Recently I saw a rally of sea of people thronging in droves to felicitate India's T20 World Cup winning cricketers in the streets of India's richest city and its commercial capital Mumbai. Following the sidelines of recent stampede deaths in a religious congregation in Hathras, UP such a mega gathering brings the topic of public safety to mind. Thank God no stampede like incident happened, but a few minor injuries have been reported.
I am so glad that Team India won a major event like World Cup after a long hiatus of 13 years. Cricket is a religion in India. Nothing more unites India or Indians than Cricket, a game of English origin where currently no more than half a dozen nations are taken as serious contenders. Remember a scene from a Bollywood movie named KHATTA MEETHA (Sweet and Sour) which is at best passable ! Shot in a small town of Maharashtra, the actor Akshay Kumar remarks sarcastically to his lead female counterpart who taunts him for not being Indian enough - "When we became Indians ! We are Marathis, Tamils, Punjabis and Bengalis first. Only time we think ourselves as Indians when India plays a cricket match against Pakistan". He made his point.
Now forget the World Cup rally, I wouldn't even go to attend the famous annual "Ratha Yatra" in Puri, Odisha these days. Not that I don't want to be physically present there and enjoy, be part of the festive mood, but for me and my family safety comes first. I know that the local authorities are making excellent arrangements and taking all precautions to avoid any untoward incident. Yet they can be helpless in a congregation of 1 million plus people in those narrow lanes of Puri. I am originally from that area and pretty well familiar with the milieu from my childhood. Although they have organized and cleaned up the temple premises and its surroundings, yet the place is not large enough to accommodate a crowd of more than 1 million. With Bhakti (devotion) in my heart, I would rather visit Sri Jagannath temple in Puri on a normal day. JAGA KALIA, as Lord Jagannath is popularly addressed in Odisha will understand my predicament.
Puri Jagannath temple has a history of its tryst with stampede incidents. One such event took place during the Sri Jagannath "Nagarjuna Besha" in November, 1993, an occasion which happened after 25 long years. There was a huge crowd inside the temple. From what I heard, a piece of wire was lying on the ground and someone yelled that it was a live electrical wire which eventually turned out to be false. But the damage was done. Stampede ensued, followed by several loss of life and multiple injuries.
I remember the then Chief Minister, the legendary Biju Patnaik who unlike his son isn't measured in his words saying - "JIE MALA SWARGA KU GALA. MU BI MARITHILE SWARGA KU JAITHANTI". Transliterated from Odia it means, "Whoever died went to heaven. If I would have died, I would have gone to the heaven". (It is believed that one who dies inside the Puri Jagannath temple has a straight ticket to heaven. The entire day's Mahaprasad or the food offering to the God would go Maara or inauspicious and be buried). The Chief Minister's much publicized comment was considered tasteless at that time of tragedy. But it was quintessential Biju, a remarkable man who could get away with making such avoidable remarks.
Hopefully tomorrow's Ratha Yatra in Puri under a new administration after almost 25 years, a la, the ill fated Nagarjuna Besha which happened in 1993 after 25 years goes incident free without any untoward events. May CHAKADOLA (another name of Sri Jagannath Swami) keep His devotees safe and sound. HAPPY RATHA JATRA to all. Stay safe and enjoy !!!
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