Protestation on Processions

 Processions strangely have nothing to do with either process or processor. Procession stems from Latin 'processio' which means to move forward, by definition it is also supposed to be organised move towards an objective. Most of these processions move forward alright at the pace of a caterpillar but in the bargain ensure that all others are left stranded.  In India we have Processions for every occasion, political, religious, marriage, funeral and quite often it is a cavalcade of vehicles with our venerable leaders. The common thread running through all these are that the common man ends up being hassled, ambulances are stranded, people have flights/trains to catch, scheduled meetings, interviews for jobs all go for a toss literally. I am sure most of us have had to endure these ordeals where the processes are given a really loud and boisterous burial.

Today was again one such occasion, it is the rainy season, as per the Hindu calendar, the month of "Shravan", the holy month when Lord Shiva is the deity to be pleased. Legend has it that Samudra Manthan (Churning of the Sea) was undertaken by the Devas and Asuras and of the 14 things which appeared as a result of this churning was also halahal (poison), while the objective of the exercise was to get nectar or Amrit which both the groups wanted, obviously nobody wanted to have anything to do with this deadly poison. Shiva then volunteered to gulp it down and he held it in his throat,  Neelkantha or blue throat is as a result of that. To mitigate the effects continuous stream of water is sprinkled on the Shiva Lingam during the auspicious month of Shravan, as it was in this month that the Manthan was carried out. Shiva is considered the Destroyer of the trinity of Brahms the creator, Vishnu, the nurturer, but ironically it was he who saved the world from annihilation by consuming the poison. I wonder whether anyone has thought about the similarities in this with the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ saving the world by sacrificing himself on the altar of crucifixion. 

Anyway to return to the processions, it was the kavadiya (person carrying the kavad)procession which triggered this blog and I was at the receiving end, on my way back from work, got stuck in the DJ blaring procession and the ensuing traffic snarl made things even worse. The most famous kavadiya of all times was Shravan Kumar who carried his parents in the kavad for a pilgrimage before he ended up being shot by an arrow accidentally by King Dashrath. Kawad, incidentally is a scale which is carried on the shoulders of the devotees, with either side carrying vessels with holy water to be brought from the rivers, Ganges, Narmada etc to the village for offering to the  Shiva Lingam in the temple. It being a religious pilgrimage, naturally the folks en route look after the administrative needs of these kavadiyas who traverse on foot for the complete journey, no mean task, covering hundreds of kilometres to and fro. 

Unfortunately of late, this exercise has grown exponentially and the city traffic is just not geared for handling it thus often resulting in huge jams causing inconvenience to all and sundry. But then religious or otherwise these processions are a way of life for we Indians, Baraat (marriage processions) are amongst the worst culprits as the Baraatis (the participants in the marriage procession) with utter disdain for the rest just carry on dancing, bursting crackers all along the route. Somewhere deep down, these acts are selfish in nature where the "other" is not even given a consideration, it is we who matter. Before I get labelled as woke let me clarify these processions are undertaken by all and sundry and not just any particular community. It is high time the authorities plan for the event in advance and direct, re route traffic, issue advisories for smooth conduct of such events. While religious processions like these or during Moharram, the Tajiyas or Prakash Parv  will obviously continue but the scales need to be monitored and controlled to ensure the masses are not subjected to massive inconvenience. A loss of life with the ambulance delayed will be heavy on everyone's conscience.