than 20 others were injured and shifted to hospitals. The incident occurred when a large number of pilgrims rushed towards one of the gates of Kotagummam pushkar ghat on the banks of Godavari River to take the holy dip.
The 'Pushakaram' festival is a similar to the 'Kumbh Mela' that is held alongside rivers elsewhere in the country and taking a holy dip in the river is the main ritual of the festival.
It is possible that the toll may go up since some bodies were still believed to be lying at the spot.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Heavy rains lash Andhra and Telengana – 150 fishermen missing

Normal life was thrown completely out of gear as heavy rains continued to lash Andhra and Telangana for the second day. 150 fishermen have been reported as missing – they had ventured out to sea on 17 June in 20 boats. Officials have set up control rooms to meet the flood threat.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 21 June 2015.

The missing fishermen are from East Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts and officials have launched a search operation in the Bay of Bengal with the help of the Coast Guard.
The worst hit districts in Telengana are Warangal, Khammam and Adilabad – the streams and rivulets are overflowing and traffic is blocked while marooning low-lying areas are marooned while dozens of villages have lost connectivity.
The water level in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam has been steadily increasing and people living in low-lying areas are in panic. The water level at Bhadrachalam stood at 24 ft on Saturday afternoon – this was nearly 11 ft up when compared to Friday evening.
The production of coal in the Singareni open cast mines in Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad has been affected because the rain water entered the open cast mining area.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

#muktidham #infantjesus #trimbakeshwar #ramkund #ramayana If you arrive in Nashik by train, you would have to get down at the Nashik Road railway station and the first important tourist attraction of Nashik is the Mukti Dham. This is a huge temple made of pure marble and located hardly one kilometer from the station. It was built in late 1960s and houses statues of a whole lot of Gods and Goddesses. Paragraphs from the Holy Scripture Gita are inscribed on the walls.
As you travel towards the city, you cannot miss the Shrine of Infant Jesus adjacent to the St Xavier’s School. The Christian community gathers in the shrine in the month of February. They come from Mumbai, Goa and other far off places to offer their prayers to Lord Jesus.
Once inside the city proper, you will like to make a beeline for the Ram Kund where Lord Rama is believed to have had his bath. It is on the banks of the River Godavari that has its source in the mountains of Trimbakeshwar. The river begins as a trickle and winds its way through the country to terminate in the Bay of Bengal near the city of Rajamundry in Hyderabad.
Anyway, one can spend some time on the banks of the river tasting the chats or the local fast foods including the bhel puri or go for boating or take a trip to the Kalaram Mandir or the Sita gufa – this is believed to be an underground cave where Sita mata used to stay. One has to crawl into the cave. There is also the Lakshman Rekha – this is associated with the epic Ramayana.
As per mythology, Lord Rama had left the hut to chase a golden deer that Sita mata had seen and wanted. Since he was getting delayed, she began to worry and asked her brother-in-law Lakshman to seek out Lord Rama. Therefore Lakshman, after some hesitation, used the tip of an arrow to draw a line around the hut and cautioned Sita mata not to go beyond the line.
Unfortunately, Ravana, the Demon King came dressed as a hermit with a begging bowl and lured her out of the protected area, kidnapped her and whisked her away to his palace in Lanka and the rest is history.

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Me, a city named Nashik and Maha Kumbh Mela

Two important events are slated for Nashik in 2015 – the first is the Maha Kumbh Mela 2015 and second is the air connectivity from Nashik to other cities probably starting from January-2015.
Nasik is strategically located and its proximity to the financial hub of Mumbai and the industries of Pune have given it an added advantage to prosper. In the bargain, roads have widened from two-lane to six-lane, and multistoried buildings have cropped up to accommodate housing complexes and provide accommodation to the thousands of people who have come to stay to make it their home. I am no exception.
The River Godavari has its origins in the mountains of the Brahmagiri in Trimbakeswar and it wends its way through the Deccan plateau to flow into the Indian Ocean, bisecting the country into two halves. Starting as a trickle, it grows from strength to strength till its confluence in the Bay of Bengal and, the first important city on the banks of this mighty river is Nasik (also called as Nashik). Till the sixties, it was known to the outside world more as a pilgrimage center where kumbhmela was held once every twelve years.
I arrived in Nasik in 1967 – just one year before the kumbhmela of 1968. The kumbhmela takes place once every 12-years and the next one I witnessed was in 1980. I am not much of a believer in the fact that just by immersing oneself in the waters of a holy river like the Godavari, one can wash off all of ones sins! Moreover, I was still a young man and my idea of cleansing oneself of sins was not commensurate with the thinking of others. Therefore, I did not involve myself much. However, in the next kumbhmela in 1992 I decided that enough was enough. Staying in Nasik and not witnessing the kumbhmela was an unpardonable offence like visiting Paris and not taking in the Eiffel Tower. My relatives saw the makings of Satan in me. A non-believer in the Holy Scriptures deserved to be isolated in Society. Hence, throwing caution to the winds, I prepared to take the plunge. And, what a plunge it was!! Nashik is now getting ready for the 2015 celebrations.
People from all over the country come here to participate in this mela. But, there is also a very different kind of ongoing mela – the mela of Industries, the mela of IT revolution. In the sixties, one had enough leisure time to relax on the banks of the Godavari, atop the Hill Temple in Deolali or amidst the relics of the Pandu caves. The only worthwhile industrial activity in those days was confined to the village of Ojhar, situated approximately 30 Kms. from the Railway station, where an aircraft factory was being set up to manufacture the sophisticated MiG class of fighters. And, of course, there was the India Security Press which printed currency notes and the Government of India Press which printed Stationary. The villages of Ambad and Satpur were not even in the map of the Nasik of the sixties.
Times have changed since then - several million cusecs of water have flown down the Godavari and Nasik today is a tremendously busy industrial center, which does not have time to even sleep. Fairly well connected by road and rail with efforts on to get air connectivity, industries are localized in the two villages of Ambad and Satpur in Nasik and Sinnar on the Pune highway. The wide range of Industries, which have found permanent footholds and have become the pride of Nasik, range from Plastics to Transmission Towers. Some products have become household names like VIP suitcases and MICO spark plugs. And, to cater to the needs of people who have migrated to this part of the world, any number of eateries, shops and such subsidiary establishments have mushroomed all over the city. Not to mention a full-fledged Engineering College and a Medical College. To meet the continuously rising demands of local transportation, bus routes are being extended and new ones are being introduced. Even then, during peak hours, one will have to, more often than not, travel standing. A situation which the old timers could never have imagined!
This tiny hamlet town of Nasik and its wonderful environment used to, once upon a time, attract vacationers. Today, it attracts entrepreneurs.